This book started out really good. I found the plot good, and I was quickly drawn in. Unfortunately the were so many mistakes, and implausibilities that the book quickly slid into a chore to read. Nuke batteries, what is the point in coming up with something that stupid? There would not be a large supply of AK-47s in the US, A Thompson is almost 3 feet long and would not fit into a pack pack, Desert Eagles did not come in .45, Thompsons do not have round counters on them, nor do any other guns that I know of. The word wheelgun seemed to show up every third or fourth page. The author seemed to throw random firearm related words or terms into the descriptions of firearms in this book with no regard to whether or not they accurately described the weapon. Overton being a dead ringer for Ryan, and Ryan having slept with Overton's mother before Overton was born, but it is just a coincedence was beyond stupid. It would have been believable if it was just stated that Overton was noticed by Jamaisvous to look by Ryan so they made up the relation to get into Front Royal. That would have been believable. This book had great potential but it was thrown away with nonsense. I give this book a 4.

This book, the first of the Baronies Trilogy (and I have no idea why it's called that) actually had some interesting parts in the first quarter of it.

Then it begins a downhill slide with highly suspect technical details, a misunderstanding of the basic DL universe and when it becomes a graphic orgy of torture and sadisim for its own sake, it lost me completely.

The whole deal with Ryan's alleged son "Overton" was confused and simply didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. The backstory was a jumble in my opinion. Maybe I was just slow on the uptake the day I read that part and just didn't get it, but anyone who does feel free to post another review and correct me.

What I didn't get, if Overton is supposed to be Ryan's son, why does he look like his evil twin on the cover, complete with eyepatch?

There seemed to be a lot of things supposed to be going on in this book with mysterious characters doing sinister things but whatever their main goal was went over my head.It didn't seem to go much further than torturing women and sneering.

But worse than anything, in my opinion Gemini Rising marked the point of the Dumbening, the dumbing down of the DL series, at least in comparision to the previous three or so years worth of books.

Another novel which could be skipped unless you're a completist.

The cover was soooo funny looking I have to give it a 10. Ryan can sound so tough in the stories but in some of the cover art he looks like a major dork with a fro...remember crater lake cover?

This is Nick Pollatta's entry into the DEATHLANDS saga. And even though a lot of things fell short in terms of characterization and storyline - Nick still proves right away that, not only can he write savage action/adventure - but that he has great potential for this series.
Which he has definately proved since!
Jak's character here is horrible. But if this wasn't a DEATHLANDS novel, this would still be a exciting and fun action/adventure read all it's own.
Nick Pollatta has what it takes to bring savagery to the table. He writes it each and every time. He is taking this series back to it's primal state where it belongs. And he's getting better all the time.
This may be a hard one to swallow for us diehard fans, but you must admit that it is still a fun read.