A favorable introduction to a sci-fi series that sets the stage for more action-packed adventures.
Debut author Rich’s sci-fi novel sends its characters on a roller-coaster journey through time.
It’s the end of the 21st century, and the human race is facing its greatest threat yet. Although incredible advances in technology and society have solved many problems, thousands are dying of Metagenesis, a condition in which a person’s soul separates from their body after too many reincarnation cycles. After Grace Dartmouth learns that her son, Jordan, has contracted the terrible disease, she’s determined to do anything to save him. Her chance comes when the world’s leading Metagenesis specialist approaches her and her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Marc Dartmouth, about an unapproved clinical trial. Dr. Messie describes how Jordan’s soul could be repaired by cloning a compatible soul from a past life—in this case, one of Marc’s. Grace is the only person who could possibly recognize Marc’s soul, so she’s chosen to travel back to the year 2000 and find it. She and her companion, Kay, arrive in the Las Vegas of that era, where they must navigate confusing customs as they race to accomplish their mission. After Grace discovers some sinister omissions in Messie’s story, she’s forced to make a painful decision—with her son’s life hanging in the balance. Rich spins an ambitious and imaginative concept into a plot that’s full of fantastically complicated twists. Throughout, readers receive myriad details about the mechanics of the fictional world and the motivations of its characters. Throughout, the narrative raises and resolves questions at a brisk pace, making for a compelling page-turner. The author occasionally oversaturates the narrative with excessive description or heavy-handed explanation, but the engaging plot and likable characters make up for these flaws. Grace and Marc’s dynamic as they navigate their broken relationship and their son’s illness is especially well-rendered. Rich wraps things up with a cohesive, satisfying ending, leaving plenty of intrigue for a promised sequel.
A favorable introduction to a sci-fi series that sets the stage for more action-packed adventures.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-947072-92-3
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Words Matter Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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