Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Review: Silence the Echo by Alea Carroll

About the Book

Silence the Echo by Alea Carroll
Published by North Node Press on December 30, 2018

GoodReads Description

Humankind has forgotten its obligation to live lightly upon our planet.

Civilization is about to disappear.

Twelve thousand years ago, the ice age ends precipitously. Cataclysm looms. Unless preserved for the few who shall inherit Earth, twenty millennia of history and invention will be forever lost.

Gifted young telepaths are recruited from the old clans to learn the ancient physics of time travel. Their mission: teach people of the future how to access a crystalline Hall of Records.

As seas rise, storms rage, and tremors persist, spirited Seerce and her clever ally, Aaron, find evidence of experimental energy production. Why do the best minds of science accept a catastrophic fate, when they ought to intervene in what disturbs Earth?

Quickly, these two rebels and Seerce’s forbidden lover find themselves under the scrutiny of a powerful master of esoteric arts. He has his own design upon Seerce’s destiny.

My Thoughts

I am struggling with my review of this book.  There were a number of things that I considered very well done and that I would have loved to see more of.  There were also a number of things that annoyed me and that I thought should never have been in this book at all.  Unfortunately, there was no middle point with this book.  There were things that I hated and things that I loved, nothing that I simply liked. Please keep in mind that these lists are in no particular order.

What I Liked...

  • Seerce is a very well-written character.  I love that Carroll really gives you the opportunity to find out who she is.  Seerce is a strong minded, caring individual who truly seeks the best for those around her.  She is also a little selfish and she tends to let her pride get the better of her. I was excited to encounter such a human character.
  • I thought that the premise of this novel was very well thought out.  It was obvious that Carroll had a great big world in her mind that she wanted to put down on paper.  I appreciated the time and effort that she took to build this world.
  • I liked that this book was so inclusive.  Carroll could have chosen to abstain from writing any LGBTQ+ characters, but instead she chose to include a lesbian couple.  I felt like this added even more diversity to an already beautiful world.

What I Didn't Like As Much...

  • Although I have read the entire book, I'm really not sure what it was about.  I mean, there was so much that had to do with Seerce's schooling and the Order. The bits about their mission were glazed over, though.  And then there were the parts with her relationships that seemed to come and go.  Even those, however, seemed to make up only a small amount of the novel.  I finished this book a few days ago and even now I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be focused on.  I think that Carroll's goal was to show that there is a variety of elements in each person's life and that not a single one of these should overpower the rest.  I just don't think that point was well enough developed to stand out for most readers.
  • I have a serious love/hate relationship with the ending of this novel.  I liked that every loose end was tied up.  Unfortunately, I felt like the loose ends were tied so rapidly that it was more thrown together than tied in a neat bow.  
  • Carroll definitely knows how to write with adjectives.  Her work is colorful and vivid.  Her writing style, however, tends to cover a lot of this beauty up.  I felt like she so badly wanted to write with a flair of Tolkien's style that she forgot to add her own flair.  This means that the book reads a bit slow in several places that should have been exciting.  

Overall...

I liked the basic plot of this book.  I loved that Carroll created a romance novel for scifi/fantasy nerds.  I especially loved that she created her own world.  I just wish that it was a bit more developed.  I believe that this is Carroll's first book and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.  I am excited to see how her writing style develops.

My Rating



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