Imagine youself in a world where only the strongest survive. Where the toughest, the purest, and those who show no mercy come out the winners.
Gage once ruled this world. Now, after being betrayed by his superiors... and surviving, he hides from his own government. A new faith in God...the death of his mentor Simon, an aged Roman Catholic Priest...the appearance of an ancient manuscript...and the threat to the woman he comes to love are the only things that will pull him back into this world of pain, and perseverence.
But can he survive the impact of re-entering that world. Can he handle his own distraught emotions plus deal with the Sixth Order.
A truly wonderful book by James Byron Huggins. Every sentence is so filled with descriptive action, you can't put it down. I own almost all of his other novels, except for Hunter, and The Reckoning still tops them out easily.
If you haven't read this book, your truly missing out.

"The Reckoning" is by far my favorite Huggins book. He creates a cast of memorable characters, both good and bad. Especially wonderful is the main character Gage, an ex-Delta Force operative. Huggins has a unique way of blending together Gage's past as an elite soldier and his current struggle to reconcile his faith with his need to protect those around him from the forces of evil. Despite Huggin's writing weaknesses, including overuse of adverbs and conversational indicators, the plot and action carry the story well enough for me to give it the highest rating possible. His descriptions of Special Forces training and his action sequences are superb and well-researched. The ending ties up the story plots while leaving room for a sequel. Let's hope that Huggins will consider writing one!

This book is probably the best book that I have ever read. I am an avid reader who has read many good books, but "The Reckoning" is more than good. I have read and re-read this book more times than I can count, and I have passed it along to more friends than I can count on 2 hands, including one Green Beret who said it was VERY ACCURATE. I have never heard a bad report from any of them. My copy is so used that it is very ragged, but if I were stuck on a deserted this would be the book I would take. James Huggins displays a picture so large in this book you feel like you are a part of what is going on. I would recommend this book VERY HIGHLY!! They need to put it back in print so I can get a new copy!! :)

A Wolf Story, is a book about a young wolf who tries to survive and follow his Lord the Lightmaker, and to resist following the Dark Counsel. It is a book about good and evil and the pain, and struggle to survive, and to have peace. Anyone who has read this book I am sure that they will be as moved by it as I was.

... oh, and did I mention a real cool silver wolf named Saul.

This is my one of my favorite books. Of course, I love all of James Byron Huggins' books, but I treat this one with care. Wolf story is about a brave, silver wolf named Saul and and a large, wise hare named Windgate. Both are warriors. Both lead their clans with strength and honor in the ways of the Lightmaker, and against the forces of the Dark Council.

This story is similar to the Redwall series, in that it uses fantastic animals as the charactes to tell a tale to touch the hearts of men and women - boys and girls. Huggins uses fantasy to bring to life that their is a difference between good and evil, and in whom you put your faith, does matter. This is a book for all ages. I am 28, my friends son is 13, and we both loved it.

This isn't a mussy, gooshy story of love (although that theme is present also). No, these are courageous animals with the will, the faith, and the fight in them to battle the forces of evil to the end.

This book is greattttttt!I'm reading it for my second time and i still love it.an amazingly written book,a mixture of Watership Down,Redwall,and a little bit of chrestianity thrown in!A story about a young wolf Arumus,and his struggle to overcome the Dark Lord and worship the Lightmaker.It's full of action.Read it!

Inquisitors, John Milton, Incomel, Sir Oliver Cromwell, and the long-rumored Assassini...This book is a collage of historical pivot points that remains, nevertheless, true to the heart of its story.

"Rora" follows Joshua Gianavel, leader of the Waldenses, as he bands his people to fight the horrors of the Inquisition. In the fortress-like heights of Rora, the Waldenses manage to stage miraculous victories over the far superior numbers of Marquis Pianessa's armies. Over and over, Gianavel holds off the marauders with strategic wisdom, heroic feats, and--never to be forgotten--Godly faith. In the light of the religion's gross errors, Gianavel's faith alone provides hope in the midst of brutal battle scenes and violent depictions. This book is not for the queasy. This is history brought to horrible and astonishing life. This is hate and bigotry displayed in all its ugliness. This is Godly light seen as a flared match in the darkness of the blackest times.

I've read most of James Byron Huggins other works and found them thrilling but often overwrought with pretensions of grandeur. Here, Huggins matches all that he's ever strived for. This style of historical fiction finds Huggins at the top of his abilities. "Rora" not only brings to life the actual characters that were given animal form in his earlier book "A Wolf's Story," it also shows the gamut of human emotions in the midst of a siege...honor, betrayal, love, hate, and genuine faith in God. I was moved by the human face of heroism and brutality. I was challenged by the steadfastness of a man who stood at his moment in time and refused to back down against overwhelming odds. "Rora" is a book to cherish--for its historical veracity and for its spiritual truths.

This was my first book by James Huggins (I bought it after reading Newt Gingrich's review) and I was not disappointed. I have studied church history in the past and am familiar with the Waldensians, whose story this is based on, but had never heard of Rora, or the hero, Joshua Gianavel.

One reviewer said that the characters are unbelievable, and I can see how someone would say this. So, I looked around for more on Joshua Gianavel and found accounts of his life and the story of Rora in Foxe's Book of Martyrs and Wylie's History of Protestantism. Suffice it to say, the true Gianavel was quite a guy.

This story is inspirational on several levels. It shows what one person can do against seemingly insurmountable odds and it gives a good demonstration of someone with the courage of their convictions.

I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a good story, as I had a very hard time putting it down. It will also give some insight into the Waldensian movement and the Inquisition. But I believe it especially needs to be read by those in leadership, as Gianavel is one who truly was a great leader.

Think "Braveheart" and "The Patriot" with a better story than either and you will catch a glimpse of how profound this book is. Character development was as thorough as in any book I have read. The story is one of an undying faith that would not be quenched by any evil thrown against it. I walk away from this book examining my own faith and how I would respond to what the people of Rora faced. Joshua Gianavel is a historical figure that must be recognized and lauded as one of the truly great men of history. My fear is that the lack of political-correctness of this book (the war between Catholics and Protestants) will keep it from becoming a major motion picture, even though the story screams for that. I'll be thinking about this book for some time!

Huggins' tale of a genetically engineered dragon is like riding along an interstate and trying to avoid the potholes. In this one, it's the plotholes that are constantly attacking. Although one must admire Huggins' attempt to parallel this story with Biblical references, and show the Christian fight of evil vs. good, he does it such a soporific way that I found it hard to get involved. So many scenes are repetitive, contrived, and at times, laughable. While Thor is definitely a heroic type, his battle with Leviathan can only be considered high camp, even from a spiritual point of view. There is so much computer jargon that it bogs the story down. Also, if you look at this dragon that these scientists have created, it is supposed to be the world's most effective killing machine, virtually indestructible, and yet a handful of humans manage to destroy the creature, but not before going through some hilariously impossible schemes. Here we have another hero, Jackson Conner, a mere electrician, mind you, who fights like Spiderman, practically gets himself killed, yet manages to single-handedly finish off what Thor started. Some of the characters just disappear, without knowing their fate. And Huggins must love the word muscular, as he uses this at least twenty times with the heroic serviceman, Barley. Conner's wife, Beth, serves no purpose but to hang around and moan, although she is clever enough to decode the special encryption set up to disallow anyone tampering with the GEO computer. Which by the way is encrypted with the brain of Dr. Frank's dead wife, Rachel. The scene in cyberspace is virtually (no pun intended) a big anti-climactic howler.
I appreciate the Christian approach to science fiction/fantasy; in fact, Frank Peretti does a beautiful job; however, Huggins spends so much time spouting out philosophies, his narrative loses its punch.
I WOULDN'T BOTHER IF I WERE YOU.

As a simple comic book premise turned novel Leviathan is entertaining enough. I have read somewhere that Huggins is/was a screenwriter which explains why so much information is delivered in highly unrealistic and stilted 'speeches' rather than built into creating three dimensional characters. I'm no scientist, but it looks as if Huggins did at least some homework and his explanation as to how a fire breathing dragon might be able to actually exist seemed plausible (not that that matters too much to monster fans, we'll take any explanation as long as we have groovy monsters running around wreaking havoc), for that I give it three stars. Fun stuff that is difficult to dislike in the long run.

This was the first book I read by James Byron Huggins. Now I have all of his books. I really like his books, because they are filled with characters with warrior hearts, and faith in God.

I don't want to give too much away, but this book is basically about man trying to play God, and it turns around and bites him in the butt... literally! Man creates the ultimate machine, and then looses control of it. I won't say anymore... so you better get it, and read it. [....]

You knew when you heard the biblical names of Soloman & Cain--that you were in for an evil battle of epic proportions. Indeed, you get just that, oh and a nanosecond of a romance. James Byron Huggins has managed to slam every nightmare you've ever had into this tall tale. We've got "CAIN," (a Golem really, and the antichrist fused into SuperMan), with some real satanical tendencies, who just happens to be a vampire (nightmares run amok in this book) and needs blood to replenish his strength every time he beats the crap out of Soloman, or gets shot more times than any gangster in Los Angeles. Not only does this monster suck blood, have the "unholy" strength of 100 men, and some evil castle dwelling minions, but he has the help of technology with his titanium reinforced body parts, and an internal (Marburg) viru-bomb set to detonate in 10 days. Could Huggins put any more of our darkest fears into a worse package? Of course we really don't hate Cain until he messes with the Catholic Church. That was his biggest mistake! Our hero, Soloman has his work cut out for him. Licking some old wounds suffered when he lost his wife & child, this ever intense, one-man army is enlisted to stop Cain. Soloman's sidekicks are nowhere nearly as formidable, but Huggins does give us a couple of great archetypical characters in the General, the safehouse soldier, the priest, and the innocent child, who happens to be the daughter of the very woman (Dr. Milton) who created Cain in the laboratory using her own daughter's blood. What irony! Well, some of it may be predictable, but it is a tortuous ride to see when the good guys will bring the bad guys down and who will lose their lives in the battle. The mayhem starts so quickly in the book, that you are sure it will go nowhere because -- how much more can our hero endure? So you keep turning the pages. You turn them so quickly you miss the romance. What romance? You won't be sorry you took "CAIN" to the beach or on your subway commute home. -- D.

Huggins hits the target dead center with Cain. For all the fans of The Terminator, Aliens, Predator, this book will get your blood flowing! The story starts out with a top secret bio weapons project gone out of control, as in a lot of other stories. In this experiement, top-notch scientists use the CIA's number 1 secret agent assassin, Roth Tiberius Cain, to create an unstoppable soldier. Cain is dead, but using reanimation, he is brought back to life. Then they make him anything but ordianry fitting him with technological implants and genetic alterations, including internal titanium armor and artificial titanium-cobalt alloy bones, muscle-enhancing steroids, nerual pathway amplifiers, and nervous system stimulants, to make him stronger, faster, more viscious, and more lethal than any ordinary man could be. And along side, Cain's merciless heart and ruthless nature are made even more evil. When Cain escapes from the facility that created him, we learn that a mutated strain of the Marburg virus that has been used to make Cain's ability to regenerate lost and damaged tissue unlimited has caused his DNA to be so heavily damaged that he needs to drink fresh human blood to keep his metabolism balanced. And to make matters even worse, with the mutant strain of the virus, Cain is the carrier of a viral plauge that will wipe out the entire world's population within a year. Only ten days remain until Cain's body mutates the virus beyond control and the outbreak will occur. The only thing that can kill Cain is the original Marburg virus strain. As a group of poeple who have found themselves trapped in the toils and hardships of life struggle to save the world from Cain, they fight against their own differences, their faith in God and religion, their moral principles, for their very lives and for the life of a little girl with whom Cain shares a dark secret.

Dr. Martha Milton, though she prefers to be called Maggie, is the beautiful scientist that created Cain. Early in the story we learn that she used the blood from her own six year old daughter, Amy, to rewrite Cain's DNA. This makes Maggie's struggle to stop Cain a purely heart-touching display of motherly love, for Cain needs every drop of Amy's blood in order to stop his body from mutating beyond control. The irony is thick, but that only adds to the suspense and action of the story, as well as the emotion. And along side with Maggie is Colonel James L. Soleman, a soldier who lost his wife and daughter to terrorists. Soleman is not the luckiest of people, for he nearly died while trying to avenge his family's death and in the process, he crossed so many lines of the military law that he ended up leaving the military. LIke Maggie, Soleman is haunted by his past, of what happened, what he lost, and of what may lie ahead. These shared characteristics bring Soleman and Maggie close together as they try to stop Cain and save Amy. As Soleman works with Maggie and a group of others, including a priest and a superior mother, he soon relearns the feeling of loving a child and woman. Everyone's faith in the Lord is put to the test, for Cain believes himself to be the supreame God who can defy the real God.

This book so totally awesome! I'm totally surte that it would be a hit movie if it was made into one. Tom Cruise would make a fabulous Soleman and Jeri Ryan would be a perfect Maggie. I would say that the perfect actor for Cain would be Arnold Schwarzenegger. For other Characters, I think Kate Mulgrew would be a great Mother Mary Francis, Katelin Petersen would be a good Amy, and Patrick Stewart is so fitting for the role of Father Marcelle. This cast, is only my personal version of course.

Anyway, for all you action fans out there who love tales of acton, danger, emotion, and destiny, this is a book you will love. This book will blow you away!

Loved it! This book will make a great action movie. Everything's well researched, very realistic with a touch of imagination where needed. Tactics/strategy, names and descriptions of actual military weapons, science, and religious lore -- James Byron Huggins has really done his homework!!! The author goes into detail to create a vivid scene, but not so much that it becomes boring. Kept me interested all the way through.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good action packed "hero conqueres the great evil in order to save the world" type of story.

I've read two other Huggins thrillers ("Cain" and 'Leviathan'), and they're all similar man vs. evil beast stories. Of the three, I would say "Hunter" is the best technically speaking, but "Cain" is the most exciting. Huggins continues to make the same mistakes here as in his other formulaic books, i.e. 1) the same descriptions ("volcanic", "titanic") are used over and over again; 2) the evil scientist is the same charcter as in the other books; 3) the hero is still a haunted superman. Nonetheless, I'm still reading them, so there's obviously something worthwhile, and I think "Hunter" deserves points for straying at least slightly out of the usual formula. While Nathaniel Hunter is a superman character like Thor and Solomon before him, his talent is not innate size and strength like Thor nor superb military training like Solomon. Instead, Hunter is simply a man who grew up in the wilds, and the environment made him the powerful man he is. Ergo, he is the best of the superman charcters. Speaking of which, Huggins is moving in new directions with them. In this book he spends part of the time with Chaney, a U.S. Marshal tracking the bureaucracy behind the requisite beast, and his entertaining pal Brick. And while plenty of no-names get slaughtered by Luther, the beast, we actually get a few named characters with background information who die too, so at least having a name doesn't mean you survive in the end. The supporting charcters are fairly decent, with a Japanese neo-samurai, a very cool female sniper, and a shotgun-mad soldier. They all try to transcend the stereotype boundaries, so kudos for that. The beastie in this is a very nasty critter named Luther. Without supplying details, I'll say he is a perfectly-equipped predator, and the reasons behind him being around are more believable than the same for either Cain or Leviathan. The premise is much better than the other two. There are some other new tricks in this book. There are a wealth of people using different weapons, which adds variety. The action is constant but not set-piece formulaic, and the final encounter in a veritable Golgotha is the best of the three books. Also, this time Huggins adds survival lore instead of mythology and doesn't have any Christian mythos, if that is a reason to buy/not buy this tome. And while some people complain that there is actually sex and profanity (gasp, horror!), it makes the book more realistic. Can you imagine a group of hardened but scared soldiers tramping around Alaska and not cussing? All in all, 'Hunter' was entertaining and an improvement in technical style for Huggins, though I must admit, if you prefer more comic-book style action and excitement, read "Cain" too.

I must admit that Mr. Huggins style is immediately immersive, the pacing lightning fast. I was at first intrigued by the fearless tracker Nathaniel Hunter and his huge wolf Ghost. The action was intense and bloody, the weaponry and the tracking information extensive. But then the story got repetitive. Which made me feel kind of cheated. Overall I enjoyed this novel and the trek across Alaska to kill an enemy that seemed impossible to kill. But the suspense level really wasn't all that high, I had a pretty good idea how this book was gonna turn out. Some of the twists were slightly unexpected, the characters were well developed (especially Hunter and Ghost) and the monster was a true vision of Horror. However, I do have a major problem with characters being thrown into the same situation again and again, only to prevail and fight another day and blah blah blah. The story kept building up to the same climatic scene over and over, just in a different way with a higher and higher body count. It kinda made me question the intelligence level of the elite special forces unit sent to track the creature. But, taken for what it is, an action novel, Hunter does deliver the brainless goods. I must admit I had fun reading this and I daresay, if you're an action fan, you'll enjoy this fast paced book too. You just might get a little irritated toward the end. Overall, a good, quick read, that you will strangely recommend to friends.

If books were ranked according to how nasty the villian was, this one would be off the charts. Huggins has created a surprisingly believable genetic-monster "bad guy", that -- wouldn't you know it -- likes to feast on human brains. Of course the beast has the interest of lots of people, including government officials who the author successfully makes the reader loathe. This bloodthirsty superhuman is persued by the best tracker in the world, Nathanial Hunter.

If you've read any of this author's works, for instance CAIN, you'll be at home reading HUNTER. If you are a mother looking for a gift for your young son who likes to read thrillers, skip it. The author, who entered new territory when he included profanity in his last book (the first one he had done outside of the Christian publishing realm), takes things even further with HUNTER -- the "F" word appears several times and our aforementioned protagonist Hunter has a sexual encounter with the only female in his creature-tracking entourage.

On the positive side the book does include a light moral lesson (i.e. it's a bad idea to try to achieve eternal life through scientific experiments), amidst a great deal of action. Further, Huggins writing exudes storytelling. When he wants to create an ominous tone, in one paragraph he does it as well as most bestselling writers do in an entire novel. His word choice and imagery drips with talent.

If you're looking for something "safe", this book isn't it. If you just want a good read, go for it.