Review of Parachute Minds

[Sarah Schmidt]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Parachute Minds" by Jeremiah Sanchez.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Parachute Minds: Leap of Fate, written by Jeremiah Sanchez, is the first book in the gripping new science fiction series, Parachute Minds. Gideon Green had just charmed his would-be robbers, Abraham and Tess, while hitchhiking on his way to the Los Angeles International Airport. At the airport, he notices that he is the focus of a cryptic stranger, who soon mysteriously disappears. Unfazed, he continues to his destination. He then climbs the Auyantepui Mountain, a physically demanding feat, only to encounter the same stranger as before, who he names Traveler. Traveler poses a challenge to Gideon, which he readily accepts. The victor of their wager surprises Gideon, who has found himself a whole new adventure with Traveler’s explanations of the potentials of light and desire to complete the fourth phase of human exploration. The two journey to other worlds, meeting a warrior princess, Dumakleiza, and her pet Cooby, then later Timrekka, a dwarf scientist, to fill Traveler’s quota of three recruits. They plan to make their way back to Whewliss, Traveler’s home planet, to prepare for the fourth phase of human exploration.

I seem to love the crazy protagonists with mysterious and unexplained pasts, and Gideon is no exception. Unorthodox doesn’t touch the sole of his well-adventured boots. He’s a thrill seeker, with a bag of souvenirs to match. I love how he ends each meeting with different people, especially the words he says in parting: May death not find you sleeping. There’s a flipside to his characterization, though. It seems his chipper personality requires great sacrifice; he frequently self-mutilates. There’s an abrupt swerving off the happy-go-lucky path to a nearly traumatized type of desperation that left both me and the other characters baffled. Those who find self-harm triggering should watch out for this.

As soon as the story kicks off, with one of the oddest interactions ever, I knew I found another world to feed my literary escapism. The world-building is of a decent sort, delving deep into the elastic nature of light. The characters are able to perform light jumps by taking light shots, with cool gadgets borne of this advanced technology. The humour was on point—both the bad jokes and the good. Gideon trying to teach alien species American slang had me cracking up several times.

I absolutely loved the little things about the story. There are jousting with sea serpent-like creatures called faihrgrreys, cavemen that beat their chests for the right to mate, pirate-knights called vaguilemen with a motherlode of superstitions, and an absolutely lovable, murdering monkey-like creature, a tanion, called Cooby, who joins the main characters on their adventure as Dumakleiza’s pet. Planets are named Cul, Borroke, Thamiosh, and Whewliss, with inhabitants at different stages of evolution. Sanchez has a way of writing in hypotheticals, forcing readers and characters alike to question reality, as well as the seemingly limitless capabilities of both the universe and light.

I admit to being a teeny-weeny bit suspicious of Traveler’s end goal. Their aim—what’s beyond the fourth phase—looms dark and foreboding. It’s not explained much beyond vague wording by Traveler, and I can’t help but feel that Whewliss is planning to use the three recruits as expendable guinea pigs. The sequel to this book, Light Switch, should go into more detail, so see me here between these lines, waiting with bated breath.

Despite all these good things about the book, it had one shortcoming. There were a significant number of errors that led me to assume that this book has not been professionally edited, and it can be said to be my only true dislike of the story. The profanity that was present was infrequent and minor, so this shouldn’t be a deterrent to anyone’s desire to pick up this novel. The religious or spiritual aspects that were present were varied and, arguably, not instrumental parts of the book.

I give Parachute Minds: Leap of Fate a rating of three out of four stars. I’m going hard for this book—in case my fangirling above did not make this explicitly clear. That being said, the editing quality warrants a deduction of a star from the final rating. Otherwise, I recommend it to lovers of science fiction featuring interplanetary travel. Those who love an eclectic mix of characters, with a main lead whose personality is refreshing and so courageous that it borders on madness, should definitely add this book to their shelves. If you find it hard to keep up with constant location changes, a relatively large number of characters, and theoretical scientific possibilities, then this book is not for you.

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Parachute Minds
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[Brenda Creech]

I am not a sci-fi fan, but your review makes this book sound so interesting! I probably wouldn't be able to keep up with all of the characters, but they sound like they are all relatively important to the plot. I do enjoy a book with humor. Thank you for the great review!

[Rooom]

Even if science fiction is just an illusion and imagination, there is no reality in his pocket, but he has something called passion, and I am a fan of science fiction.

[José Cortez]

Gideon is an interesting character. May death not find us sleeping, indeed.

[NetMassimo]

This seems like an intriguing science fiction novel with well-developed characters, so I hope the author does another round of proofreading to make it excellent. I'll look into this series. Thank you for your great review!

[Nwadinso Okoro]

Gideon Green is an interesting character who has a good number of tricks within his sleeve. The book delves into his challenges as he embarks on an adventurous journey with the Traveler. Their adventure helps them to meet different people and have diverse experience. I think this book would be a good read for me. Good review.

[Walter R]

Have always found science fiction to be quite intriguing and able to stir my imagination. This book certainly seems to possess such quality. Will love to try it out.