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Planet of the Herakoses tells the story of the descendants of the colonists. The main character is Mekaul, a young hunter from a community along a major trade route. Tired of small town life, Mekaul is restless and wishes to explore the world. His opportunity to do so arrives with the appearance of Denrik, a travelling scholar seeking to unravel the mysteries of humanity's pre-colonial ancestors. With his father's blessing, Mekaul joins Denrik, and the two arrange travel with an aspiring merchant named Hiraum. With his companions, Mekaul treks across dense forests, rugged mountains, and a vast desert to reach Ashewara, one of the planet's most powerful nations. Along the way, he becomes entangled in a centuries-old religious rivalry between the desert tribes and the queen of Ashewara, and ends up an unwilling player in the political intrigues of the feuding parties.
Although I admire the author's creativity, I have to say that Planet of the Herakoses needs quite a bit of improvement. The most obvious problem with this book is that it is filled with grammatical errors of all kinds: misspellings, run-on sentences, misplaced commas, and incorrectly conjugated verbs, just to name a few. There is also an overuse of certain words and phrases to describe the settings. For example, the author uses the phrase "dense vegetation" to describe the natural environment on multiple occasions.
I was also disappointed by the lack of description given for the planet's flora and fauna. The author gave the names of the many plants and animals encountered within the book, but I was unable to get a clear picture of these life forms due to the scant (or sometimes nonexistent) details. Furthermore, I was a little bothered by the fact that the planet itself, along with two of its three moons, was never given a name. The author took the time to name each of the settlements, rivers, and various geographic locations, so why was no proper name even given to the world itself? In my opinion, the lack of a name for the planet contributed significantly to the overall incomplete feel of the book.
Additionally, I believe that the first half of the book needs revision. In this section, there are many instances in which the author gives tedious "play by play" descriptions of the characters engaging in mundane tasks, such as hunting, eating meals, and settling into their beds. I really feel that these descriptions were not always necessary, and that many of them should be condensed or removed entirely.
However, I will say that the latter half of the book showed promise, and even became enjoyable to read. In this section, the tedium vanished and the plot became interesting. I also noticed that the writing improved dramatically after I reached the halfway point. In fact, the difference was so striking that I felt as though I was reading an entirely different book.
I am giving Planet of the Herakoses 2 out of 4 stars because I do believe, in spite of my criticisms, that the storyline has potential. I would not recommend this book in its current state, however.
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