On the evening of his high school graduation, Nathan Pierce collapses on
stage. Plagued with visions of a strange girl intent on killing herself, he
wonders if his mental instability is a consequence of the deadly car accident
he was in days earlier. Heather Rhodes, wracked with guilt because of the fatal
wreck, finds she is unable to forgive herself and begins to question her own
beliefs.
While the death of a newborn weighs on her heart, on her mind is the
strange gift she was able to use to protect her and Nathan in the accident...a
gift that Heather wonders may have just been a figment of her imagination.
Cynthia Ruin, aka The Pink Rabbit, decides that her high school graduation
night should be used for partying, not walking down the football field.
At a nightclub in Scottsdale,
Cynthia finds more than she bargained for when a stranger from her past decides
to exact his revenge on her for a prior rejection. All three come to realize
that their current problems are nothing compared to the stars that are falling
from the sky. During the global crisis, the President of the United States
makes it her personal mission to keep the country on the right track to
becoming a world superpower, while a hostile entity known only as absolute
threatens her administration. Meanwhile, word starts to spread that the falling
stars may not be stars at all....Book Description
Wasn't
exactly sure what I would make of this book, it was described as a new type of
genre..........
After
the first few chapters I was even more unsure, in-fact I was debating if I was
going to continue. The story so far
introduced you to a few different characters linked through school &
religion, and who have experienced some unusual dramatic events, including some
sexual scenes. A character who was from another planet was introduced, looking
to save Earth from something called Legion, who appeared as a black liquid
which flowed to take over other beings.
This
all initially appeared as a made for TV script, something like the 'x files',
and for me was too much in the present. This is a purely personal thing as I
generally read for pure escapism, which this was not achieving. After talking
& thinking it over I was reminded that I should continue reading, as we do
our best to provide an honest review, and if something isn't for us then we
should say so. Well
I'm glad that I was reminded of this as the next three chapters that I read
proved that point well, they were interesting.
Did
I speak too soon? Not fully sure. I have read the full story now, and I'm still
undecided.
The
story is fast paced, and the author does a good job of keeping all the
individual threads of the story integrated with each other, but there are too
many threads, too many characters whose points of view we don't seem to need.
Strangely the characters who are integral appear to be very well spoken even in
fraught & dangerous situations, by that I mean that no profanities are
uttered which just doesn't seem to be realistic.
The
theme of the novel is good, the mix of religion & science fiction works,
though you don't fully come to it until towards the end, but there are too many
protagonists for the story, unless they are all linked to a single source. Are
all of them required? Not sure. Overall the writing is good, but there are
quite a few areas in which the writing drops off and the story falters; which
is a shame as obviously the writing skill is there. It did feel for me as
though the whole book was setting the scene for future books, so it just did
not grab a hold of me. I felt that I was going through the motions, with
characters that I just couldn't get a feel for. Not quite true as the first few
chapters did grab me, especially Pearl but that was it for me, and the ending
was a made for tv ending.
I
feel slightly deflated, as it just didn't happen for me and I know it was
close, so frustrating, parts of the story were good but not enough. Unfortunately I can only give this 3 stars, as
it just didn't work for me.
Reviewed by Cardmon
You may purchase "Black Earth" here : DarkissReads Bookstore
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