2 out of 4 stars
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Evolution, testosterone, tragedy, a religious fanatic, and the mythological Sasquatch, are few of the things that one will encounter in Lost Hope Canyon by T.H. Maynard. The story begins at Beth’s funeral, a victim of drunk driving and the mother of 8 year old William Bradley. As the service concludes, he and his father, Joe, have an unpleasant visitor in the form of Beth’s father named Ezekiel. He is the leader of the nearby Amish community and hasn’t spoken to his daughter since she left home. The reasons for her departure are that she became pregnant out of wedlock and married a Catholic outsider. Ezekiel blames Joe and William for her death and curses them. After he’s chased away by the local officer, Joe hesitantly tells William how he and Beth first met and about the life they built together. Following the story, both decide to go camping in dangerous Lost Hope Canyon. Tragedy strikes as per the reputation of the canyon and 15 years later, college student Blake Steel becomes the show runner.
Blake has a strong interest in Cryptozoology and his best friend, Patrick, is fond of Anthropology. Their college assignment takes them in search of the Sasquatch. While researching, they discover a correlation between Sasquatch sightings and the victims of Lost Hope Canyon. This clue leads them to Seattle and a name: William Bradley. Blake’s father becomes elusive when the area is mentioned but the boys don’t come across anymore leads. They return to campus and years later, Blake and Patrick become well known in their respective fields. One night, while visiting a random pub on the way home, Blake crosses paths with an old man named Gus. He gives Blake the skull of an unidentified animal and upon DNA testing, Blake realizes that he’s come across a potential Sasquatch skull. From the moment the skull comes into his possession, Blake begins to have terrible nightmares of a man and a young boy. With Patrick and a few select individuals, he ventures into Lost Hope Canyon to find his fourth discovery and hopes to discover the reason for his vibrant nightmares as well.
There’s much more that occurs but I may spoil the conclusion if I say anymore. One of the highlights of this novel is the plot’s pacing. By page 56, the narrative covers a lot of ground but it doesn’t overwhelm the reader with horrendous amounts of dry facts or information. The first few chapters promised a heavy religious tone and this intrigued me since the only interaction I’ve had with the Amish community is through satires. It’s disappointing that potential exploration of the Amish community is not followed through with as the majority of the novel focuses on scientific notions. Despite the sheer amount of information to process at certain points, the readability is easy and enough attention is given to the character and time period at hand. A smoother read would be possible if POVs don’t switch mid-chapter. Every time it happens, a new paragraph is started but I could’ve done without this technique.
Another obstacle of the novel is grammar, specifically in terms of punctuations and homophones. For example, a sentence could be similar to the following: “Randy, and Patrick didn’t want to waist the food”. While not an example taken directly from the book, these types of mistakes are found beginning to end. It takes some time to adjust to them and makes for a bumpy ride. Thankfully, the plot was intriguing enough for me to overlook those particular errors.
In regards to characterization, it’s difficult to believe William’s sophisticated thought process. Yes, he is intelligent and encounters the loss of a parent earlier than most, but the way he’s portrayed seems unrealistic. It’s unfortunate we see so little of him since many chapters focuse on him before Blake becomes the protagonist. After the time skip, the characters that are chosen to be part of the expedition team are akin to those from the movie Predator. The similarities are very striking when coupled with the writing style and introspection of each character. Personally, the team member of interest is a Native American nicknamed Chief, who embodies the positive stereotypes of the Indigenous People: he’s close to nature, stoic and belongs to the lone wolf archetype. It’s regrettable since he’s the only Person of Colour in the novel. As for the females, all of them are intelligent, two of them have successful careers but they fall into the categories of emotional support and plot convenience.
Aside from the flawed grammar and characterization, there are a few scenes that are so captivating that the mistakes are forgotten about. One which occurs early in the novel is William’s dream starring the devil. The imagery is vivid through careful choice of words, proving the writing potential of the author. From the perspective of a young boy, dreaming of the traditional ram headed devil would be frightening. As mentioned before, there are a few more times the imagery commands attention and most of them occur in dream sequence. Since the majority of the novel deals with evolution, these dreams are a nice link to the religious/spiritual aspect of the novel.
Overall, I rate this title 2 out of 4 stars. The plot is intriguing, the factual information is embedded nicely into narrative and most characters are developed well regardless of stereotypes. Sadly, the large number of grammar mistakes and homophones reduce the quality therefore the rating. I suggest hiring an editor to fix the words and punctuation as well as to clean and simplify sentences. Aside from this, I would recommend Lost Hope Canyon to those who like scientific themed novels but I wouldn’t recommend the version I read – take a chance with an edited copy as it can be quite entertaining.
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Lost Hope Canyon
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