Book – Earthshatter (Haven Prime #1)
Author – Albert Nothlit
Star rating - ★★★★★
No. of Pages – 530
Cover – Awesome!
POV – 1st person, multi POV (with brief 3rd)
Would I read it again – Yes!
Genre – Sci-Fi, Adventure, Apocalypse, Alternative History
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** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY DSP PUBLICATION, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine
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This was an awesome feat of detailed story planning and world building. There was such a complexity – from character interactions, events and consequences – that it had an epic effect, when they were revealed. Yet nothing was ever too far-fetched, too far out of reach or understanding. The fact that we had 7 (really 8, but mostly 7) main characters could have made this confusing to read, except for one thing – the genius use of 1st person, multi POV. Without becoming omnipresent, each character gets to tell their own story, as and when it's appropriate. Their POV lasts exclusively for anything from 1 to 8 chapters; as long as is needed.
And that's where things get interesting.
The story begins with a diary format, with the entire Part 1 in 3rd person. Not only does the time/date format give us a real time build up to 'the swarm' – the event the entire book is based around – but we're introduced to the characters in a much more complete way. Thanks to the 3rd person POV, we get to know the ins and outs of each character, who they are and how they act with other people, from a slightly more all-round perspective than 1st person allows. Which is one of the reasons 1st person doesn't really work for me – it takes so long to learn who "I" as the character is (in terms of age, gender, build, abilities, personality etc) that it can often take 5-10% of the story to learn who "I" am. This 3rd person, allowing us to know character first, then letting us since into their 1st person POV, made all of that irrelevant. There was no confusion, no uncertainty, just letting us get to know each character right from the start. By the time Part 2 begins (the end of 3rd person and the start of 1st person POV), we already have a foundation for who these people are.
I love that the bugs (centipedes) are not only a wholly original concept – being not at all scary in real life, but becoming something monstrous in a believable, entirely possible way – but they also have a real scientific classification. That is how much attention to detail has been put into this book – we have medicine, psychiatry, technie stuff, military, scientific and more going on, and the details are never passed off, glossed over or ignored for any of them. Each is explored in the kind of detail required to the extent that matches the knowledge and qualifications of the characters, as well as the requirements of the story.
When it comes to characters, I naturally have my favourites. The top most two never changed for me, though the others fluctuated according to the story and how they treated my favourites. Here's my evaluation of all the characters, to help you understand why they're in the order I place them (favourite to least favourite). I'm going to try to keep spoilers out of it, as much as I can.
Dex – childlike, sweet, caring
Kenichi – fun, cheeky, comic relief, smarter than he's given credit for, attentive
Alain – mysterious, fun, smart, Dex's brother and the unofficial leader
Nikos – second leader (or the leader when Alain isn't around), strong, dedicated, survivalist
