Book review – ‘The Calling’ by James Frey2 min read

In the 21st century, a series of natural disasters have happened to some cities around the world.

The whole population is convinced that this is a tragic coincidence. The legend says that the Endgame will begin when the human race has shown that they do not deserve to be human.

When it proves to have wasted the knowledge that ‘They’ have given us. That we have ceased to care for the Earth, which is suffering, a planet so lovely and rich in resources and beauty. Then Endgame will start – the beginning of the end in order to decimate and restore order on Earth.

Only 12 selected individuals know the truth, they waited for this day for ten thousand years. While humanity was unaware of the threat that weighed on Earth, they were preparing for the challenge.

Generation after generation they have sharpened their physical and intellectual abilities, becoming refined strategists and infallible murderers, masters of deception and acute observers.

Now they have to put into practice what they have learned: these catastrophes are the signal that begins the hunt.

For each of them, it’s time to go in search of the key, the only object that can stop the apocalypse. The one who finds it first, will have saved his life and his race. The others will be condemned. Because that’s Endgame, a deadly game where the only rule is to win.

The story is smooth with plenty of action and a few shots of unexpected scenes, a kind of Urban-Fantasy-Sci Fi combined with Espionage.

However, even if the style is quite fluid, it lacks the description of places, missing description of the setting. It goes around the world in 200 pages without having a real and tangible sense of location.

Our 12 protagonists are carefully selected from 12 different races across the globe. They practised all their life to participate in Endgame, training from childhood to survive even in adverse situations and to fight with all kinds of weapons.

They own physical ability, and possess quality out of the ordinary, even their mind and cognitive abilities are trained to speak both ancient and modern languages, making them ready to face any challenge Endgame can hide.

An interesting curiosity is the division of chapters of the book, each chapter is narrated from the perspective of a different player; at the end of the book, you have a clear vision of what is going on in every individual player and the feeling towards each other.

The idea of James Frey is fantastic and ingenious at the same time, nothing new, nothing that we have not already seen.

Chapter after chapter the story manages to transport the reader into a world that is equal to our own, but at the same time, discovering mysteries and puzzles that, page after page, will be revealed.

Riddles, mysteries and real action, combined with intrigue, are the perfect combination to create a book that takes high attention to the reader’s curiosity.

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