3 out of 4 stars
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Asa's Gift by Isaac Green is a science fiction western. The story opens in a house in Denver where Daniel's wife, Rose, is in labour. She eventually gives birth to a baby girl who unfortunately has an heart defect. This made Asa, Daniel's cousin, to take her to Lagrima, a town where he had previously lived with Daniel and his parents. Daniel followed Asa to Lagrima as he had left a trail behind in order for Daniel to locate him. Upon reaching Lagrima, Daniel's memory of Lagrima came flooding back as he begins to remember the things he had left behind and forgotten. Why did Asa carry Rachael - Daniel's baby to Lagrima? What are the things Daniel had left behind and forgotten? What will Daniel experience now that he is back in Lagrima? Asa's Gift by Isaac Green gives the answer to these questions.
The book, Asa's Gift, has an engaging plot. The story was written systematically in such a way that events and happenings unfold one after the other. There is a tie and connection among all the chapters. This made the book easy to follow and understand.
The author's style of writing is in such a way that the present unfolds first, after which he took us down memory lane, to the past, and then finally brought us back to the present. This, however, didn't deter the reader from following and understanding the book.
This book is not just a science fiction but also has layers of fantasy. This made the book more appealing as the reader will get lost in a different world of Santarians (as shown in the book), filled with beautiful flowers and different colours of light.
The author used simple English; this made the book easy to understand. He also made use of graphics in form of images relating to different scenes and characters in the book. I liked this about the book.
Different themes and lessons are to be learnt from this story. One of such can be taken from Asa, Daniel's cousin. He was different from most children and had a personality of his own. It was later found that he was autistic. It has been found that autistic children have exceptional gifts than the normal child, and Asa is no exception. It was this gift he used, exceptionally well, in this novel.
Acceptance is also the key in relating well with the Autistic. Daniel accepted his cousin, Asa, and vowed to always protect him. This made him study Asa and devise a way to communicate and understand him. This is a lesson to be learnt in relating to those with Autism in our present world.
What I didn't like about the book is it being filled with lots of horror, gruesome, and grotesque scenes with monsters, non-humans, distorted humans, blood and in overall, gore. This did not bring any appeal to the book. It made it contradict the nice appeal the beautiful Santarians world gave the book. This should be taken into consideration by the author. I think it will be better if a book is all horror with no beautiful scenes and vice versa than it being mixed.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I cannot say it was professionally edited as it couldn't but made do with some errors and typos. These are few examples: on page 43, line 3, " then to called" instead of "then called", page 54, line 5, " with a" was repeated, and page 118, the line before the last, "bud" instead of "but". I, therefore, recommend that the book should be re-edited. However, with these few errors, the book is not hard to follow and understand
This book will appeal to lovers of science fiction/fantasy and supernatural beings who have heart for horror and grotesque scenes. However, it is not advisable for young ones who can't withstand horror.
I, also, recommend this book to those who have an autistic relative or friend, or who wants to know about the life of an Autistic.
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Asa's Gift
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