Leon is an initiate in a world that’s been destroyed by solar flares, and its inhabitants are waiting for the fourth and final message from an alien civilisation promising to save them. To become a man, Leon now must go on a hunt in the wilderness but things unravel very quickly and Leon ends up on a completely different kind of journey.

Sounded so good.

It wasn't it was a slog, with hateable characters and little direction. I DNF'd at 20%.

Not really my genre but interesting enough for fans of futureistic Sci-fi fans to enjoy and follow .

Sorry to say that i couldnt finish this. I just didnt gel with the story or the setting. I was bored to tears. Sorry.

Jacob's Ladder certainly was interesting. It's not like the premise states. Much more religious than I would have thought which I didn't love. The characters are not likeable and their personalities are questionable and severe. I wanted to like this, but it morphed into an unrecognizable story that lost me. Maybe the blurb should read differently? An okay read. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher/author for this ARC for my honest review.

Well.....where to start?!
This book is certainly not what I expected based on the blurb. Aliens, cult, abuse of women, and so forth. Even after the main character’s “slave,” stays with him and continues to devote herself to him when she had the chance to leave him to die, he CONTINUED to abuse her and beat her. It was really difficult to like any character in this book. And maybe that was the point? I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable with my teenager reading this story based on the horrible treatment of women alone, but yes I know it’s just a book. Not my favorite, that’s all.

Received via NetGalley for review.

Not at all what I expected from the blurb - I went into this expecting a typical science-fiction quest and got a pretty religious telling about the literal end of the world. Which is not to say I didn't like it; I just wouldn't classify it as science fiction. Everything was so related to the Bible and the stories of the End Times that it was hard to see from any other lens.

Leon has been raised to eschew all attachments so that he might Rise - be one of the chosen to go to Thule once Earth become inhabitable. But his ceremony goes awry and he discover that what he was raised to believe is a twisted version of the truth. Those who are chosen to go to Thule are seen as aliens by the rest of the world, hunted and feared for their strange skin and deadly poison.

The main relationship is unsettling in this story. Leon and Martha/Ulya (his slave) were raised in an incredibly oppressive cult, where attachments and empathy are forbidden and those who are chosen are simply worth more than everyone else. What this means is that Leon has been told his whole life he is special and chosen and wonderful, and Martha has had to endure beatings and slavery and probably worse her entire life. She is so broken that, when the opportunity comes for her to leave Leon for dead, she instead doubles down on her loyalty and devotion to him (She justifies this because he wasn't "as bad" as the others, though he still abused [and continues to abuse!!] her emotionally and physically). There is no overt romance, which greatly relieves me, but the utter brokenness of Ulya is so disheartening and depressing that her continued apathy hurts to read. Yet she is praised as having a strong soul, or bending but never breaking. This definitely sends the wrong message to the reader, especially to the younger readers that Pike is aiming for. This, in combination with the uncertainty of the ages of the characters means that it could probably be shifted for adult audiences with little issue.

The climax was also very rushed - Ulya, Leon, and their companion arrive at a camp and find themselves slaves once their companion is brutally murdered, apparently as justice for "provoking the worms" (strange, merciless, deadly, and unstoppable creatures). There is no follow-up to this or further explanation (WHY is it forbidden to provoke the worms? Why was he doing it if it was forbidden?), and Leon travels to the city to discover the true location of Thule. When he returns, (almost) everyone is dead. I appreciate the bleak ending, but it all happens so quickly it was a little like whiplash - this happens, and then this, which results in this and that, and then everything goes to crap. It's a little tough to follow.

So, while it's badly mis-categorized (religious horror, maybe, rather than science fiction, and adult rather than young adult), it's an engaging and tense read.

The story begins with Leon who is about to go to a challenge of sorts to prove himself worthy to become the Elect. Which is basically a power advancement within the colony. We are not told exactly why this is being done, except for the concept of picking out the strongest in the human race to be saved by some alien race.
When ho goes off to his hunt, due to changed weather and a acid storm, he loses his mark and his challenge becomes harder. No longer it's just about him and his mark, but also about the other dangers in the outside world, the other races that are hunting in the wilderness for food, scraps, other people.
The beginning had me hooked. It was a different concept for a dystopian. But as the book dragged on, there's just so much fantasy, but it's not explained fully. I liked the fact that we were learning of the actual world and what is happening in it through these brainwashed. innocent eyes of Leon, but eventually mostly everything should have been explained. I'm still at a loss for what the messages were, or what they actually mean. Or why this alien race is helping the Earthlings. Just so much unexplained, and left for imagination.
Oh and the gore. It really read more like a horror book. I did not expect so much gore with the worms.
Overall an interesting book for a dystopian sci-fi. More world building, and more streamlined characters would have made this a better book. I still have no idea where any of the characters stand in the world. Have they changed their thinking? Or are they doing what they need to survive?
If anyone loves gory stories, with lots of alien creatures, go for it.

I liked this PANS, with it's allusion to recognisable Earthly touchpoints, but also the way it branched out into wholly unknown tech. well, why not? It is set in the future, i think. It carried a good story with strong characters and wasn't tempted to sequel up at the end.

This story's blurb and title were really intriguing. I am a character-driven reader, but I couldn't really cheer on the characters in this book. I did, however, like the writing and the characterization. I will read more of Pike's work. Thank you, NetGalley for supplying this book!

The title grabbed my attention, not a bad read but not very clear with explaining and story clarity. That said, I'd read this author again.

We have heard your call.
You no longer need to fear.
You will receive five messages, of which this is the first.
The last message will inform you of the time and place of your salvation.

30 years it took to get a response from their SOS call. The Earth is dying and another planet has responded to offer salvation but only for a select few and only for the worthy. Leon is a warrior who lives his life to please and impress the ones who will one day offer him salvation but to do so he has to have a stone heart, be unattached and to complete murder. The day comes for Leon to meet his prey and to complete his rising. He has trained his whole life for this, but what he wasn’t prepared for is, his sacrifice is a woman.

I was hooked from the very first page of “Jacob’s ladder”. It was so enthralling and fast paced it felt like a movie being played out in my mind whilst I was reading. I would recommend this novel to any sci-fi/fantasy fans.

I read a review that the treatment of woman in the book is hard to stomach and for this reason it was awarded 1 star. Woman are kept as slaves but it’s relevant to the world building and relationships that follow. I don’t think under any circumstances it’s a reflection on the authors views of woman. I think people can become too sensitive about subjects in a book especially when it’s fantasy. That right there is saying it’s not based on real life.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC in return for an honest review.

I don’t even know where to start. I can’t think of anything to like about this book. I’m really disappointed about that, too, because the description seems SO promising!

I’ll start with the fact that there isn’t a single likable character in this book. Not one. The main character starts out a detestable member of a detestable group, compounded by the fact that the he has a female slave, so you think that gives him a lot of room to improve, right? Room to wise up and realize that having spaces is bad and treating women that poorly is also bad, yeah? BUT HE NEVER DOES. Nor do any of the other characters!

Wait, I’ll take that back. There was one likable character. And she has no lines of dialog that aren’t passed through s different character and only briefly appears at the beginning and the end. Maybe that’s why she’s likable. She’s just never there!

Then there’s the fact that, clearly bad things have gone down and the world is about to end, but there’s really no explanation about how things in society ended up the way they are. It’s hinted at and alluded to, but there isn’t a satisfying explanation that answers the questions! Like, Sat worms. What are they? Where did they come from? Are they from the alien saviors or were they part of some warfare that happened that we aren’t privy to? If there was warfare, why? Who was the war between? Who won and what did they actually win? Where is this set? How old are the characters—is the main character still a teenager?

Also? An explanation on the mechanism of how the sechniks are chosen would have been nice. What set them apart and makes them special. Was Vanesa responsible for making Leon that way, or was Leon that way and Vanesa activated something? If Leon has never met Vanesa, would he have become a sechnik?

And the end is rushed and abrupt and nonsensical and answers NO questions at all. This wasn’t a satisfying read. If I hadn’t been reading this on an expensive device, but in a book, I’d have thrown it across the room. In the end it was nothing more than a word salad with characters I didn’t care about doing things that seem continually pointless for very little payoff. I’m glad I didn’t pay for this or I’d want a refund.

This book had a huge amount of potential, but failed to deliver on any front. I haven’t been this disappointed in a book in a very long time. I won’t be reading anything else from this author.