Official Review: The Tales on the Sand by Némo
Posted: 15 Jan 2020, 10:50
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Tales on the Sand" by Némo.]
Tales on the Sand is a collection of thought-provoking tales on mystical fantasy. They are full of wisdom. The book is divided in three parts. The first part is a collection of twenty-one short stories, each bearing a certain lesson about life. Most of them are centered on creation and reincarnation. I enjoyed ‘The Golden Giant’ because it teaches that fear can cripple our judgement but courage exposes our enemy’s weakness. The courageous boy in the story exposed the domineering giant. The second part contains five longer but captivating stories of ghostly and extraterrestrial nature. I enjoyed ‘The thief and the Light’ due to its suspense aspect. The third part contains a mixture of short and long, progressive stories of intergalactic and after-death adventures.
The themes revolve around the supernatural, reincarnation, mysticism and life beyond this life. The language of the book alternates between simple and complex. Some of the stories have an easy-to-understand structure while others require the reader to expand their mind in order to understand. The tone of the book portrays an italics-happy author who ardently embraces spiritualism. The overuse of italics is quite distracting. Italics might be okay in one sentence, but when the whole prose is italicized, it becomes stressful to the eye. Additionally, when complex concepts are explained using dialogues, they become easier to grasp. Therefore, an inclusion and a breakdown of dialogues would make the stories easier to decipher. I enjoyed ‘Spirit School’ on page 236 because it breaks the monotony of prose and includes dialogues.
I most love the lessons contained in the short stories because they have a lot to teach about life. This is a book full of uncommon wisdom. I least like the overwhelming length of some sentences. The sentence structure would benefit from fragmentation. A good example is on page 208, the first sentence of the page contains 105 words. I had to read and reread because I kept losing the meaning within the sentence. Nevertheless, the stories were creatively construed.
There is unnecessary repetition. A good example is on page 102, where Susan hugs and kisses ‘her’. The repeated use of ‘her’ and ‘she’ is confusing on to whether it refers to Susan, Donna or Susan’s daughter, Charlie. The key-picking is unnecessarily repeated as well. Even so, it was interesting to note the author’s fondness in referring to God as ‘it’; owing to the gender-less nature of Godhood. I came across errors but the book has no profanities and erotic content. This is an amazing book for those who embrace spiritualism and cultism. The philosophical stories have a superior aspect of human experience, which, in turn, presents insight into the nature of the soul and the spiritual journey.
I will not rate this book 2 star because it is an amazing, spiritual read. Nemo has also displayed outstanding creativity. I will not rate it 4 stars since it is not professionally-edited. I rate The Tales on the Sand 3 out of 4 stars.
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Update from Author: The publisher has edited the book to correct the editing issues noted by the reviewer.
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The Tales on the Sand
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Tales on the Sand is a collection of thought-provoking tales on mystical fantasy. They are full of wisdom. The book is divided in three parts. The first part is a collection of twenty-one short stories, each bearing a certain lesson about life. Most of them are centered on creation and reincarnation. I enjoyed ‘The Golden Giant’ because it teaches that fear can cripple our judgement but courage exposes our enemy’s weakness. The courageous boy in the story exposed the domineering giant. The second part contains five longer but captivating stories of ghostly and extraterrestrial nature. I enjoyed ‘The thief and the Light’ due to its suspense aspect. The third part contains a mixture of short and long, progressive stories of intergalactic and after-death adventures.
The themes revolve around the supernatural, reincarnation, mysticism and life beyond this life. The language of the book alternates between simple and complex. Some of the stories have an easy-to-understand structure while others require the reader to expand their mind in order to understand. The tone of the book portrays an italics-happy author who ardently embraces spiritualism. The overuse of italics is quite distracting. Italics might be okay in one sentence, but when the whole prose is italicized, it becomes stressful to the eye. Additionally, when complex concepts are explained using dialogues, they become easier to grasp. Therefore, an inclusion and a breakdown of dialogues would make the stories easier to decipher. I enjoyed ‘Spirit School’ on page 236 because it breaks the monotony of prose and includes dialogues.
I most love the lessons contained in the short stories because they have a lot to teach about life. This is a book full of uncommon wisdom. I least like the overwhelming length of some sentences. The sentence structure would benefit from fragmentation. A good example is on page 208, the first sentence of the page contains 105 words. I had to read and reread because I kept losing the meaning within the sentence. Nevertheless, the stories were creatively construed.
There is unnecessary repetition. A good example is on page 102, where Susan hugs and kisses ‘her’. The repeated use of ‘her’ and ‘she’ is confusing on to whether it refers to Susan, Donna or Susan’s daughter, Charlie. The key-picking is unnecessarily repeated as well. Even so, it was interesting to note the author’s fondness in referring to God as ‘it’; owing to the gender-less nature of Godhood. I came across errors but the book has no profanities and erotic content. This is an amazing book for those who embrace spiritualism and cultism. The philosophical stories have a superior aspect of human experience, which, in turn, presents insight into the nature of the soul and the spiritual journey.
I will not rate this book 2 star because it is an amazing, spiritual read. Nemo has also displayed outstanding creativity. I will not rate it 4 stars since it is not professionally-edited. I rate The Tales on the Sand 3 out of 4 stars.
******
Update from Author: The publisher has edited the book to correct the editing issues noted by the reviewer.
******
The Tales on the Sand
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
