AN INTERESTING AND THOUGHT PROVOKING NOVEL

Shepherds of Destiny: Kiel Barnekov

Within the pages of this novel we learn about many ways to preserve the life of someone who has a deadly and fatal diagnosis. Although the time periods are years away, 2028 and 2056, the people afflicted are within certain age ranges that you would not expect to have such a devastating illness or resul.t Kristina Barnett has had several episodes that alerted him to the fact that there is something wrong but exactly what is causing him to have missteps, drop things or even have difficulty connecting at times.

Imagine having to deal with different time periods within your own dreams and your new life. Two men afflicted with ALS and both having to make a decision as to whether they would agree to an experimental operation that would remove their brains, place them in a coma until the surgical staff deems it possible to awaken them and place their brains in a cyborg body. Kristian Barnett a billionaire and Aaron Adams live within the different timelines and they hold within their actions the ability to change history. Both men have advanced cases of ALS, but their brains are in perfect shape with no neurological issues. When both operations are successfully performed each man is placed in different locations. Adams is moved to Silicon Valley where he is given everything, a home, a job and anything else he needs to begin his new life, but he cannot divulge anything about his past or his present physical state. Barnett’s wife is part of the surgical program and she and the doctor in charge, Richards decided on just when to bring him out and the time it would take for him to return home to the mansion. Both men have brains that are not or have not been hampered by the disease, but one thing is starling and stands out. Imagine a voice entering your mind while you are asleep. Imagine having to comprehend that this voice called the Guardian insists that you have a special course to follow in life with no choice. History was made and the outcomes were incorrect and both Aaron and Kristian must change the course of history of the timelines that were affected. Each event would require that the person enter and control the mind of an historical figure making sure that the result was favorable for that timeline. How do you relate this? Are you dreaming? When Aaron completes his mission and Kristian his, both seem to have the need for a partnership with the other. Ansley, Barnett’s wife and the doctors have no idea about the existence of the Guardian and yet they do know about their dreams.

Dr. Savannah Richards is the neurosurgeon and Research Scientist at the Stanford Neuroscience Health Center and was the one who developed and created this procedure to preserve the brain of a patient whose body was destroyed and but whose brain was intact. Dr. Ansley Barnett is Krisitan’s wife and she led the development of the cyborg body which when you check out both men, you won’t be able to tell their bodies from that of a human one. She works for DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.  

As the novel progresses and you get to know each of the men better and you realize that there is something unique about each one, you also learn about how Aaron winds up getting too close to Ansley and when Kristian is awakened and finally able to function, he returns for his annual visit to check his systems, tests and now she has to wonder what his motives really are and if he is going to divulge their secret to her husband.

When the success of their work has been acknowledged, Ansley is called into a meeting with the heads of DARPA stating that unless she has another candidate for this procedure from the military, the funding and the program would no longer continue. Even though the major money came from her husband, they needed someone from the Military to be next. Things have a way of happening and a member of Dr. Richard’s family, her brother has a serious accident trying to save the members of his ship and his body is severely injured, but his brain is finding. Will they succeed in convincing the military to allow him to be next? The years go by fast within this novel from 2028-2056 and in between where different events happen. As Erik Richards is next the foundation for his operation going forward the reader does not know if it is successful or not and that remains to be scene in the future.

Things take on a tense turn and tensions will rise as the founding CEO of a high-tech information management company and a two multi-billion-dollar telecommunication moguls have created a new smartphone that is the new rage and that everyone must have. What this technology allows is frightening and the result would enable the ability to control a person’s thoughts and actions and they would never know it. This new smartphone and communications technology are being promoted to the Military as a way of controlling the actions of an enemy or is there another sinister reason?

Just what is the primary intent of the billionaire? What would happen if they purpose was to create a dystopian world in which the billionaire elites and their ruling class government puppets live in luxury, want for nothing and the result of the world is there to serve their needs. In other words, they would enslave everyone but can Aaron and Kristian along with the Guardian enter the minds of several senior government officials and stop what would destroy the world and create human domination by evil tyrants pitting good vs evil?
With the death and final demise of Stonewall Jackson as one piece of history that had to be changed, and Churchill in WWII and what needed to be changed during that time period, you begin to wonder if you would want to change anything in the course of our present history or past in order to make certain outcomes more positive? Would you want Dr. King to have lived? What about JFK? Would this be something to explore in this world the author has created? What about the result of the cyborg bodies? Will they remain viable or will these two men eventually die like everyone else? When will the world know that Kristian is alive? Will anyone seek to use this technology for these bodies for a sinister or covert purpose? The author leaves us wondering what is next and what the outcome of good vs. evil will be?

Told in direct and simple language with events that are easily understood you wonder what is next for the human race? What will the final mission be and will they remain forever along with the guardian as permanent Shepherds of Destiny?
Fran Lewis: Just reviews