This book has all what a good book need: action, a good plot, interesting characters but the way it's written need to be refined.
I found it too plain. There's a difference between calling a tree just "tree" or calling it a "baobab" or a "palm".
I missed more details on how thigs look like. It was kind of difficult to picture the places where the characters moved.
Same for the characters. Too plain, either good or bad. No nuances of their natures.
It reminded me of a school test where you list all the important point but give only a superficial explanation, no real insight.
Like a black and white outline of a painting missing the colours to make it whole and beautiful.
I'm not talking about endless, boring descriptions. Only brush strokes skilfully arranged to make the story complete.
I find the idea of Talkers and Familiars very good, it's something new and interesting and I found the Appendix explaining the bonding useful since I was wondering all the book along how it worked.
A good story, easy reading and interesting idea. ( )

I was given a copy of this book for an honest review. Welcome to the Totalitarian society of The Apex. Where everyone has a symbiotic relationship with their familiar animals. Do you control rats, lions, or hummingbirds? Control is determined by the most lethal and smartest. Are you fighting for The Apex or against it? ( )

I received this book as an ebook free from the author through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review. This book is a fantasy; very different from my usual genre. The use of animals as familiars was a new twist. Apex Rising is a fast paced short story with lots of action. Power and control seem to be the main issues. I enjoyed reading this book. ( )

I'm not one for short stories but I enjoyed this one. I've read books before with familiars but never one where everyone has one or more and use them as assets the way they are in this story. I found the author's take on familiars new and different. It was fast-paced with lots of action IT wasn't perfect but it certainly deserves at least four stars for such a short story. ( )

I got about a quarter of the way through this before giving up on it. I wasn't gripped by the characters, settings or plot and I found the writing style clunky, prone to telling over showing. It had potential, which is why I read as far as I did, but at the end of the day, I wanted to read other books more than I wanted to finish this one. ( )