I couldn't finish this book because I haven't read the first one. The beginning was so complicated and hard to understand that I figured it would be a waste of my time to finish reading this novel. A recap of the previous book/some background history would have been greatly appreciated so people could start reading the series from this book.

Otherwise, the writing was pretty strong and I liked the characters.

Since I didn't finish this book, I'm not going to rate it.

Second Brandon Marlowe is just as readable as the first one. Brandon is still at school and still adjusting to being the newest ranked member od the school. Between school and practice, Brandon rarely has time to search the Omega Files for information on his brother much less do research on the son fo Zues, Alpha. Join Brandon and his squad as they practice and learn for the battle or all battles with the Gods. Easy to read and nice read for young adults and I look forward to the next installment. Nice way to spend an afternoon in the sun. ( )

This was the first in the series which I received. It was a very well written and interesting concept for the story. Makes you think about the old Greek Gods and their Demons in a different way. Very good book for young teens. ( )

This is (apparently) the second in a series about Brandon Marlowe. I say apparently, as I didn't realise that until I read the other reviews on here while writing my own. Despite this, I didn't feel I'd missed any part of the story.

The story follows Brandon Marlowe, a youngish student at an academy for those who have inherited powers from dead gods and titans (in the Greek sense). A war between the gods and basically everyone who opposes them has caused the need for such students to be trained. The plot centres around Marlowe's pursuit of information relating to his brother's death - and the consequences of actions in the past between the gods and the people of earth.

Heartily recommend. ( )

Brandon Marlowe and the Alpha in the Omega is the second in a series of fast paced young adult fantasy novels about a young man, Brandon Marlowe, who has the ability to be an air elemental, a gift descended to him via a Greek Titan. Brandon is attending a school where he trains to be a part of an elite force created to protect the people and allies of Tartarus, and where he also is seeking further information on his older brother's death. Amongst the enemies of Tartarus are the original Greek Pantheon, and a group of other humans, referred to as the Followers, who are fanatical believers in a single deity, and are lead by a man called the Apostle. There are intrigues and complications as Brandon learns more about the history of the conflicts, and delves into his brother's death.

I liked this much, much more than I initially thought I would - the first few pages sort of tumbled me into a world for which I had not been prepared - and was especially pleased that it didn't follow the usual strategy of beating one opponent, then "leveling up" and going on to the next. Instead, the opponents are mostly shrouded, and the narrator's goals are diverse rather than singly focused. Any sense of "leveling up" is gained through not only mission or training experience, but through the narrator's sense that he either succeeded or found a way to improve a technique, rather than just moving on to a bigger bad guy. Once I had a handle on the world in which the series is set, it proved to be fascinating, incorporating Greek mythology and elements of Christian theology into a fairly complex storyline. The characters felt fairly real, rather than being two dimensional, though I think I would have found them even more so, if I had read the previous novel.

The lack of a synopsis covering the previous book was a drawback; it took about seventy pages before I really felt that I had a handle on all that was going on. There's also confusion in the setting - I had (and still have) very little idea of the locations and their positions (this may have been covered in the previous book.) I also had very little idea of what any of the main characters looked like (again, probably covered in the first novel). A later scene from Olympus, felt strange and out of place, not only because of its content, but also because it was the only scene outside of the narrator's point of view. Also, along these lines in a sort of odd complaint, we never see the narrator working/practicing some of the things he tries out until the moment he tries them, making it harder to gauge him as a person, not that I think I would want to see endless amounts of training/practicing spells, etc., but it would bolster the image of a school/student far more if a bit were included.

I read this as an .epub on an iPad, and noticed some formatting issues with altered text sizes, which may not be present in other formats (one paragraph would be a normal font size, then the next would be tiny. Then, a paragraph or two later, text would be back to regular size.)

4 stars
Review copy supplied by the author as part of LibraryThing's Member Giveaway Program. ( )