3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
An epic adventure packed with unbelievable tech and incredible coincidence, The Sword of Gabriel: Ten Days on Earth by Tom Holloway needs a few issues ironed out, but has great potential as a story. Though the reader can get bogged down by excess technical detail and the sheer impregnability of the main character, the plot is truly intriguing and engaging.
Henry Benjamin Johnson started out human, but he’s not completely sure if he is anymore. After dying on the beaches of Normandy during WWII, he was rescued by aliens and given technological implants and upgrades to keep him young and healthy. Now, he works for an intergalactic consortium that sends him all over the galaxy as a kind of peacekeeper. Every ten years, he is allowed to come back to Earth to spend ten days there – but this ten days proves more eventful than he planned. Between meeting a gorgeous actress, doling out justice like candy, and preventing WWIII, this particular trip will change both him and Earth forever.
There were three things I noticed that are not very helpful to the book's flow. The first is that though the technological prowess of the alien cultures is fascinating, there is so much descriptive detail - including exact measurements - that it starts to feel like the author would have felt more at home designing props for the film adaptation instead. Because it happens so often, it breaks the reader’s immersion in the storyline. I found myself skimming over the endless description, wanting to skip to when the story picked up again.
The second major thing I noticed is that, in my opinion, the main character is simply too powerful for the storyline. This isn’t necessarily a drawback (i.e. Superman), but I personally think that characters with few or no limitations are harder to identify with as characters.
And finally, there were several scenes involving nudity, sex, and/or rape which were described in much more detail than I’m personally comfortable with, including the main character describing his love interest’s breasts and his attraction to the rest of her body at least three separate times. This moves the book into the “for mature readers only” category, even though the rest is perfectly acceptable for younger readers.
That being said, I did have fun reading this book. I became involved in the storyline, rooting for characters and being worried for their safety at times. When I first started reading this book, I was immediately reminded of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy regarding the setting. Though neither the writing style nor the story were that similar, that first impression lasted the entire story and affected my interpretation of it. I liked the way the author handled action sequences, as well as the different characters and interactions. It felt very realistic and helped to draw me into the story.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because, though there were some major issues, the book is genuinely enjoyable. Readers who enjoy sci-fi/alien or action books are sure to love reading this book, despite the drawbacks. Though I would not recommend it to kids or sensitive audiences because of the aforementioned scenes, this book is good enough that I, personally would read it again.
******
" The Sword of Gabriel "
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Kathryn Price's review? Post a comment saying so!