Review by amandalynnbxo -- Heaven and Earth

[amandalynnbxo]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Heaven and Earth" by Arturo Riojas.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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I rate Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas 3 out of 4 stars.

Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas is a book that was written to raise awareness on an issue that most people don’t even know exists. Cadmium poisoning is a real world issue that effects today’s population, though most aren’t even aware they’re being affected. While this book is a fictional story with aliens and an “end of the world” theme, there are accurate facts about cadmium poisoning in between each chapter. I liked this because if you were just reading for the story the facts can easily be skipped to continue to the next chapter.

While Heaven and Earth is informing the world about cadmium poisoning, it’s also telling the story of several different characters all trying to make a difference in the world. It’s also telling the story of aliens who, thousands of years ago, took an interest in the growth and development of the humans living on our planet.

The way this book was written was one of my favorite parts. I’ve always been a fan of multiple perspective stories because I like to see all the sides of the story to help me figure out what’s going on. At first, I really wasn’t sure where this story was going. Seriously, what could a NASA employee, some guys from the CDC, Homeland Security and some aliens have to do with one another? After a few chapters I thought there were going to be too many perspective switches for me to follow, but that was not the case. There were a few chapters that introduced new characters, but not characters that we followed, we just needed them for a little back story. Riojas did the alternating perspectives perfectly. Instead of back and forth between a set number of people, he just let the characters tell the story as they went along.

So, the next two things that I liked about this books are similar, but not the same (in my opinion.) One thing I don’t care for in books is an excessive amount of description. Heaven and Earth didn’t do that. There was a fair amount of description, but just enough to set the story and help you see what’s really going on. The second thing is the amazing imagery in this story. I don’t think this is the same thing as description because when Riojas is describing what’s happening you can follow the characters in the story, but with the imagery you can see what the characters look like, what they’re driving by, where they are. The best example I found of this in the story was in the beginning. The aliens made their appearance and I could actually see them in my mind. I could see them from their faces, with their long foreheads and narrow chins, all the way to their hands, with their two fingers where humans have one thumb and their two fingers closer together in the middle and the last finger off to the other side (Riojas said it way better than I can.)

I gave this book a rating of 3 our of 4 stars for all of the reasons listed above. Honestly the only thing I could even slightly complain about when it comes to Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas was the cadmium facts (but even then, they were super interesting.) Some of the facts were super long and if you’re halfway through the book and dying to know what’s happening next, you might not want to focus on science and statistics and somewhat frightening facts. I really enjoyed this story and I’d love to read anything else that Riojas has or will write.

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Heaven and Earth
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[kdstrack]

Great review. I also liked the alternating chapters that gave you the option of passing over them or coming back. The cadmium facts were also interesting and the chapter on how to combat the cadmium poisoning was very much appreciated. Great job. Thanks.