Review by FrankiProw -- Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas

[FrankiProw]

[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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Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas is the name of the book that I just finished reading. It is a Sci-Fi book that is centered around aliens from a planet called Treretum and Earth itself. The aliens are on a search to find ways to help better their home planet as well as check on Earth and its environmental issues. After some time a couple of the aliens show themselves to some humans to ask for help for a personal issue and to offer them help to find ways to get rid of the Cadmium poisoning that is happening to the environment. This book is full of adventure and real life situations that is actually happening on Earth.

I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.

One of the things I liked, but also disliked about this book was the characters. The characters had good interaction with each other and I liked the names that were used. I just felt like the author could have went a little deeper with explaining backstories and personalities. It was hard for me to fully engage with the characters because it was difficult understanding some mannerisms that they were portraying. Other than that I liked the characters because the parts that I did know about them were pretty good.

Another thing I liked about this book was the real life issues that were used. It was interesting to read about the Cadmium poisoning and mentioning health related government branches like the FDA. It really tied into the storyline and the facts at the end of the chapters helped to understand Cadmium and the effects that they have on the environment. At first I was concerned that it would ruin the book somehow, but as I continued to read I had changed my mind about it. Learning about real life occurrences in a fiction book was unexpected, but it was a good unexpected and not something that takes away the meaning behind what the book is about.

Something that I didn't like about this book was the confusing parts that I had trouble understanding. For example the speaking in Spanish thing. I don't know Spanish, so it was hard for me to get what they were saying (the parts that didn't have the translation next to words). Another example is when Nivla would talk about his home planet or when he was trying to explain something important about Earth. All of it was confusing and was extremely complicated for me to understand. I guess it was a good way to "understand" the goings on, but there might have been a simpler way to get the point across.

Overall, I thought the book was good because there was random things that happened that lifted the tension that might of happened throughout the story. Yes there were things I didn't like about the book as a whole, but it didn't make me bored or in-interested in finishing it. I would recommend this book to people who likes the Sci-Fy genre, but also the people who are interested in environmental issues. I thought it was well written and the sudden switch of point of views didn't annoy me all that much, so I give props to the author.

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Heaven and Earth
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