Sunday, August 01, 2010

Awakening on Orbis 4 by PJ Haarsma

Johnny Turnbull imagined life on the rings of Orbis as a perfect utopia, where he could live life to its utmost. His previous excursions on the rings hadn't been terrible, even though he was a kudnik. Being a kudnik rendered JT meaningless to the citizens of Orbis, but life went on, mainly because of his sister and friends. But things begin to change upon the discovery of his sister's unique and unprecedented powers, and JT is pushed into a land of unfamiliarity. In "Awakening on Orbis 4", JT discovers many things about life, and becomes more in-tune with his inner self. However, his personal gains come at the sacrifice of a great many things, things he thought he would cherish forever.

Awakening on Orbis 4 was a well-written, emotional, and powerful novel. The futuristic setting developed in the mind of the author is both creative and descriptive, perhaps one of the most intriguing I have ever encountered. The book also contains small, yet effective romance scenes that have a huge effect on the overall feel of the book and the layout of the plot. It is because of these very realistic human emotions such as love, fear, and desperation that the characters seem very real and true to themselves. The voice of this novel isn't very strong, as it uses much dialogue to tell the story. But when there is no dialogue, the narration is rather matter-of-fact. However, this fault does not impede on the quality of the story, as it is not very apparent.

Having read the prequel, I found this book to be everything I expected it to be, and much more. I felt the emotions of the characters, as they experienced pain, love, and confusion. This was perhaps the greatest strength of the book. Another strength was that the vocabulary was age appropriate, and so was the content of the book. A minor weakness was the book slightly confused me at the beginning, because the settings were very intricate and complex. However, the complexity of the book also adds a dimension that was very intriguing. Compared to other books in the Sci-Fi category, it was one of the best, even better than its prequel. I found the book very interesting and moving, and am eager for the next book to be published. The ending was excellent, setting the scene for many more stories to come. I would definitely recommend Awakening on Orbis 4 to anybody who has read the previous books in the series, and wants a phenomenal book to read.

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Baltimore, MD United States