Book Review: Asylum: The Circeae Tales by Ashley Hodges Bazer

Asylum: The Circeae Tales

By: Ashley Hodges Bazer

Publisher: WestBowPress

Published: Aug. 23, 2012

ASIN: B00980QDD6

Amazon Synopsis:

Ghost captain Chase Leighton’s wife, Trista, is captured by the Progressive Legacy and arrested for her affiliation with the Ghosts. Though publicly pronounced dead, she is handed over to the Legacy’s Experimental Medicine Agency. Chase searches for her, despite the news that she’s been executed. He and his men are ambushed and sentenced to the Straightjacket, a ship-based facility 

for the criminally insane. Systems analyst Krissa Carlisle is temporarily assigned to the ship to fix their computers. As she is working, Chase and the other inmates

 riot, taking Krissa as their prisoner. But when Chase comes 

face-to-face with Krissa, he recognizes her … as Trista.

Book Links

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My Thoughts:

Asylum was an excellent science fiction novel; fast-paced, full of action, with a touch of clean romance. It very clearly had a good vs. evil kind of theme.

I thought the plot was quite interesting – medical implants to rewrite a person’s memories. I don’t know if that’s even plausible, but, it is science fiction, and some of yesterday’s science fiction is today’s fact, so you never know.

I found the whole practice on the Straightjacket to be quite brutal and horrific, but it was meant to be. Thankfully it was not described in too much detail. I really felt Chase and his crew who were imprisoned there.

I loved the character of Chase and particularly appreciated his dedication to his wife. I wish we saw more of that kind of commitment in marriages today.

I really thought the two underlying messages of the story were well-carried out: 1) the Crown is in control of all situations and can work them out for good for those who follow Him and 2) love is very powerful. It can best be summed up by this verse from 2 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” Everything Chase tried to do was because he loved his wife and when he was working with the assistance of the Crown, he was successful.

If you go to the author’s website, you will discover that Asylum is actually part of a 15 book series, and while this is the first book penned in the series, it is really meant to be the 14^th book of said series.  So, when you read it, if it doesn’t sound like the first book of a series, that’s why. It will be interesting to find out what happens before and after Asylum. I’m looking forward to it.

I gave Asylum 4 stars out of 5. If you like science fiction and clean romance, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this novel by Ashley Bazer.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

About the Author:

Ashley Hodges Bazer lives in Colorado with her husband and three kids. She earned her BA in theatre (stage management) from Arizona State University, and went on to work for Disneyland in that capacity. She is a producer for Focus on the Family's daily radio program. Her debut novel, Asylum, was traditionally published by WestBow Press in 2012.

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