Review by Wacamato1961 -- Asa's Gift by Isaac Green
Posted: 20 Mar 2020, 15:11
[Following is a volunteer review of "Asa's Gift" by Isaac Green.]
Asa's Gift is a blend of Science Fiction and American West genres. The author, Isaac Green, has attempted an intricate blending of old west gunfights and saloons with psychology, history, and alien creatures. It’s a huge undertaking and I applaud the effort, but I’m afraid it falls a little short.
The story is quite engaging as it opens with Daniel Ruskin awaiting the birth of his first child. Daniel also has responsibility for his adult cousin Asa, who is mute and communicates through his artwork. Asa is assumed to be unintelligent and is mostly ignored by the family.
When the new baby Rachel is born, multiple doctors agree that she has a heart problem, a Ventricular Septal Defect, or a hole in her heart. Daniel is told there is no current treatment for this condition and the baby has but months to live. To everyone’s horror, Asa kidnaps the baby and flees with her to the former silver mining town of Lagrima where he and Daniel lived as children. The tale that ensues has Daniel recovering long-forgotten memories of an epic struggle for survival and eventually escape from the cursed valley of Lagrima.
The idea and premise are valid and promising.The book contains adventure and mystery and combines many elements that seem to be well thought out; however, many details fizzle out and seem to have no real relevance, such as Daniel’s family being Jewish or the doctor giving Daniel a copy of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.
I really liked the intriguing title and cover art; Asa’s artwork depicted within the novel is abstract, a combination of historical photographs, mosaics, and computer imaging. I liked the main idea of the story and even how it eventually plays out. The problems arise as the story advances into Daniel and Asa’s past as they become entwined in many mysterious events. I had a hard time following the details and the reasoning behind the actions of some of the characters. The individual paragraphs don’t seem to be in any particular order.
Asa’s Gift is not a terrible book. It has its good qualities but is badly in need of editing. There are many, many grammatical and punctuation errors. As I mentioned, some of the paragraphs seem to be out of order. Self-editing can be okay, but in this case, I think it would have been intuitive to have hired someone to at least proofread the text, and perhaps a Spanish interpreter to ensure the accuracy of Javier’s speech.
The characters and scenery are well defined and the overall idea is intriguing, but because of the many errors, I give this book a 2 out of 4. At this time I can't really recommend this book as it is quite hard to get through.
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Asa's Gift
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Asa's Gift is a blend of Science Fiction and American West genres. The author, Isaac Green, has attempted an intricate blending of old west gunfights and saloons with psychology, history, and alien creatures. It’s a huge undertaking and I applaud the effort, but I’m afraid it falls a little short.
The story is quite engaging as it opens with Daniel Ruskin awaiting the birth of his first child. Daniel also has responsibility for his adult cousin Asa, who is mute and communicates through his artwork. Asa is assumed to be unintelligent and is mostly ignored by the family.
When the new baby Rachel is born, multiple doctors agree that she has a heart problem, a Ventricular Septal Defect, or a hole in her heart. Daniel is told there is no current treatment for this condition and the baby has but months to live. To everyone’s horror, Asa kidnaps the baby and flees with her to the former silver mining town of Lagrima where he and Daniel lived as children. The tale that ensues has Daniel recovering long-forgotten memories of an epic struggle for survival and eventually escape from the cursed valley of Lagrima.
The idea and premise are valid and promising.The book contains adventure and mystery and combines many elements that seem to be well thought out; however, many details fizzle out and seem to have no real relevance, such as Daniel’s family being Jewish or the doctor giving Daniel a copy of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.
I really liked the intriguing title and cover art; Asa’s artwork depicted within the novel is abstract, a combination of historical photographs, mosaics, and computer imaging. I liked the main idea of the story and even how it eventually plays out. The problems arise as the story advances into Daniel and Asa’s past as they become entwined in many mysterious events. I had a hard time following the details and the reasoning behind the actions of some of the characters. The individual paragraphs don’t seem to be in any particular order.
Asa’s Gift is not a terrible book. It has its good qualities but is badly in need of editing. There are many, many grammatical and punctuation errors. As I mentioned, some of the paragraphs seem to be out of order. Self-editing can be okay, but in this case, I think it would have been intuitive to have hired someone to at least proofread the text, and perhaps a Spanish interpreter to ensure the accuracy of Javier’s speech.
The characters and scenery are well defined and the overall idea is intriguing, but because of the many errors, I give this book a 2 out of 4. At this time I can't really recommend this book as it is quite hard to get through.
******
Asa's Gift
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon