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Earth Alien Book Reviews
and reader comments
Book Review by Lesley Meade of BookNet
This is the first book by Mark Walker, and shows a lot of promise! A lot of 'first books' are very weak, but this one is, in my opinion, better than some of the books written by authors who have been churning them out for years.
One review I have read of it myself commented that there are some 'first book mistakes' such as stilted dialogue and being overly descriptive. I didn't really notice the descriptiveness in the book, in fact I felt that there were times that the book moved along a little quickly, although this was balanced by periods that could be called 'character development' where nothing really happened. This is a good thing, though, as the book centres around living on another world, and by the end of the book you know the world very intimately. Mark Walker created a very interesting world for this book, and carried through all the little quirks of Nenmaran culture very well.
To address the comment about stilted dialogue, I felt that this was meant to be the case - Nenmarans are a very unusual race of people, and they have a different society to us - in one scene, the main character, Perry, ignores someone when they call out to him, then reacts slightly badly when they say that this is very rude. The person then states that being angry for no obvious reason is cause for banishment. In a world where being moody is cause for banishment, and people are totally open with each other at all times, don't you think that their conversations would seem odd to us!
To highlight the possible flaws in this book first is a little unfair. I got halfway through it in my first sitting, and it was only because of real life that I had to put it down. You can read this book very quickly, and get very engrossed in it! It has a leisurely pace to it at first, and I was a long way through the book before I noticed that things weren't developing in the way that they usually would in a sci-fi story, but that's because this isn't your average SciFi story!
In a way, I want to compare it to Anne McCaffrey's PERN / Dragon novels. It is in a similar style, and the culture on the planet is similar. That is not to say that this was the authors intent, because the plot is totally different, just that at points in the book where Perry is learning about Nenmar I found myself thinking of the Harper Halls.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who is after a novel with a science fiction setting, but a more relaxed feel and no violence. It is an easy, engrossing read, and if you are willing to let yourself be swept off into a new world for a while, then you will enjoy it immensely.
As I was reading this for review, I read it with a critical mind, and was constantly looking for places where the plot could fall down, or where the author was writing himself into a cliché. There were a number of points where this could have happened, but every time it was on the brink of happening the story changed direction. I had a number of alternative endings planned out, and almost all of them were so far away from the real one that I could write them myself, send them to Mr. Walker and he would not know what had inspired them!
Despite some small criticisms, this is a great book, and well worth a look if you are after a new author at the moment.
I'd also recommend keeping an eye on Mark Walker's later books - if Earth Alien is an indication of what he's capable of, then his later book should be very good reads.
Good First Book, 4 October, 2000
Reviewer: (thanatos_zane@hotmail.com) from England
This is the first book by Mark Walker, and it is very good. Unusual for a SciFi book, it takes you to a new world and gives you a very detailed insight into how people live there. It is slow in places, but the rich detail makes up for that, and the ending is carried off very well.
Earth Alien is definitely a winner! I have never been interested in science fiction, but after reading your book in only three days, I can now at least say I am a believer. The book was so fascinating that I am now reading it for a second time. It's romantic, but not dirty, it's mysterious, but not frightening. If life on Earth were like life on Nenmar - well, all I can say is you'll have to buy the book and then you'll find out! I am now looking forward to the sequels.
Thanks Mark!
Karen Sonnhalter
Stafford, VA
Review of Earth Alien by Philbert Fabien
This is the author's first book and there are a few first book mistakes such as being overly descriptive and the dialogue being a little stilted. Now having said that this is not a bad first book, in fact it is pretty good. The story revolves around Perry Thompson who is out with a group of friends star gazing when a cosmic storm sweeps him up and dumps him on a distant planet Nenmar. The story is mostly about his life on Nenmar and how different Nenmar is from Earth. He finds a family and happiness on Nenmar and what happens when that happiness is threatened. This is a very good first book and the story makes up for any short comings the novel may have. I give this three point seven five stars.
© Mark Caldwell Walker