Official Review: The Tarantulas Best Season

[Nonso Samuelson]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Tarantulas Best Season" by James N. Sarvadi.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Lannie Longwell, Richard Rauthin III, Earl McWilliams, and Jerome Bradley are baseball players for Ponca City Pioneers of Oklahoma. During their off-season, their team sends them to Mexico to help out the Tupequena Tarantulas' disastrous season in the Central American Baseball Association. The team's coach, Ronald Springer, is grateful for the impact of their arrival, however, the team has bigger problems. The Tarantulas' owner, Senora Dolores Sanchez, is trying to fight off a hostile takeover spearheaded by El Aya Fat Kabat, an Arabian business mogul who owns the rest of the league.

Around this time, Liberty LaChance—an accident-prone archeologist and specialist in the study of accidental phenomena— visits Tupequena to research a case of accidental cannibalism. She gets acquainted with the team members, and their interactions pull her further into deeper relationships with them, especially Bradley and Longwell. How does the team fight the hostile takeover? What role does LaChance play in fighting this acquisition?

James N. Sarvadi told an enticing tale revolving around baseball. The Tarantulas Best Season was a surprising yet detailed tale about the baseball team of the people of Tupequena. I enjoyed reading about the characters in the book; they exuded bravery and finesse in several ways. My favorite character in the book was Longwell. Even though he was in a foreign country, he stood out as someone you could always rely on; he was a leader.

The town of Tupequena was an intriguing one. It was a matriarchal society; women owned and ran all the businesses in the town and employed the men to work for them. A prime example of this feminine power was Senora Dolores Sanchez's ownership of the Tupequena Tarantulas. The nature of the town made it easy to see why Mr. Kabat's ownership of the baseball league didn't sit well with Sanchez. While this was a fictional setup, it made me wonder what some matriarchal North American societies of the past would have looked like.

I enjoyed the detail in James's narration. For someone like me who has little interest and knowledge about baseball, his comprehensive description of the sport made this book a good starting point for further research into it. I also enjoyed the way he told each character's story; there was sufficient backstory for each major character, and they were placed such that they linked to the central storyline at the right points.

While the backstories were impactful, I felt there were some holes in the story going forward. For instance, the relationship between Liberty LaChance and Lannie Longwell could have been fleshed out more. The archeologist came to Tupequena for research, where she grew fond of Longwell. However, I didn't like that the author didn't give enough time to their bond, but that's just my opinion.

I could barely find typographical or grammatical errors in the book; it shows the book went through professional editing. The wealth of baseball information and the takeover battle between Sanchez and Kabat were enough for me to give this book 4 out of 4 stars. The issue of LaChance's and Longwell's relationship was subjective and didn't affect the main plot, so I didn't consider it in my rating. I recommend this book to lovers of baseball and people who love stories about the dog-eat-dog world of business.

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The Tarantulas Best Season
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[Mercy119]

I'm not interested in baseball, but I'm intrigued by the matriarchal town with female-owned businesses. I appreciate the author's creativity in merging such unrelated concepts.

[J_odoyo]

A book revolving around a baseball sound like a great choice for fans of baseball. I like it that the book is well edited and involves backstories. Not my type of read, though. Otherwise, thanks for this great review.

[Kanchan Sharma]

A good review given. The book involves a variety of emotions and plots. I am looking forward to read it.

[Becca Olsson]

It’s odd to find a mix of baseball and archeology but it sounds as though the author made it work. Great review!

[Uzo_Reviews]

Wow. A book portraying women as leaders and employers of labour. I think this book can be recommended to Africans who still think less of women. Great job.

[onyii_review]

This would be a book a sport lover would love. Thanks for the review.

[GNerd]

I don't think this book tickles my fancy. Great job anyways.