THE VENERATE ORDER
Title: THE VENERATE SALVATION
Author: Troy Dukart
Pub. Date: July 9, 2019
Publisher: KDP
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 217
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, TBD
The Venerate Salvation is the third book in the Sci-Fi / Fantasy, New-Adult series, The Venerate Saga. It follows The Venerate Orderand The Venerate Redemption. The main themes of the book revolve around mental health awareness, women’s empowerment, government corruption, and family.
Fans of the book series Divergent and I am Number Four as well as the video game series Final Fantasy will love this book. The story is written from a dual point of view of Strafe, the main character, and Yessa, his estranged girlfriend. Readers will see the story from each side, see how each character evolves throughout the tale, and get to decide on who they think is right.
Strafe and Yessa, along with Strafe’s twin-brother Zixin and their wolves, return to Earth after ending an apocalypse on the distant world of Eternia. They believe they have found peace, but when the demons of Zixin’s past begin to torment him, his mental health begins to deteriorate rapidly. Strafe notices Zixin inflicting self-harm and waking in screaming nightmares daily. The race to find a solution and heal his brother become Strafe’s priority while avoiding the threat of the remaining Federation forces. On top of that, Strafe’s weapon, the God Blade, remains shattered from his final battle on Eternia and is a shell of its former self. He no longer carries the power he once did.
The situation is complicated by Yessa’s yearn to find her parents who she believes were abducted by the Federation. As a former prisoner of war, she is steadfast in her mission to rescue them from the same fate. She finds hope through the newest and most advanced military branch ever created, the Space Force. Internally conflicted, Yessa will make the most difficult decision of her life; leave or stay. This one choice could mean the end of her relationship with Strafe or the death of her parents.
Unknown to the three of them, something else followed them home.
It is hunting them relentlessly and leaving a trail of blood and carnage in its wake. The only people who seem to know what’s going on are a mysterious hacktivist group called the Salvators. Strafe questions their end goal but has no choice but to trust them to save his brother. On top of all that, a virus begins to spread globally, turning anyone it comes into contact with into crystalized monsters called Slates. Unless Strafe and Yessa crack the code on who unleashed it, everyone they know will fall.
The real question is: How do you deal with pain that nobody can see?
CHAPTER 1 Excerpt
Strafe
It’s been a year since I returned to Earth. So much had changed. The Geo-political climate had gotten, uncomfortable to say the least. Something had the militaries around the globe on high-alert. I felt our battle might not be over. Personally, every day is a struggle. A struggle to keep my family alive. It’s been a lot to take in.
In the blink of an eye, I crossed through the portal with Zixin, Yessa and the three Whitecloud pups, which transported us back to the cave I found the God Blade. Flickers of light from the sword’s orb caught my attention before it went translucent. It was as if the soul of the weapon faded away, leaving only a skeleton. The tattoos that identified us three as Guardians changed to dull scar-tissue, no longer with any vibrant color. Our power, gone.
The horrors of war can haunt a person for years after the last bullet is fired. Same way with words. Zixin lived in a nightmare his whole life, and now that it was over, his body and mind weren’t handling it well.
A few days passed since we got back to Earth. My brother worried me. He drifted in and out of day-dreams; he had trouble concentrating. When we offered him food, he didn’t eat much. Often times I would see him curled up in a ball, shivering and sweating heavily. If there was a loud noise or something startling, it agitated him easily. Whenever there was a crowd, he withdrew from interacting with anyone. Something hurt inside him. There was deep mental trauma that needed to be addressed.
We had to take him somewhere off the grid. The decision was to hide on my tribe’s reservation in Minnesota. It’d be far away from the eyes and ears of Federation informants.
In about five days we made it across the country via train.
It was good to have the Whitecloud puppies with us. They were the one bright spot we had going for us at the moment. As we made it to St. Paul, we all got in a taxi. We rode north while enjoying the green grass and cool fall weather. Unlike California’s golden hills and warm ocean breeze for sure.
The change was nice.
Finally, we got to the Sky Water reservation near Bemidji. Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly. Even though Yessa was not Native American, they welcomed their new visitor in the traditional way, with gifts. We were given a trailer to sleep in and food to eat. An ancient custom, asking for nothing in return. An Indian gift.
Once we settled, she began to research the Federation and gained insight into the company’s goals and reach around the globe. Their power and influence shocked us.
“Strafe, check this out,” Yessa said pointing at the computer screen.
With a blanket in hand, I walked over and draped it on Zixin as he slept on the couch, then turned to her “What is it?”
“I can’t believe how many incidents the Federation has been involved with this past year. They had their hand in almost everything. Politics, economy, the web, and government. They’re like a virus, spreading and gaining footholds in everything that runs the world,” she shook her head in disbelief.
I put my hand on her shoulder, “When we figure out who we can trust, we will expose them. Their crimes will not go unanswered. But for now, I need to make sure my brother is healed. He tosses and turns in his sleep and I can tell the psychological damage he incurred has taken a toll on him.”
Turning my head towards Zixin, Yessa put her hand on mine, “This is what you were fighting for, what we all were fighting for. You saved him.”
One of the pups had become smitten to me. He loved to be held like a baby in my arms. I named him Goliath. Soon they would be bigger than we were, so we needed to enjoy their infancy.
Holding Goliath and bouncing him gently, I said, “Thanks, Yessa. I’m glad you’re with us.”
She smiled and hugged her pup, which she named Esper, short for Esperanza. It meant “hope” in Spanish. Esper loved getting pet and kissed Yessa’s cheek. Their bond was strong. The third pup didn’t have a name yet. Zixin didn’t give him one. He tried to get close to Zixin, but would usually get ignored or pushed away gently.
Troy Dukart is the author of the Venerate Saga (The Venerate Order, The Venerate Redemption, sequels to follow).
Troy grew up outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota: Twin Cities. Troy is recognized by Toastmasters International as an Advanced Communicator Bronze and Advanced Leader Bronze.
He’s lived in Japan as well as California. He loves to travel.
Make sure to stop by his website and sign-up for the newsletter to stay in the know!
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Giveaway Details:
3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE VENERATE ORDER, US Only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Week One:
5/20/2019- BookHounds– Excerpt
5/21/2019- words_on_the_shelves– Review
5/22/2019- The Books I Read– Review
5/23/2019- The Bookworm Drinketh– Review
5/24/2019- Here’s to Happy Endings– Excerpt
Week Two:
5/27/2019- Two Chicks on Books– Excerpt
5/28/2019- The Reading Corner for All– Review
5/29/2019- Rhythmicbooktrovert- Review
5/30/2019- Literary Portals– Review
5/31/2019- Dazzled by Books– Excerpt
Week Three:
6/3/2019- Mythical Books– Excerpt
6/4/2019- Books a Plenty Book Reviews– Excerpt
6/5/2019- Bean’s Bookshelf– Review
6/6/2019- Confessions of a YA Reader– Excerpt
6/7/2019- Good Choice Reading– Spotlight
Week Four:
6/10/2019- Jaime’s World– Excerpt
6/11/2019- Kat’s Books– Review
6/12/2019- Lone Tree Reviews– Excerpt
6/13/2019- Smada’s Book Smack– Spotlight
6/14/2019- Parajunkee– Excerpt
Week Five:
6/17/2019- Owl Always Be Reading– Excerpt
6/18/2019- JB’s Bookworms with Brandy Mulder– Excerpt
6/19/2019- Smada’s Book Smack– Review
6/20/2019- Moonlight Book Reader– Review
6/21/2019- Zooloo’s Book Diary- Review
Thank you for offering this.
Couple of questions, though.
So, WHAT is supposed to be filled in the “free entry” box? There’s nothing there that I see that says.
Of course, I’m often blind to that kind of thing…
Is this excerpt from an early draft, or an ARC, uncorrected proofs?
You should be able to just click right through it – it is now something that should be on all giveaways since these type of giveaways have to have some sort of “free entry”. I think you can put anything you want in the box. That is just how rafflecopter (the site that lets us run the giveaways for free) has it set up to work.
I had the wrong information when I first set up this post and I missed updating the giveaway
Here is what it says
winner will receive a the complete VENERATE SAGA, International. It is an ebook series.
It sounds like an interesting read.
I love the cover to The Venerate Salvation, and the premise looks interesting!
Great cover
What’s your inspiration for this book?