Xenolith

Ebook By A. Sparrow
Rating: (4.3)
Published: Oct. 11, 2009
Category: Fiction » Literature » Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Words: 136555 (approximate)
Language: English

Ebook Description

Lassoed, knocked down, face planted in the dirt -- best thing to happen to Frank Bowen in years. When wife Liz went missing in the wilds of Belize, the constables of San Ignacio could find no trace. Years later, on a pilgrimage to her remote 'grave,' Frank is abducted and whisked away to a place he can't identify, by people whose motives and origins baffle him. Could this be what happened to Liz?

Tags

adventure, alienation, belize, catholic, conflict, contemporary fantasy, culture shock, doctors without borders, exile, expatriate, extremist, factory town, fantasy, foreign culture, fundamentalism, guerrilla, hermit, insurgency, international aid, invasion, literary, loss, lost, magical realism, medical doctor, medicine, medieval, modern fantasy, new england, parallel world, politics, portals, quest, religion, resistance, rivers, romance, scifi, technology, treason, urban fantasy, war

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Reviews

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Review by: Chris Cobb on Jan. 29, 2010 :
Execlent, fast pace and a swicth that will catch you by surprise when suddenly you are in a differnet world looking for part2

Review by: purple panther on Jan. 19, 2010 :
XENOLITH Smashwords Edition by A. Sparrow
Xenolith, by A. Sparrow, was a fantasy novel that I found very difficult to follow. All of the names of people and places were strange and not gender specific so were difficult to remember. Aside from Frank, his wife and Seor, there wasn't enough character development to help the reader keep track of everybody. -- frankly Xenolith read more like a sequel than a stand-alone book. The theme of the book -- traveling to other places through portals -- was interesting and clever. The descriptions were pretty good, although sometimes the prose did read as though jumping page to page in a thesaurus.
Fantasy is not my favorite genre, but I do have some favorite fantasy books. But this won't won't be one of them.

Review by: MsPolitix on Jan. 13, 2010 :
Xenolith is a contemporary speculative fiction e-book I was grateful to receive through the LibraryThing Members Giveaway. Its pivotal concept of travel and warfare across interplanetary rifts is by no means new, though Sparrow brings some nicely original aspects to the idea. There are two distinct story threads, the first of them set in modern Belize, the second on worlds other than ours. Having previously worked in the Belizean rainforest, I enjoyed this setting and the memories the author stirred for me.

As earlier reviewers have commented, the characters in Xenolith at times lacked emotion. There was enough to keep me along for the ride with Frank, our protagonist, but I felt he acted ‘like a normal person should’, rather than as a uniquely motivated individual. I was caught up with some of the otherworldly characters, though I would have liked to witness their feelings more often.

In terms of writing style, the prose of Xenolith is at times refreshing and evocative. At others, however, the language comes across as self-conscious and slightly awkward – which I'm sure will improve as Sparrow's work progresses. There are also typos and other small errors. These are a pet peeve of mine, so I found their presence jarring, where other readers may not be as fazed (erm, neurotic!).

I felt this book would have benefitted from being pared back with tighter editing. That being said, I’m aware that Xenolith is an independent production, rather than something a publishing team of professional copy editors and proofreaders have pored over after the author signed off on the manuscript. It therefore stacks up relatively well to a lot of mass-market offerings you would find in your local bookshop, and very well to the independent e-book market.

I would agree with the author’s comments on their website that Xenolith would be a good, light introduction to the speculative fiction realm for those new to the genre, though it may fall short of satisfying long-term SF&F fans.

Review by: Kathleen Albertson on Jan. 08, 2010 :
True to its title--"Xenolith" unfolds over a time line that takes you to different worlds and different cultures.
Frank Bowen returns to Belize to pay tribute to his wife's death, and becomes kidnapped by a foreign tribe. The story is face paced, lots of conflict.. and keeps you moving forward.
The plot is unpredictably delightful! This is like a Disneyland adventure ride.Well written and fun, fun.
Cant wait for part 2.

Review by: Paul Korhonen on Jan. 08, 2010 :
An enjoyable read. Plenty going on to keep me interested, with some good characters. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Review by: cbell on Dec. 26, 2009 :
I enjoyed reading Xenolith and I'll re-read it soon, so I get more out of the first few chapters. The learning curve was a bit steep for me at first. I found so many characters with short names confusing, but as I became more familiar with them, I could separate them and identify their different personalities and roles.

The story was fast paced and never boring. I don't finish books if they don't grab me in the first couple of chapters, but this one did.

I like the idea of travelling via the Xenoliths and it was interesting where Frank went, although somewhat scary and violent at times!

This book is begging for a sequel. I'll be happy to pay for it and I'd like to read more about Frank. Please, please bring back Liz! And more about Tezhay - I really like him. Oh, but it's your book, you can write what you want to! I approve!

Review by: ASD DSA on Dec. 23, 2009 :
I enjoyed reading this book very much. The vocabulary you used was great. I especially enjoyed the twists and turns in the plot. A good read.

Review by: Tricia Chase on Dec. 15, 2009 :
This was quite an interesting book. I like the way the two worlds converge. Both intermingled stories drew me in wanting more. I felt so bad for Frank loosing his wife.
The perception of our world as viewed from the others made me see our crazy our world can be at times.
The ending was good, yet I would have liked to read more about Frank's ending.
All in all the book was a good read. The creativity to bring it to life was wonderful. Thank you for the opportunity to read.

Review by: glitrbug on Dec. 09, 2009 :
This is an interesting kind of Sci-Fi adventure where the people traveling between worlds are developmentally behind us in their home worlds. That made for a nice change from my normal read. My only complaints with the book would be that it didn't have a lot of emotion. People made life changing decisions, others died, battles were fought, all without much excitement. I wish the author would read some John Ringo and David Weber and try to punch up the action a bit. The book also ends quite abruptly. I would have liked about another half hour with Frank as a payoff at the end of the book. That would entice the reader to get the next book in the series to see what else happens.

All in all, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it for people liking adventures

Review by: marty castelao on Dec. 06, 2009 : (no rating)
I found this book had to much going on at one time. While I liked how it started, it soon became a bit much with other worlds, vocab and wars every where. I think it is ment for a teen age boy.
Thanks for the op to read it.

Review by: Lih Hwan Tong on Nov. 30, 2009 :
Got this book via LibraryThing Member's Giveaway.

Dear Arcadia, I just want to say, thank you for this book. I must admit, when I first started reading this book, I was a little apprehensive. Often, I thought new and un-spoken for writers can be quick to dull and annoy, much like one of the books I had to review earlier was...

On to the review:

This book is a fantasy, yet not quite a fantasy. The book is littered with humans, their politics, cultural differences and common human error in judgement. yet, the concept of parallel universe, while not new, is artfully re-produced and introduced in this book that makes all the relationships between humans, their loyalties and cultures so much more complex, twisted and wonderful.

It's been a while where I stopped breathing for the main character, felt my heart race in comprehension of what might be happening next and swore out loud when I realise it's (yet another!!!) cliffhanger. so please, let me know what happened next SOON!

p.s just a small thing, there are quite a number of spelling, grammatical/structural errors littered through out the book. mostly at the begnning, and some bits at the end.

Review by: Chirtie B on Nov. 17, 2009 :
This was an entertaining read that I couldn't put down. The twists and parallel plot-lines added complexity and prevented the story from becoming predictable. My only complaint is that now I have to wait for the next book!

Review by: Hilda on Nov. 07, 2009 :
Interesting with twisted plots. I'm waiting for the next book. I like Frank Bowen's character, he's great!

Review by: Alex Bell on Nov. 02, 2009 : (no rating)
I've just been emailed by Smashwords and asked to review this book. I'm afraid I can't do that, since the ePub version I bought has double spaced lines - that is, there is a space between each line of text.

I have so many books on my To Be Read list that I'll read them before trying to fix up Xenoliths. If I ever do I'll let you know.

Regards, Alex

Review by: Charliegirl on Oct. 28, 2009 :
Fun, intresting and great twists. Really enjoyed reading this book. Did get slightly confusing in places but have to admit I'm looking forward to the next instalment!

Review by: tinker on Oct. 16, 2009 :
An interesting tale that starts with a crisis, becomes a puzzle then an enigma. The story unfolds logically explaining the puzzle and creating a wonderful premise with good description and at a varied pace. I was thoroughly engrossed in the plot twists and turns and was somewhat disappointed when the book ended suddenly. Then again I am always disappointed when I run out of book during a good story. There is perhaps enough left unsaid for a sequel - I hope.
The only negatives being some typos and spell errors that are being corrected I believe.

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