3 out of 4 stars
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Land of the Living by James Pinard is a fantastic combination of science fiction and thriller with a little mystery and romance thrown in. The story is filled with suspense, betrayal, time travel, and murder. In James Pinard's action packed tale James Creed strives to figure out the purpose of his abilities and why someone would want him dead.
James Creed awakens up to find himself back in his bedroom at his parents. The year is not 2015 as he remembers, but 1985 and he is 20 years old again. His memories are a little foggy, yet he has a vague memory of someone he cares for, Sara, dying in a car accident. As he rushes to save Sara, he doesn't realize the chain of events that will ensue. In the process he meets Michael and Daria who claim they are time travelers from the year 2035, and that James is a time traveler as well. They have come from the future to help James discover his mission. Lurking in the shadows of time is another time traveler; one who seeks to stop Jim at all costs, including taking James' life. James and his new friends now must literally race against time to save the future.
I found the concept of the novel interesting. While the story focuses on time travel, it is not time travel of the physical body, but traveling through time with the subconsciousness mind. One could travel to their own body in a different time or a different body. It isn't fully explained how travelers could use another body. How do they know which minds are available for them to travel to? Pinard uses dialogue to explain everything, but it never gets confusing. While he uses scientific ideas and theories, it is all easy to grasp.There are questions that don't get answered in this novel. But the book does have the feel of having more to the story, so maybe things will get explained further in future novels. One thing I did enjoy is that Mr. Pinard explores some historical events in his novel such as what would have happened if President Kennedy was not shot. He also explores the idea of one cannot change the past as well as how even the smallest event can have profound results. Land of the Living makes you wonder "if I could change the past, would I change, and if so what would I change?"
The characters are appealing and complex. Michael came off as a mystery to me; it seemed there was more to his story than what we see in the novel. Daria is almost non-existent which makes one wonder what is her true role within the tale. I wanted more from her instead of her being a background character. It seems Mr. Pinard enjoys the use of mysterious characters which we see in Dearborn, Michael, Daria and even James. There is a multitude of things we don't know about James. However, that is not a bad thing. after finishing the novel, I hunger for more from each of these characters and expect to see more in other novels from James Pinard. The narration is in the first person viewpoint, and the narrator changes throughout the story. When you start a new chapter narrated by someone new, it is hard to distinguish who is telling that part of the story.
The writing style to is to the point and does not include a lot of "fluff". The style kind of reminded me of a James Patterson novel. The pace was easy-going, but suspenseful at the same time. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to find out what happened next. There were some spelling errors throughout the novel. Small things like using "here" instead of "hear," but it wasn't enough to distract from the story. I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys science fiction, or someone who is looking for a good book to branch into the genre with. I would also recommend this novel for those who like a good mystery, there are enough mystery elements that fans of that genre would enjoy it as well. As for a rating, I would give Land of The Living a 3 out of 4 because there were moments where it was difficult to determine who was narrating the story.
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Land Of The Living
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that is the highest compliment. And yes I would love to know when it comes out.
