Review by Hale99 -- Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas

[Hale99]

[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

This is a Science Fiction novel concerned with the effects of Cadmium on the environment and the inhabitants of Earth. It uses historic alien attempts to assist the people of Earth in ancient times (Egyptian & Mayan) while, in the present, getting help from the main story characters.

Dr. Riojas (an engineer) is obviously very concerned with the effects of cadmium on people and animals. He gives short Fact sections on cadmium at the end of each chapter with two appendixes at the end of the novel.

The modern story revolves around Area 51 and the crashed alien spaceship and alien bodies that are supposedly held there. The government is the bad guy in this story (as expected). The heroes are outliers who fight against the powers that be. There is also a related story of invasion and treason on the alien side. The aliens are from Sirius. They have been planting 'seeds' on Earth over thousands of years. Their last visit in the 1950s ended tragically.

There are several exciting scenes - a car chase (the threat is dropped immediately afterward) - the aliens' attempt to recover their friends bodies from Area 51 - a mutiny on the alien ship, but I would not call the novel a thriller. In places it is a bit technical. There is a mention of the "Borg" by the aliens, which is a bit distracting, but does give the reader a common cultural reference point. There also appears to be a setup on the last page of the novel for a sequel.

I would give this story 3 out of 4 stars. I found eleven editing errors, but nothing of great significance (p.329 - "... Olga went up on here (sic) toes..."). There were a few spots where the text became slightly difficult to read (p. 217 - after the break). But, in general, it was well edited.

I liked the main characters Olga and Gavilan, both were well fleshed out. I liked them. Nivla, the main alien and his clones were also well described and believable. The alien world was fairly well realized. The bad guys were kind of generic. Other than Dr. Riojas' obvious desire to make the reader aware of the cadmium problem, it did not seem too proselytizing. I considered it to be a Good but not an Excellent read. I would recommend this book to the standard SF reader and to anyone interested in cadmium poisoning.

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Heaven and Earth
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[lbhatters]

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

******
Heaven and Earth
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like Hale99's review? Post a comment saying so!

I enjoyed reading your review. The summary seems quite good and the description of the characters and events interesting.

[Spirit Wandering]

I saw this in the list to review and was wondering about the intersection of a sci-fi novel and use of cadmium. Thanks for clarifying in your review.