Review by Gwinling -- Asa's Gift by Isaac Green

Gwinling · Post by **Gwinling** » 10 Feb 2019, 16:06

[Following is a volunteer review of "Asa's Gift" by Isaac Green.]

1 out of 4 stars

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I wouldn't recommend this book to most. There are some disturbing moments that wouldn't be appropriate for younger readers and the story line is hard to really follow. Hard core fans of 50's science fiction dramas might have some fun with it.

The story of Asa's Gift seems to be split between three points of view Daniel, his friend Javier, and occasionally Daniel's cousin, Asa. Most of the story is set in 1880 in a small silver mining town called Lagrima. Abraham, Daniel's father moves the family of four, including Asa and Daniel's mother Rivka, to the town from Russia and takes an accounting job there, but strange things begin to happen. Miners start to disappear and people come down with a strange disease. There are also some mysterious deaths of livestock and plant life around the mine. It's up to the three boys and the townspeople to discover the cause of these strange happenings.

There were parts of this story that were very well written. The world that's described around Asa is usually vibrant and clear. I can really visualize how he sees things. There is also the mystery of the caretaker that I enjoyed the most and is one reason why I continued to read the story. The ending also wraps things up nicely and made me smile. Unfortunately those are the only points I really enjoyed this book.

The main thing I disliked about the book was the lack of good description. Aside from Asa's parts, the world is only partially described. Instead of seeing a world, I see a high school stage with flat cardboard props. Most of the characters are underdeveloped and I spent a lot of time asking 'who was this guy/girl again?'. It made the story hard to follow. A lot of action was dialed down, as well, to one sentence descriptions that didn't do the story justice. I think I would have enjoyed it more as a series with the events more fleshed out and split into multiple stories instead of all happening on top of one another. I got really confused halfway in on what they were fighting, why they were fighting and who was on what side. There were also a few grammatical errors that put a halt to the story. Wording was often strange like "nearly surprised", "so much in a rush" and "Daniel decided to checked saloon. I would also recommend an editor that speaks a bit of Spanish. Mine isn't perfect but I noticed a lot of missing accents and phrases that weren't translated right.

Over all I give Isaac Green's book Asa's Gift a score of 1 out of 4 for it's poor editing, it's confusing story line, and it's lack of description.

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Asa's Gift
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mariluzgarcia · Post by **mariluzgarcia** » 23 Feb 2019, 06:37

I agree with your assessment. I also gave this book a poor rating because of the many many many errors in it. And yes, you are absolutely right, the Spanish was pretty bad.

Kristin Ransome · Post by **Kristin Ransome** » 23 Feb 2019, 10:23

The premise of the story sounds intriguing, but the execution seems to leave a lot missing. Thanks for your honest review and I'll be passing on this book!

Wacamato1961 · Post by **Wacamato1961** » 17 Mar 2020, 11:53

I like your review; to the point and informative without being critical. I have a lot to learn. I am reading this book and having trouble with all the errors and trying to think of how to write a review of it. I like the story just fine and it could have gotten a much higher rating if properly edited!