November 2020 Book of the Month

“Shepherds of Destiny – Book One”

by Kiel Barnekov

Reviewed by Anita Finley

Shepherds of Destiny Book One

If you like science fiction, as I do, this will be your new adventure into the world of cyborgs, which is an advanced robot, with a human mind. The science that the author had to know about and research, made this so real. I was totally blown away by how skilled Kiel Barnekov is to make us believe that there are really people who we are preparing for the cyborg world.

The story starts in 2026. However, to accomplish the enormous experimentation with brain transplants and robots, it moves quickly past twenty years of trial and errors, with the government involved. This cyborg looks and talks like a human, he is a class of individual that can think outside the box, needs little sleep, and has a body that is tighter and stronger than a steel drum.

Shepherds of Destiny focuses on the main character, Kristian Barnett, a wealthy, healthy, brilliant young male, prior to ALS, who was a perfect subject. He was happily married to a genius doctor/researcher, Ansley, and their lives were magical. When someone is diagnosed with ALS, their mind is the last thing to go. Their body begins to deteriorate and loses its mobility completely. I relished this book so much because an awfully close friend of mine died from ALS and it felt personal.

The author brings the reader step by step into the process of separating Kristian’s brain from his paralyzed and close-to-death body, planning to place his brain into a new robotic body with all its necessary parts, and more.

It was a coincidence that the October National Geographic’s major article was called “Meet the Robots.” Loaded with photos of robots, from head to toe, it made for a great parallel, except of course, transplanting the brain was not discussed.

The author was very skilled at interjecting romance along with highly technical and scientific challenges. Medical science has just gotten started into an exciting new frontier. The future of cyborgs is fascinating!

Shepherds of Destiny, Book 2, continues with this fascinating story. Unfortunately, the government and the military have other ideas that are not humanitarian, but power grabbers. They see this technology as making the United States far superior and can use this technology in sinister ways. “The Force of Evil has continuously attempted to complete the destruction of humankind since the dawn of time.  Certain events throughout history that could have gone very wrong have been shepherded to good outcomes.” — Google Books

Even if you have not been into science fiction, this book is a page turner and a perfect way to learn about cyborgs.

About the author:

Kiel Barnekov is an information technology executive who also has innovative airline and airport technology and projects. He lives in Ormond Beach, Florida. Visit Kiel’s website at www.KielBarnekov.com.

(To purchase Shepherds of Destiny, Books 1 and 2, go to Amazon.com)