We Are The Destroyers by D.K. Lindler

By Shawn

Over consumption is destroying his home planet, and synthetic foods are turning his people into degenerated mutants under the control of the Brotherhood of Syn.  As one of the few remaining but persecuted Organs- those who still live the organic lifestyle- Bel'lar and his small crew must escape from their dying world to the semi-mythical blue-white planet.  They are to discover if it is really what the prophecies say it is:  a place for humanity to make a new beginning.

But the visions of his beautiful companion Ry Sing, a mystic and seer, shake Bel'lar.  She tells him that eons ago, Bel'lar was also faced with the burden of saving his people from their own greed.  Only then he was the Great One, the sacred head of their religion.  He had seen no other way to liberate them from their collision course with environmental destruction and spiritual degradation than to purify the planet in a great cataclysm...But could the horrible vision be true?  Could he really have done such a thing?  And what about the scriptures that predict that a man with a mark like his would be fated to purify a corrupted planet once again and free the souls?

As Bel'lar, Ry Sing and the rest of the elite team embark on their mission to save mankind, the truth of the vision begins to reveal itself, and Bel'lar's destiny is set before him.  But will he be able to avoid it this time?  Or is he fated to live the vision once again?  (taken from the back of the book)

Sounds like a great sci-fi story, doesn't it?  I thought so too.  Honestly, I think there is a good little story buried in here, but it's incredibly difficult to get to.

The characters, while all having specifically assigned personalities and story lines, fall flat.  They don't have any life to them...no depth.  It's almost as if we have an outsider's perspective.  'He's afraid. I see.'  We don't feel any real empathy are care towards any of the characters.

The worlds are built nicely enough, but once again, I was left not caring.  It's a planet.  People lived there before.  They left pyramids.  There are spirits left behind.  Got it.  Don't need a whole book for it.

I think, honestly, my problem with this entire story is that it's so bogged down with the unnecessary and uninteresting.  Not only that, but the past is explained so many times and from so many different perspectives.  We got it from the first glimpse.  Show us something new!

Now, I don't mean to sound like the book is all bad, I just had coming up with quite a bit of trouble figuring out what I enjoyed about it.  It's well-fleshed out.  Possibly to the point of being overly rewritten, but all of the holes in the story have been plugged.  I did enjoy the Star Trek'esque theme going on for awhile.  I truly enjoyed several chapters where I decided to read every dialogue portion out loud using William Shatner's voice.

If Sci-Fi is your thing, just be forwarned that this one is slow-moving.  It starts off with a bit of action and then we have lots of description and explanation and by the time it gets back towards the action, you find you've lost a week of nodding off without meaning to.  Keep in mind, this is my opinion and I'm sure several people will disagree with me.