Review by Blue-siren -- Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas

[Blue-siren]

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

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2 out of 4 stars

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Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas involves human and extraterrestrial beings working together in order to achieve victory over silent killers that harm both of their worlds. For humanity, the silent killer is called Cadmium of which no one, not even the government, is willing to discussed even when it involves health issues and for the extraterrestrial beings, the silent killer is called “muidac”, which has the ability to destroy their species. While they both come from very different world, two humans and the extraterrestrial being must work together in order to save their races. This sci-fi story explores how humanity look like from an outside view point and shows the lengths of which one must go through in order to make a change.

Within the book, Cadmium poisoning is frequently referenced to and at the end of each chapter, there are at least a page that gives the reader facts about Cadmium posing. The author lets the reader know, at the very start of the book that they are allowed to skip over them, but these facts, I found very interesting, so read through them. However, having these facts, I feel like, are a missed opportunity because there was a chance for them to be pulled more into the story. The author’s purpose was to make people aware that Cadmium poisoning is real, and Riojas does accomplish his purpose.

When looking at the characters, I felt like that they were very one dimensional. We were told who they were and what personality they had but there was no connection with the reader and the characters. Most of the book was told through tell not show, which was good for some parts of the book, but other times show not tell would have worked better, especially when it came to characters. Most of the characters tended to mirror each other, meaning that they had similar personalities, and there was not that much diversity when it came to how characters reacted and with how they handled situations. The dialogue between characters felt forced and unrealistic. However, the two main characters did have a more developed personality. With the extraterrestrial beings, they were developed, and they were not just one dimensional, the reader gets a chance to learn about their backstories and what their motives are.

The writing was very descriptive, you could tell exactly what the author was trying to tell you, but this descriptive writing backfired a bit because the author would describe scenes that were not really that important to the plot and these scenes tended to make the story drag. However, this style of writing was very helpful when the author was describing the extraterrestrial beings. The pacing was slow and with such descriptive writing, I felt that it was not a good match.

Overall, I would rate this book 2 out of 4 because, while there is no grammar issues or spelling errors, I really could not get into the book and found that I had to force myself to finish. I would not rate this book a one star because I did find the concept and plot very interesting, nor could I rate it a three or higher because, for me, the characters were not able to catch my interest. I would only recommend this book to those who have time and patience to read this book and to those have experience reading a sci-fi book.

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Heaven and Earth
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[kdstrack]

Nice review. I also thought the cadmium information was informative. Your point about how hard it is to make a change (even if you have alien help) was valid. Thanks.