Review by The Reading Dutchman -- Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas
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Review by The Reading Dutchman -- Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas
[Following is a volunteer review of "Heaven and Earth" by Arturo Riojas.]
1 out of 4 stars
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Heaven and Earth is written by Arturo Riojas. Arturo holds four engineering degrees and is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Texas. He wrote this book because he wanted to write a story addressing his concern regarding the heavy metal cadmium. Unfortunately, Heaven and Earth fails to deliver a compelling story that shares his concerns.
Thousands of years ago, we were visited by aliens called Treretumians. They planted gifts for humanity to ensure our society would progress over time. Some of the aliens are observing our planet, while others are trying to make contact with us. The book focuses on these aliens, as well as a couple of human characters. These include a researcher named Olga, her love interest Cuauhtémoc Gavilán, a doctor named Welch and his colleague Sam. The story revolves around these four characters running into each other, meeting aliens and chasing a conspiracy surrounding cadmium poisoning in our food supply. The aliens have problems themselves as well, as they are under attack by a relentless enemy.
Both need to learn from each other in order to tackle their own respective problems.
As mentioned, Heaven and Earth fails to deliver a compelling story. The characters are written in completely one-dimensional ways and have zero relatable qualities. The dialogue is horrendous and cliché. Reactions to certain events do not make any sense at all. For example, Olga and Cuauhtémoc react completely casual when they meet aliens. The background story of the Treretumians is cliché. Every science fiction trope is easily recognizable from other stories, such as the fact that aliens built pyramids and left artifacts behind for us to find.
The book also uses some unconventional writing methods, like a dialogue tree where two conversations split up and take place simultaneously. However, this is only used once and never returns later in the book. It feels ridiculously out of place and adds nothing to the story whatsoever. A list of facts on cadmium poisoning can be found at the end of every chapter. These lists break up the reading flow too much and I found myself skipping them after a certain amount of chapters.
Finally, Heaven and Earth often feels more like a critique of social issues, instead of an actual story. At times it reads more like an essay or a series of lecture notes, lacking any substance of story or emotion.
The problem is not that it wants to critique social issues. The problem is that it only does that and nothing more. It does not deliver a story that is compelling or gripping. A good story ensures you will start thinking naturally about the topics it tackles. This book does no such thing.
Instead, it feels awkward at best, horrible at worst. As such, I cannot give Heaven and Earth more than 1 out of 4 stars.
******
Heaven and Earth
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1 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Heaven and Earth is written by Arturo Riojas. Arturo holds four engineering degrees and is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Texas. He wrote this book because he wanted to write a story addressing his concern regarding the heavy metal cadmium. Unfortunately, Heaven and Earth fails to deliver a compelling story that shares his concerns.
Thousands of years ago, we were visited by aliens called Treretumians. They planted gifts for humanity to ensure our society would progress over time. Some of the aliens are observing our planet, while others are trying to make contact with us. The book focuses on these aliens, as well as a couple of human characters. These include a researcher named Olga, her love interest Cuauhtémoc Gavilán, a doctor named Welch and his colleague Sam. The story revolves around these four characters running into each other, meeting aliens and chasing a conspiracy surrounding cadmium poisoning in our food supply. The aliens have problems themselves as well, as they are under attack by a relentless enemy.
Both need to learn from each other in order to tackle their own respective problems.
As mentioned, Heaven and Earth fails to deliver a compelling story. The characters are written in completely one-dimensional ways and have zero relatable qualities. The dialogue is horrendous and cliché. Reactions to certain events do not make any sense at all. For example, Olga and Cuauhtémoc react completely casual when they meet aliens. The background story of the Treretumians is cliché. Every science fiction trope is easily recognizable from other stories, such as the fact that aliens built pyramids and left artifacts behind for us to find.
The book also uses some unconventional writing methods, like a dialogue tree where two conversations split up and take place simultaneously. However, this is only used once and never returns later in the book. It feels ridiculously out of place and adds nothing to the story whatsoever. A list of facts on cadmium poisoning can be found at the end of every chapter. These lists break up the reading flow too much and I found myself skipping them after a certain amount of chapters.
Finally, Heaven and Earth often feels more like a critique of social issues, instead of an actual story. At times it reads more like an essay or a series of lecture notes, lacking any substance of story or emotion.
The problem is not that it wants to critique social issues. The problem is that it only does that and nothing more. It does not deliver a story that is compelling or gripping. A good story ensures you will start thinking naturally about the topics it tackles. This book does no such thing.
Instead, it feels awkward at best, horrible at worst. As such, I cannot give Heaven and Earth more than 1 out of 4 stars.
******
Heaven and Earth
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Papersharps's review? Post a comment saying so!
