I read 12 books in January and this book was my favourite. Well favourite isn’t a strong enough word, I lend books to friends and family after I’ve read them but no one is getting their hands on my copy of ‘Emergence’ or as it’s also called ‘The Dave book one’. I let a cousin have a look at it a few days ago at work and I told him I would hunt him down if he took it home.

The book starts of with the main character Dave Hooper on his way back to the oil rig he works on. He has a hangover after blowing a 6 month bonus on hookers, booze and hooch. The IRS is after him and his soon to be ex-wife is a nightmare. His life is well and truly up shit creek and he lost his paddle a while ago. The only thing going well is his job, he knows he’s good at it and he enjoys it.

Before the helicopter drops him off they get a message about a fire on the rig. Now all the fun starts and it’s only page 10. The fire isn’t caused by a mechanical fault or terrorists, it’s caused by the hunting party of Urgon Htoth Ur Hunn, BattleMaster of the Fourth Legion. Dave faces off against Urgon with the help of a splitting maul and manages to beat the demon. It helped that Urgon was drunk. Somehow by killing Urgon Dave becomes a typical high fantasy hero with an enchanted weapon, super strength and sheer awesomeness. He is still in the modern world and has to deal with a military who don’t know what to do with him and strange memories that keep popping up. No body can explain what happened on the rig and it was only the start.

This book is not PC, Dave isn’t a character who apologises over who he is and he strays true to himself throughout the book.It’s the first in a trilogy with all three books coming out this year if everything goes to plan. On his blog -Cheeseburgergothic- John Birmingham says he is treating these books like a TV show. The first trilogy is basically season one, he wrote all three back to back and he is now working on season two, the next trilogy. It’s going to be nice not have to wait over a year for the next instalment and I think it will help keep the pacing of the series consistent.

This book started with ‘splosions finished with bigger ‘splosions and had plenty of ‘splosions in the middle. Dave Hooper might not be the best person in the world but he is all the world has between it and the Horde. And I should mention the Horde has Dragons.