Review by Cvkirkpatrick -- Otherside by Aaron Dennis
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Cvkirkpatrick
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- Latest Review: Otherside by Aaron Dennis
Review by Cvkirkpatrick -- Otherside by Aaron Dennis
[Following is a volunteer review of "Otherside" by Aaron Dennis.]
4 out of 4 stars
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Otherside by Aaron Dennis is a re-titled novella, originally conceived as Shawdowman, involving practices of New Orleans Voodoo discovered by our main character Adja. Our story opens asking the basic question of what makes man unique. We all have the same basic characteristics listed by the author in the prologue as fear, despair, rage, and lust. You are asked as the reader what is the value of these emotions, and have you ever sat back and questioned the value of these basic emotions. How do we utilize these to better our lives? Do we utilize them to live a more unique life, or maybe just one classified as such?
Even among friends you can disappear into the night and never come back. We meet Adja in his first life, as a human, fulfilling his basic needs, which currently include prostitutes and sketchy hotel rooms. Late one night he goes to clear his head. Walking in the dark, past an alley, he meets a lone man and a murder scene. Suddenly the smell of acacia infiltrates his senses, and wakes up to a gray-haired woman with twine, bones, stick, and cloth woven into her hair. As Ajda tries to crawl back to the human world of hospitals, this gray-haired creole woman insists this is not the work of bullets. He needs Hoodoo to fix him up, and in the long term Voodoo. Adja questions Hoodoo, or Voodoo. What exactly is going on. Voodoo is not the same as Hoodoo, as our gray-haired women describes. Hoodoo can be a temporary fix for his wounds. Voodoo is “…all-encompassing force of life. It extends from the natural, to the super natural, to the spiritual. Yo find it in the trees, in the ground, the water.” Now it is located in Adja. He has become a Shadowman.
We soon learn that this old Creole woman has a family connection to the Shadowmen. Her son worked for Bear, who now requests help from Adja. The other worlds, including spiritual, are now requesting help from Adja. Do Bear’s bidding, including working against his enemies, and Bear will give Adja more powers along the way. Creole women’s words are often nonsense to Adja, as she tries to give him just enough clues to help him along the way. Adja has little to no idea what he is doing, with even less experience in actually accomplishing tasks given to him. However, there has been a change in feeling. Old feelings like feeling sorry for himself (which he does claim he use to be good at) are no longer available to him. This is all part of becoming a Shawdowman.
I would rate this novella the Otherside 4 out of 4 stars. This composition is not only well written, but keeps your attention throughout. It is a book that you can read many times and find new clues to piece together the story. I can also see this book becoming a short series on TV. Adja is a very relatable character, his emotions parallel the readers. He has no idea what’s going on, you as the reader are trying to figure out the same. Talking trees? Adja doesn’t believe it, and neither do you. Except those trees are there and always listening. They do know all the gossip.
I would suggest this novel to anyone who likes to read about magic and parallel universes. It also has a spiritual aspect to it which some may find intriguing. There are some adult elements to it, for example inside-out-animals are described in scenes and the beginning references sex and potential drugs. However, I think for the mature young reader this could be a fascinating book to dissect.
My favorite part of this book is that everything in the world and the alternate world reflect one another. This is not a book where the "other" world is more beautiful or safe. In fact, both have very real dangers both physically and verbally. You start to think about how you as an individual phrase things when you discuss items of importance. Do you make promises without even realizing? A sentence that is perceived by the other party you are talking to as a contract, rather than just a statement? I would love to read this novel again, simply to find more clues of how the two worlds are really more similar than different.
******
Otherside
View: on Bookshelves | on Barnes and Noble | on Smashwords
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4 out of 4 stars
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Otherside by Aaron Dennis is a re-titled novella, originally conceived as Shawdowman, involving practices of New Orleans Voodoo discovered by our main character Adja. Our story opens asking the basic question of what makes man unique. We all have the same basic characteristics listed by the author in the prologue as fear, despair, rage, and lust. You are asked as the reader what is the value of these emotions, and have you ever sat back and questioned the value of these basic emotions. How do we utilize these to better our lives? Do we utilize them to live a more unique life, or maybe just one classified as such?
Even among friends you can disappear into the night and never come back. We meet Adja in his first life, as a human, fulfilling his basic needs, which currently include prostitutes and sketchy hotel rooms. Late one night he goes to clear his head. Walking in the dark, past an alley, he meets a lone man and a murder scene. Suddenly the smell of acacia infiltrates his senses, and wakes up to a gray-haired woman with twine, bones, stick, and cloth woven into her hair. As Ajda tries to crawl back to the human world of hospitals, this gray-haired creole woman insists this is not the work of bullets. He needs Hoodoo to fix him up, and in the long term Voodoo. Adja questions Hoodoo, or Voodoo. What exactly is going on. Voodoo is not the same as Hoodoo, as our gray-haired women describes. Hoodoo can be a temporary fix for his wounds. Voodoo is “…all-encompassing force of life. It extends from the natural, to the super natural, to the spiritual. Yo find it in the trees, in the ground, the water.” Now it is located in Adja. He has become a Shadowman.
We soon learn that this old Creole woman has a family connection to the Shadowmen. Her son worked for Bear, who now requests help from Adja. The other worlds, including spiritual, are now requesting help from Adja. Do Bear’s bidding, including working against his enemies, and Bear will give Adja more powers along the way. Creole women’s words are often nonsense to Adja, as she tries to give him just enough clues to help him along the way. Adja has little to no idea what he is doing, with even less experience in actually accomplishing tasks given to him. However, there has been a change in feeling. Old feelings like feeling sorry for himself (which he does claim he use to be good at) are no longer available to him. This is all part of becoming a Shawdowman.
I would rate this novella the Otherside 4 out of 4 stars. This composition is not only well written, but keeps your attention throughout. It is a book that you can read many times and find new clues to piece together the story. I can also see this book becoming a short series on TV. Adja is a very relatable character, his emotions parallel the readers. He has no idea what’s going on, you as the reader are trying to figure out the same. Talking trees? Adja doesn’t believe it, and neither do you. Except those trees are there and always listening. They do know all the gossip.
I would suggest this novel to anyone who likes to read about magic and parallel universes. It also has a spiritual aspect to it which some may find intriguing. There are some adult elements to it, for example inside-out-animals are described in scenes and the beginning references sex and potential drugs. However, I think for the mature young reader this could be a fascinating book to dissect.
My favorite part of this book is that everything in the world and the alternate world reflect one another. This is not a book where the "other" world is more beautiful or safe. In fact, both have very real dangers both physically and verbally. You start to think about how you as an individual phrase things when you discuss items of importance. Do you make promises without even realizing? A sentence that is perceived by the other party you are talking to as a contract, rather than just a statement? I would love to read this novel again, simply to find more clues of how the two worlds are really more similar than different.
******
Otherside
View: on Bookshelves | on Barnes and Noble | on Smashwords
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Latest Review: Otherside by Aaron Dennis
