Pages

Friday, October 11, 2013

Z2 by Sherrie Cronin: A Review




BOOK TITLE: Y1

ISBN: 978-0-9851561-5-2

AUTHOR: Sherrie Cronin

GENRE: Interactive Novel

NUMBER OF PAGES: 351

FORMAT: e-pub e-book

SERIES / STANDALONE: Volume 3 of collection 46. Ascending

REVIEW BY: Dhivya Balaji

HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: Using a goodreads giveaway.

REVIEW:

          Intrigued by the previous two books of the same series, x0 and y1, which chronicled the experiences of the Zeitman family, I took up this book, the third instalment in the series which featured the head Zeitman, Alex. As is usually evident in the book covers of this series, I could guess what this book will deal with. If the previous offerings were about Telepathy and Shape Shifting, this book is about the biggest mystery of all, time.

          Alex Zeitman always strikes the reader as a mildly humorous but basically understanding guy and a real champion for the woman of his family in particular and good people in general. He is brought out to be a liberal guy and we could expect nothing less than a book that lets him fight for causes. How he uses his special ability to do that forms the rest of the plot.

          In the racy narrative spanning over three centuries, about cultures as diverse as the Mayans and new age Americans, and about an object that transcends the test of ‘Time’, the book does it all with a neat narrative and not one chapter is out of place. Like giant puzzle pieces falling to place of their own accord, the book fits together the variety in one unified concept.

          Many figurative and theoretical references to time are awesome. Especially using the ‘dreams’ that frequently appear to Alex is an innovative way to give plausible answers to the readers’ questions. The second thing I like about the book is its time lapse experiences that occur to the lead characters and the way they are portrayed. It would indeed have been funny if Alex seemed to understand what he was going through from the first. The slow understanding of the process is more realistic and acceptable.

          The story deals with serious issues, agreed. But it does so in a really soft manner and tells out even the ugly facets of the immigration rules and the prejudice of white people. Simultaneous threads of story following a Mayan treasure handed over by generations and that survive the Spanish invasion follow a really gripping whodunit sort of mystery.

          One second we are following the adventures of the Mayan people in the seventeenth century and next we are brought back to the current Mayan descendants of the twenty first century. No wonder the book includes at least a fake time travel scene. Although it does amaze the reader that the search for a single treasure could go on for those many years with such dedication, it is actually a mirror of what is happening in the world.

          Alex’s time-relative ability and how it is triggered are all well written. And how something abnormal can be brought out to be used in normal scenarios is thought out well. But there are times when the reader feels wanting about more action and adrenaline, especially considering the fact that the book is about time. But certain allowances should be made when the protagonist is a middle aged man who has fathered three kids and is a simple school teacher.

          The author specialises in weaving the story around socially related causes and boasts of a good accuracy in the facts and laws, especially considering this deals with her home country. And Alex does manage to capture our hearts with his determination and the way he pulls off his stunts. In short, if you are already familiar with the Zeitman family, you have to shout out, ‘Go, Alex’ every time he manages to do something awesome.

 

WHAT I LIKED: The whole concept of time dominating the book, Treasure hunt and legal tussles inter mingling in a plot, the correlation between various members of the protagonist’s family and how each book crosses the story of the previous novels (in the same series) in ways that would be hard to imagine.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: The narration of the treasure hunt is predictable, and a little more intrigue would have added juice. And there are certain chapters which give a lag to the whole story before the reader realises they are vital to the whole plot. The story is more appreciable if the reader is already familiar with the other works, and there has to be a fair warning!

VERDICT: Go for it if you want drama, action, humour and family time in a single book. This has it all. But consider enjoying the volumes one and two before this to appreciate the content better. Certain nuances are best delivered as a whole.

RATING: 4.5/5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

          Sherrie Roth grew up in Western Kansas thinking that there was no place in the universe more fascinating than outer space. After her mother vetoed astronaut as a career ambition, she went on to study journalism and physics in hopes of becoming a science writer.

          She published her first science fiction short story in 1979 and then waited a lot of tables while she looked for inspiration for the next story. When it finally came, it declared to her that it had to be whole book, nothing less. One night, while digesting this disturbing piece of news, she drank way too many shots of ouzo with her boyfriend. She woke up thirty-one years later demanding to know what was going on.

          The boyfriend, who she had apparently long since married, asked her to calm down and explained that in a fit of practicality she had gone back to school and gotten a degree in geophysics and had spent the last 28 years interpreting seismic data in the oil industry. The good news, according to Mr. Cronin, was that she had found it at least mildly entertaining and ridiculously well-paying. The bad news was that the two of them had still managed to spend almost all of the money.

          Apparently she was now Mrs. Cronin, and the further good news was that they had produced three wonderful children whom they loved dearly, even though to be honest that is where a lot of the money had gone. Even better news was that Mr. Cronin turned out to be a warm-hearted, encouraging sort who was happy to see her awake and ready to write. "It's about time," were his exact words.

          Sherrie Cronin discovered that over the ensuing decades Sally Ride had already managed to become the first woman in space and apparently had done a fine job of it. No one, however, had written the book that had been in Sherrie's head for decades. The only problem was, the book informed her sternly that it had now grown into a six book series. Sherrie decided that she better start writing it before it got any longer.

          She's been wide awake ever since, and writing away.

EDITIONS AVAILABLE: e-book

PRICE: $2.70 for Kindle edition



No comments:

Post a Comment

Not a SPAM comment! :)