Review by Blind_Beth -- Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas
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Blind_Beth
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Review by Blind_Beth -- Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas
[Following is a volunteer review of "Heaven and Earth" by Arturo Riojas.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Heaven and Earth is a sprawling novel with a lot going on. But fundamentally it is about trust and loyalty.
The main plot focuses on Cuauhtémoc Gavilán, an engineer of Mexican heritage who has grown up with stories about ancient aliens, or “teachers,” as part of his heritage. His love interest and partner in crime is Dr. Olga Ramos, a researcher who searches for extraterrestrial life. Their relationship forms the foundation of the story, and some of the strongest moments are when the two of them are simply spending time together, taking a break from the driving plot. And the foundation of their relationship is loyalty and trust.
When the story opens they are “just” friends, people with common scientific and cultural interests who met when Olga was at Stanford and Gavilán a recent alumnus. Gavilán seems interested in more than friendship and Olga seems open to more but so deeply immersed in her work that her social life is very lacking.
Things heat up when Olga is summoned to a mysterious convention of scientists and forced to sign a lengthy nondisclosure agreement. While eating lunch with Gavilán afterwards they are intimidated by federal agents and also warned about their safety by some fellow scientists who work for the CDC. At first Olga assumes all of the fuss is somehow about aliens; she has just spotted some unusual activity on her instruments and is beginning to listen more closely to Gavilán’s inherited stories about extraterrestrial “teachers.” But, as it turns out, the fuss is about cadmium.
Olga, and the author himself, take cadmium very seriously. According to the author’s note, real-life concerns about how much cadmium is making its way into American’s diets via phosphate fertilizers—their use, mining, and runoff into the Gulf of Mexico—is what motivated him to write this novel. Beyond the dialog of Olga and the CDC scientists, there are also “cadmium facts” included at the end of each chapter. But the cadmium concerns are also strongly related to the themes of trust and loyalty. Olga’s new information—most of which she receives when Gavilán is absent—leads her to start seeming very paranoid, as she radically alters her diet and begins taking zinc tablets before each meal. Gavilán must either trust her or write her off as crazy.
And ultimately, the CDC and the US government at large are implicated as untrustworthy. Instead of protecting citizens and searching for alternative fertilizer, the government (at least in the novel) is actively covering up how much cadmium is getting into food and also obscuring links between cadmium concentrations and diseases such as diabetes and colon cancer. When extraterrestrials do show up in the story, Olga and Gavilán are faced with a decision: report them to the government, as Olga feels it is their duty to science and America, or actively help the aliens to break federal law. Issues around who is trustworthy and deserving of loyalty figure heavily in this decision.
Overall I enjoyed this novel a great deal. I did think it sagged in several places due to the dreaded “infodump” syndrome that plagues many SFF novels. The information about cadmium, and also the world building for the extraterrestrial culture, were interesting but could have been a lot more streamlined.
Another issue with the story is that it was unclear to me when the climax was occurring. There are a few different intense moments towards the end, but not really a point when everything converges into a single climactic moment. I was surprised when I flipped a page and found myself looking at the epilog.
If you like quirky sci-fi that stays grounded in reality even as weird stuff happens, you will probably enjoy this a lot. It also works well for readers who (like me) enjoy a romantic relationship that builds very slowly from a solid friendship, tempered in the fires of plot. But if you are looking for something with a very streamlined plot arc or extremely original alien races, you might be disappointed here.
I am rating this book three out of four stars, because it's very interesting with solid characters and themes but, like I said, it really sags in places due to infodump.
******
Heaven and Earth
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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3 out of 4 stars
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Heaven and Earth is a sprawling novel with a lot going on. But fundamentally it is about trust and loyalty.
The main plot focuses on Cuauhtémoc Gavilán, an engineer of Mexican heritage who has grown up with stories about ancient aliens, or “teachers,” as part of his heritage. His love interest and partner in crime is Dr. Olga Ramos, a researcher who searches for extraterrestrial life. Their relationship forms the foundation of the story, and some of the strongest moments are when the two of them are simply spending time together, taking a break from the driving plot. And the foundation of their relationship is loyalty and trust.
When the story opens they are “just” friends, people with common scientific and cultural interests who met when Olga was at Stanford and Gavilán a recent alumnus. Gavilán seems interested in more than friendship and Olga seems open to more but so deeply immersed in her work that her social life is very lacking.
Things heat up when Olga is summoned to a mysterious convention of scientists and forced to sign a lengthy nondisclosure agreement. While eating lunch with Gavilán afterwards they are intimidated by federal agents and also warned about their safety by some fellow scientists who work for the CDC. At first Olga assumes all of the fuss is somehow about aliens; she has just spotted some unusual activity on her instruments and is beginning to listen more closely to Gavilán’s inherited stories about extraterrestrial “teachers.” But, as it turns out, the fuss is about cadmium.
Olga, and the author himself, take cadmium very seriously. According to the author’s note, real-life concerns about how much cadmium is making its way into American’s diets via phosphate fertilizers—their use, mining, and runoff into the Gulf of Mexico—is what motivated him to write this novel. Beyond the dialog of Olga and the CDC scientists, there are also “cadmium facts” included at the end of each chapter. But the cadmium concerns are also strongly related to the themes of trust and loyalty. Olga’s new information—most of which she receives when Gavilán is absent—leads her to start seeming very paranoid, as she radically alters her diet and begins taking zinc tablets before each meal. Gavilán must either trust her or write her off as crazy.
And ultimately, the CDC and the US government at large are implicated as untrustworthy. Instead of protecting citizens and searching for alternative fertilizer, the government (at least in the novel) is actively covering up how much cadmium is getting into food and also obscuring links between cadmium concentrations and diseases such as diabetes and colon cancer. When extraterrestrials do show up in the story, Olga and Gavilán are faced with a decision: report them to the government, as Olga feels it is their duty to science and America, or actively help the aliens to break federal law. Issues around who is trustworthy and deserving of loyalty figure heavily in this decision.
Overall I enjoyed this novel a great deal. I did think it sagged in several places due to the dreaded “infodump” syndrome that plagues many SFF novels. The information about cadmium, and also the world building for the extraterrestrial culture, were interesting but could have been a lot more streamlined.
Another issue with the story is that it was unclear to me when the climax was occurring. There are a few different intense moments towards the end, but not really a point when everything converges into a single climactic moment. I was surprised when I flipped a page and found myself looking at the epilog.
If you like quirky sci-fi that stays grounded in reality even as weird stuff happens, you will probably enjoy this a lot. It also works well for readers who (like me) enjoy a romantic relationship that builds very slowly from a solid friendship, tempered in the fires of plot. But if you are looking for something with a very streamlined plot arc or extremely original alien races, you might be disappointed here.
I am rating this book three out of four stars, because it's very interesting with solid characters and themes but, like I said, it really sags in places due to infodump.
******
Heaven and Earth
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Blind_Beth's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: The Engine Woman's Light by Laurel Anne Hill
