Review of The Human of All

[Smrithi Arun]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Human of All" by Ryan Parrett.]

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2 out of 5 stars

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Imagine being the victim of a majorly unfortunate incident at work and waking up with your life turned upside down, but somehow, still the same. John Campbell, a marine engineering officer, goes through a life-altering event when he is hit by a mooring line while at work in Miami. However, he wakes up perfectly unfazed at the bottom of the ocean.

John slowly understands the gravity of his superpowers when he realizes that he doesn’t feel pain, doesn’t need to sleep, and no longer needs to breathe! The best part is that he gains serious speed and can fly, too! As he gets stronger, he wishes to hide it in order to have a normal life. How will John cope with this? Why and how is it all happening? How will his loved ones process this new and unusual information about him? The pages of The Human of All by Ryan Parrett hold the answers.

Ryan Parrett did an excellent job of characterization. I loved how strong the women in this book were. Arla and Callum (John’s colleagues and best friends) initially gave me Hermione and Ron vibes. I absolutely loved Arla, even though I thought she behaved unreasonably in certain scenes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about John and Annie’s romance, right from their first date. Jay, the German Shepherd, was always the apple of my eye.

I appreciate how Parrett went into detail with a character’s mannerisms. For example, a dialogue was always accompanied by a gesture or body language. A few incidents also reminded me of some films. A particular plane-related scene got me thinking of the Bollywood movie Krrish 3. Similarly, a disturbing scene from the last chapter gave me Quentin Tarantino vibes as it reminded me of a specific scene from Django Unchained.

Some of Parrett’s scene descriptions were amazing. It was delightful to read about John and Annie’s first date in detail. The jitters, the clumsiness, the laughter—how perfect! However, unfortunately, the scenes that genuinely needed a detailed account lost their pages to those that didn’t need them at all. This made the book slow-paced, affecting the will to continue reading.

Another thing I noticed was that the book was equally divided into five chapters and didn’t have many paragraph breaks. I believe breaking the text down into smaller paragraphs and chapters would’ve helped the reading process much more. The book needs another round of editing as well, as I found several errors throughout.

Lastly, it disappointed me that such a bright concept only had one goosebumps moment throughout the book, causing the narrative to fall flat otherwise. The explanation of the events was unsatisfactory, too. I liked John’s assumed explanation for the powers more than the actual explanation. However, the full-circle moment at the end did give me some satisfaction.

Due to the reasons mentioned above, I believe The Human of All deserves 2 out of 5 stars. This book requires a patient reader. Anyone above the age of 16 who is curious to know how a man would use superhuman powers (if bestowed upon him) can pick this book up. This concept had a lot of potential but needed better execution.

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The Human of All
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[Mathu27]

It's a good read, with some unresolved story threads that makes me wonder if there's a sequel. If there is a second book (or going to be) I'd certainly pick up a copy. Great light read but with lots of insight about being human. I never thought I would care for an alien, but after this, you will too.

[Amy Luman]

I want to like stories about humans receiving superpowers because they sound so exciting, but I just can't because at the same time they are very unrealistic. Fortunately, it doesn't sound like I'm missing much here.

[Ana Mae Lao]

Great story, it gives me so much more excitement if there is another chapter or book to be followed after this one. Truly, people go excited about human having superpowers, unfortunately, these superpowers are so unrealistic. But for others who believed in other stories like the elders belief with the aliens or other human beings that are not from here. It always attracts my attention reading novels or stories like this made by an author who has a creative and imaginative mind, or maybe they came up for this because of true to life stories and experience like what happened in some places in this world. But it was really great reading this one, hopefully I will not missed any of the following published books with this kind of stories! Looking forward to read more!

[Hazel Mae Bagarinao]

What John possesses intrigues me. How will his life turn out to be with this new superpowers? I wonder. However, this theme is not my thing, so this book is not for me. I love your honest review, Smrithi!

[NetMassimo]

Some classic tropes of science fiction and comics are used in this novel but it seem like it needs much more editing to have that potential properly developed. Thank you for your honest review!

[Smrithi Arun]

It's a good read, with some unresolved story threads that makes me wonder if there's a sequel. If there is a second book (or going to be) I'd certainly pick up a copy. Great light read but with lots of insight about being human. I never thought I would care for an alien, but after this, you will too.

I'm unsure if there is a sequel to the book, Mathu, but I'm glad you would like to pick it up. Thank you for commenting and stopping by!

[Smrithi Arun]

I want to like stories about humans receiving superpowers because they sound so exciting, but I just can't because at the same time they are very unrealistic. Fortunately, it doesn't sound like I'm missing much here.

I agree with you, Amy. It requires great skill to take an unrealistic concept and make it so interesting that the reader forgets reality. Thank you for your valuable comment!

[Smrithi Arun]

Great story, it gives me so much more excitement if there is another chapter or book to be followed after this one. Truly, people go excited about human having superpowers, unfortunately, these superpowers are so unrealistic. But for others who believed in other stories like the elders belief with the aliens or other human beings that are not from here. It always attracts my attention reading novels or stories like this made by an author who has a creative and imaginative mind, or maybe they came up for this because of true to life stories and experience like what happened in some places in this world. But it was really great reading this one, hopefully I will not missed any of the following published books with this kind of stories! Looking forward to read more!

I'm glad you like such concepts, Ana Mae Lao! I agree with you; I believe it takes great skill to hold a reader's interest while presenting such unrealistic concepts. It truly needs to be out of the box. Thank you for the comment!

[Smrithi Arun]

What John possesses intrigues me. How will his life turn out to be with this new superpowers? I wonder. However, this theme is not my thing, so this book is not for me. I love your honest review, Smrithi!

John's powers are intriguing, indeed! However, since there seemed to be no limit to them, interest was lost. I understand why this topic wouldn't be something you'd like to read. Thank you for your lovely comment, Hazel!

[Smrithi Arun]

Some classic tropes of science fiction and comics are used in this novel but it seem like it needs much more editing to have that potential properly developed. Thank you for your honest review!

It truly needs better execution, NetMassimo. Thank you so much for your wonderful comment!

[Omneya Shakeep]

I like the concept of the book and its potential. I believe if the author adjusts the few points you mentioned along with another round of editing, this can be a very enjoyable book. Thank you, Smrithi, for this thoroughly analyzed review and honest opinion.

[Smrithi Arun]

I like the concept of the book and its potential. I believe if the author adjusts the few points you mentioned along with another round of editing, this can be a very enjoyable book. Thank you, Smrithi, for this thoroughly analyzed review and honest opinion.

I believe so, too, Omneya! This book has great potential. Thank you so much for your ever-uplifting and encouraging comment!

[Sarah Zain]

The idea of the book seems promising for writing a complete story because I love movies like Krish 3, but from your review, it seems that the author needs to amend some points in order for this book to become truly enjoyable. Great review, Smrithi

[Smrithi Arun]

The idea of the book seems promising for writing a complete story because I love movies like Krish 3, but from your review, it seems that the author needs to amend some points in order for this book to become truly enjoyable. Great review, Smrithi

The plot is promising indeed! I'm sure this story would do very well as a film, if developed well. Thank you for commenting, Sarah!