Proliferation

Wormhole Mana, Book 2

De: Tom Larcombe

Narrado por: Shawn Compton

Max has his home area protected now, with Maggie's help. He's trying to bring more people into the safe zone they created and while he does that, he's also fixing some electronics to work alongside the mana that's infusing everything.

Despite the quarantine and its promise of danger, a number of people are intentionally trying to enter it after hearing the tales of what goes on inside.

Meanwhile Prometheus has learned that radioactive materials can help open the wormhole further, allowing the mana to flow through and assimilate the Earth more quickly.

With the influx of additional mana from Prometheus's actions, the overly large, mutated animals are showing up more often now. Because of that, the safe zone walls have to be improved, and while they're at it, they decide to enlarge the area within the walls since they're getting more people than they'd anticipated.

With the number of people in the safe zone, and Max's depleting stock of beer, they decide that there needs to be at least one trip to a larger town, to scavenge things from the areas that were evacuated. Unfortunately, not everyone left when the evacuation was called, and now there are human dangers to face as well.

©2024 Tom Larcombe (P)2025 Tantor Media

we need more books

love how they expanded the story and to see get a glimpse of what you will see in book 3. I am so excited for the next book.

Still original and a great story

The characters make this story and story is very original for me and I am very much enjoying it and looking forward to more. The audible version does a great job bringing it to life

A Really Conflicted 4 Stars

i am so conflicted on rating this book. On one hand, i'm sad the next one isn't out yet, i do want to know what happens when a certain person comes to visit the Max Mags Guns Emporium. ... i mean the Max & Mags Safe Zone. On the other hand.. this is just an "Okay" Series. a solid 3. Honestly, i added an entire star because someone finally FINALLY realized that libraries exist and hold useful knowledge! Lets do a Pro/Con List

Pros:
* The premise is really great, with a somewhat unique take on how/why the Mana/System is introduced to Earth
* a somewhat unique Slow Roll out of the system - will it stop growing? or will it take over the world?
* a intriguing Evil Mad Scientist AI ... that no one seems to realize is an Evil Mad Scientist.
* Libraries are really useful in a potentially post-internet world!
* Most of the Military Dudes are just regular Dudes, not evil storm troopers
* Max is NOT a complete Sociopath, he is, in fact, a generally Good Guy
* Most of the people in Max's safe zone, and that he meets in general - are mostly Good Guys
* Bunnies with Big Sharp Pointy Teeth - Rawr!
* Hermit-Crab-Super-Spider <3
* William is the best character, prove me wrong.

Cons (most of these spoilers are from book one):
* The Government / Military Response is extremely passive. Sure, they're half-heartedly covering this up, and there are apparently scientists - somewhere - studying this. But there's no way they sent ONE DUDE in to infiltrate the Mad AI Super Secret Base, and then just "oh well, guess we can't get in. we'll try a mini nuke. that didn't work? guess we'll just watch from afar and hope it goes away." If they truly couldn't get to Prometheus they would be grabbing people off the street, cutting them open, interrogating, running experiments. Max and Ron would be in a secret underground lab somewhere. Ditto with the old folks. the entire first town would be a military plaza. we're supposed to believe they didn't because.... the Mana might be bad for the their soliders? even though they have proof that its at least short term survivable? right.
* Prometheus is obviously insane and our "good guy" protagonists are helping it? because... people are getting younger and Max got a hot kitsune girlfriend? they have no idea what the long term plan is, or the long term side effects. they just "trust" that Prometheus wants whats good for everyone. O.M.G.
* Everyone is a nymphomaniac alcoholic. Seriously the only thing anyone thinks about is Sex and Beer. I mean, i think the beer thing was supposed to be a joke and it just... got out of hand? also the number of times someone justifies having "just one or two beers" and then proclaiming they're fine - just reeks of self delusion. (Listen, i dont like beer, its gross. but i dont care about people drinking. this just seems to be the only thing anyone in this world thinks about 24/7)
* We get it, everyone is young again, and all they want to do is each other.
* Seriously we GET IT, everyone is just nailing everyone else all the time.
* Also, yeah, LOL nobody looks like their drivers license anymore cause everyone is super young. WHY are we still having this conversation weeks/months into this thing?
* Puns are never funny.
* 16 yr old kid is most famous youtuber on the planet, documenting all the Containment Zone news. I understand that lots of people wont *believe* what they hear/see; but why does everyone act like they have no idea whats going on when faced with the reality of the situation?
* Book One - Amy Dude freaks out when forced into an insane world - so we lock him up and pawn him off the first the people who will take him. Book Two - Pretty Bitchy Lady forces herself into the insanity then can't handle it - lets spend several weeks diagnosing how bad her parents were which led to her being a terrible human being. Right. there are no double-standards.
* Teenager gets depressed when she falls out of the Top 10 youtubers spot. Dad's Response "this is totally rational, lets take you to some dangerous situations and film it to get you right back on top! Your fragile Ego is the most important thing after all! ... and its not like we started this as a way to show the world what was actually happening here, its all about your popularity, honey."
* Dad is separated from daughter for months, has no idea whats going on in her life, but is so excited when she kidnaps herself so she can come live with him. Now that she's suddenly back, tho, he can't be bothered to litterally MOVE A DESK out of the spare room so she can live with him. He just sets her up at the old lady's house next door, so that he can play house with his hot fox girl friend.

** Finally. CELL PHONES EXIST. Max spends lots of time fixing cell phones, talking about fixing cell phones, explaining in detail how he fixed the cell phone... NOBODY USES THEM. Man, i wish we had a way to talk between trucks in our convoy. i know! lets get some walkie talkies. I wish i could talk to someone outside the zone, i know! Lets get an illegal HAM radio setup... I wish we talked to the other (unnamed) town more and told them more about how all this works... i guess we'll just drive there once a month. We're a day away from home and have important life-saving information to share! i know! lets drive back as fast as possible and hope nothing gets in our way. FFS!! ... i'm not even going to rant about the internet and the ability to chat with ANYONE ANYWHERE about ANYTHING.... lets just keep pretending that we're cutoff from the rest of the world in all ways including the physical.

Loved it

This is turning into an amazing series. The characters are awesome and the world building is really well done. Looking forward to book 3 already.

Best of both worlds

This is an amazing blend of all my favorite genres. My only complaint would be is it it sort of drags a little bit the writer seems to be get stuck in his characters daily schedules.. and I’m a little sad. We keep falling more and more out of touch with Maggie, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna read it a few more times this is really fun really interesting and pretty exciting.

Details

A real triumph in a new plot, that uses so many aspects of AI, survival, and characters you can become involved with.

Interesting premise dragged down by tedium

This series has an interesting premise and, initially, a compelling narrative. The whole idea of a slow growing zone of magic controlled by a rogue AI set in our modern world is undeniably intriguing. Sadly, the promise of this idea is stifled by poor execution and authorship that keeps getting in its own way.

Two books in and this series has become plagued by a number of issues that were not so obvious when it began. But instead of breaking down all of them I will focus on the two most glaring anchors this series has layed around its own neck.


The most major problem, as I can see, is that this story seems to have only one real character.

The main character, Max. He started the story as a regular guy trying to figure out his new reality along with the other introduced characters. But then, as the story progressed, No other character ever seemed to flesh out beyond that introduction except Max.

And Max himself developed into one of those protagonists who seem to make most of the decisions and solve most of the problems. He is the strongest and most capable in almost every situation and all the other characters lose most of their agency. As the story keeps going it begins to feel like if a character is not taking part in what Max is doing they are offscreen waiting for Max to come back so they can be relevant.


The second major drag on this story can be summed up in one word: Tedium.

This story is filled with so many sentences and paragraphs that serve little to no function or purpose. There are so many superfluous explinations and unnecessary rehashes of things that just happened. There is also a great deal of overdetailed descriptions that really slow down the pace of the story.

Adding to the tedium is the repeated habit of slow problem solving. Many unimportant plot issues are focused on and take multiple chapters to come to resolution. It becomes quite frustrating.


Funny enough, both of these major problems could be solved with the same solution. Have more than one main or point of view character. Instead of making every character a vapid caricature except Max, have a number of compelling protagonists.

-----------------------

This is basically the end of the review. below this are some things I desperately wanted the story to develop more into. Just wanted to share what I thought could have been.
(spoilers below)

Make Mark and Alex centered plots as they try to be traditional adventurers.

Instead of the "silly reporter being stupid" plot, make her and her team competent as they report from around different parts of the Zone.

More focus on Betty and her problems with the townfolk.

More detail on the reactions and decision making outside of the zone. Maybe with the President or Internationally.

Have the mother and her boyfriend be less low life scum and one note. Perhaps even a redemtion arc or something in the face of world changing circumstances.

unique spin on the system

I was intrigued by the initial concept, it held so much promise. Sadly, the execution fell short for me. The writing style felt consistently underdeveloped, which hindered my enjoyment. The narration, unfortunately, didn't enhance the story either. It felt like a missed opportunity given the strength of the premise. I really wanted to love it, but the technical aspects just didn't work. Hopefully, future works will be better, though I don't know that I will be checking them out unless nothing else to listen to.

There is alot of issues

The story itself is fine, it does get dragged down a little usless things sometimes but thats whatever.
The real thing that gets me alot is the naming mistakes.
They will be talking about a monster and person and in the same convo mess up the names.
A big one is with the gremlins, will call them that and in the same convo call them goblins...which is it.
Then thry slip up calling the Orek..idk how you spell that, but call them Orcs.
If your picking a name that the characters use stop switching randomly, it makes it feel like AI.
Also they spend weird moments focused in on sexual stuff involving others, just explaining things out.
it feels so uncomfortable sometimes, or how cold he feels to his own daughter.
I understand the Prometheus is muting their emotions, but he feels very distant from the daughter he just got back.
It is an ok story, and thats all.
Do not come into this expecting somethung great.