Is Zona believable?

Use this forum to discuss the July 2020 Book of the month, "Zona: The Forbidden Land" by Fred G. Baker.
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Amy Murdoch Coleman
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Re: Is Zona believable?

Post by Amy Murdoch Coleman »

I didn't have a problem with it. Personally, I thought that it had a very "Journey to the Center of the Earth" vibe, so having a type of grounding in a different type of fiction actually made the blank spaces easier to imagine for myself.
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Tars
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Post by Tars »

My answer would be - yes and no. It is all matter of perspective in my opinion. As a fictional character in that current setting, space and time she is quite believable to me. In a real live person fitting Zona's description, well I really don't think so.
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Post by RKeinath »

I thought there was a great deal of information about Zona to allow me to imagine it. I do wish Fred G. Baker had given more to the descriptions of the land and animals within, but it was still enough. With Siberia being one of the few places in the world still not fully explored, yes, I could almost believe it may exist. I say almost because there's a piece of the realistic in me that doubts that creatures long extinct could still exist anywhere.
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Post by rahilshajahan »

Almost all of the Earth has been discovered or trekked by now. A land such as Zona can't exist in reality mainly because of the enlarged animals, the fact that the North pole can't host such lush vegetation as the book claims and the growth hormones hanging in the air. It's a land that you can safely term fictional.
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Post by kdstrack »

I thought the author did a good job of keeping the reader in suspense about the details of Zona. This created a "forbidden" zone for readers where full knowledge had to be discovered bit by bit. It made it seem like you were reliving the uncle's initial experience where each new discovery blows your mind.
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Sushan Ekanayake
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

Geologically there might be no such area, but the author has made it believable enough for the reader to accept that it really exists
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Post by mcoelho »

I am still at the beginning of the book. I like the idea it takes place in Siberia. I do not know much about the area so I have some intrigue. I wondered why the cabin sat vacant for so long and is in such despair? Why did it take him a year to go visit the area?
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Post by Haywhyre7 »

The start was indeed quite slow and didn't really do much of defining or describing Zona. I didnt really mind that though because it didn't really subtract much from the plot as the. Zona being forbidden or not I guess is a question the author purposefully left out perhaps to give readers something to think about
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Post by Fatima Saif »

Zona is an imaginary fictional story in which writer has the choice to write in any way he wants. Zona seems to have some part missing in it or disconnected at some points but that can also be due to difference in way of seeing the story.
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Post by kathy2705 »

This book is fictional, its purpose is to stretch the reader's imagination.
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Post by rahilshajahan »

AmyMarie2171 wrote:
> I didn't have a problem with it. Personally, I thought that it had a very
> "Journey to the Center of the Earth" vibe, so having a type of
> grounding in a different type of fiction actually made the blank spaces
> easier to imagine for myself.

I had similar vibes as well from the book. The center of the Earth is analogous to Zona. Both of the regions are inhabitable and fictional in reality.
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Post by kperm »

shynmr wrote:
> I found the beginning pretty suspenseful because I was waiting for
> something to happen. I thought there would be more early conflict between
> the characters, so I was a bit disappointed that it never really came to
> fruition, but I don't think the beginning of the book detracted from the
> overall quality of the novel.
>
> The level of detail about the location gave me the baseline I needed to use
> my imagination to fill in gaps. Because it was a work of science fiction, I
> didn't need the area to be especially well-defined for the book to be an
> interesting read. From the geopositions in Randall's journal, you can also
> build a better idea of where in the world the expedition is supposed to be.
> You'd have to do a little legwork, which the author could have removed by
> inserting a graphical representation, but you can see the general area to
> which the satellites would triangulate.
>
> As to why the area was forbidden, I thought the explanation was more or
> less sufficient. It might have been useful for the author to include more
> information about governmental differences between the US and Russia, but I
> thought there were sufficient implications to paint a mental picture. The
> maps at the beginning of the book supplemented my reading of the text for
> the specific encampments and activities, so I was satisfied.

I agree with you. The beginning of the book was quite suspenseful and exciting. You made a great point that the location didn't have to be well-defined as the book is sci-fi. However, I think that there was some mystery around the location that could use a bit more clarification.
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Post by Ellylion »

ArriettyClock wrote:
> Did you find Zona believable ? Are there any descriptive areas that you
> think were lacking in the novel which could have helped you understand Zona
> better? (e.g. descriptions of the locations, or more background on why it's
> forbidden, or a better scale on how large it is?)
> It was a bit annoying that the novel was slow to start, and I think this
> contributed to my impatience surrounding the Zona.

The real Siberia is full of mysteries and anomalies, the region is unexplored, so it gives writers great opportunities to create absolutely believable places and circumstances.
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Post by David_Kariuki »

Salma_asa wrote:
> It's a fiction. It is up to one's range of imagination if you want to
> believe or not. But the author must give enough elements to picture
> everything. I think there wasn't enough.
I agree, the author could have given more descriptions and imagery to give us a better imagination/idea. Not too bad though,our imaginations are not bound by anything.
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Post by David_Kariuki »

Koketso1998 wrote:
> Personally, I don't believe it, I'm sure that it's all fiction, I'd
> probably believe it more if real places were more described and the
> relationship between the animals and
> humans were not that exaggerated.
I agree, i tend to think that the author would have given more detailed description if Zona was an actual place. Given the description, i would say that its purely fictional.
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