Review of Voice of the Elders
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Temi Oluokun
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- Latest Review: Voice of the Elders by Greg Ripley
Review of Voice of the Elders
[Following is a volunteer review of "Voice of the Elders" by Greg Ripley.]
Voice of the elders by Greg Ripley is a book that weaves chinese mythology into a story about aliens and climate change. It follows Rohini Haakonsen, an Indian-American woman passionate about issues having to do with the climate. She attends a UN youth assembly meeting related to this which ends up being interrupted by aliens who offer to help solve the problem. Their offer includes a request for ambassadors to visit their world. Rohini is among those specifically selected by the aliens for this role. This inevitably drags her into the limelight and makes her a target for a money-hungry cabal who find the aliens and their proposal a threat to their interests. A close brush with death sends Rohini on the run with her assigned protector, Agent Jane Smith and fellow ambassador, Guangming. They ultimately end up on a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment. One that opens up the doors to a whole new world and leads them into realising how much closer the aliens are than they think.
I found the premise of the story interesting but its execution left a lot to be desired. For one, the heroine Rohini was a tad bland and uninspiring. I could not really connect with her and at times, she felt a bit unreal. For example, after the aliens first appeared and after her initial "excitement"-the moment wasn't properly portrayed in my opinion- and interrogation, she calmly goes looking for a quiet place to think. I couldn't understand that. To me, a normal person would try to find out more about the aliens or would immediately call a loved one or a friend to discuss the issue but no, our heroine goes on a run to find calm in nature.
In addition, Rohini seemed knowledgeable about almost every topic or issue and was constantly making connections between something she'd just seen and something she had seen or heard of in the past. That is actually not a problem on its own but it was done quite a number of times which I found really unnecessary and a bit annoying.
Finally, Rohini did not have much impact in the story. She was mostly a passive contributor with other characters directing her actions. She spent most of the story talking and thinking about connections.
To be honest, there was not much to the story in particular. Most of the book involved discussions and explanations. The major conflict involving the cabal was temporarily brought to a close in a veritably lackluster manner, and none of the major characters were involved. Also, with regard to the cabal and the central villain that spearheaded the group, they did not seem to be well thought out. The central villain, Bartholomew Simms, made decisions hastily and I considered some actions of his a bit unnecessary. The rest of the cabal had practically no presence and came off as kind of gullible, simply going along with whatever he said. It is not what I would expect from a bunch of cunning capitalists which is what they were portrayed to be.
All in all, I found the story boring. I felt it could have been written better and the characters could have been more properly developed. Despite this, it was a professionally edited work. I found little errors. However, my rating is 2 out of 4 stars . I deducted two stars because of its lackluster execution. The story lacked suspense or any sort of thrill and was more like an information dump with regard to Daoism. That being said, I recommend this book for those interested in slow urban fantasy and Chinese mythology.
******
Voice of the Elders
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Voice of the elders by Greg Ripley is a book that weaves chinese mythology into a story about aliens and climate change. It follows Rohini Haakonsen, an Indian-American woman passionate about issues having to do with the climate. She attends a UN youth assembly meeting related to this which ends up being interrupted by aliens who offer to help solve the problem. Their offer includes a request for ambassadors to visit their world. Rohini is among those specifically selected by the aliens for this role. This inevitably drags her into the limelight and makes her a target for a money-hungry cabal who find the aliens and their proposal a threat to their interests. A close brush with death sends Rohini on the run with her assigned protector, Agent Jane Smith and fellow ambassador, Guangming. They ultimately end up on a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment. One that opens up the doors to a whole new world and leads them into realising how much closer the aliens are than they think.
I found the premise of the story interesting but its execution left a lot to be desired. For one, the heroine Rohini was a tad bland and uninspiring. I could not really connect with her and at times, she felt a bit unreal. For example, after the aliens first appeared and after her initial "excitement"-the moment wasn't properly portrayed in my opinion- and interrogation, she calmly goes looking for a quiet place to think. I couldn't understand that. To me, a normal person would try to find out more about the aliens or would immediately call a loved one or a friend to discuss the issue but no, our heroine goes on a run to find calm in nature.
In addition, Rohini seemed knowledgeable about almost every topic or issue and was constantly making connections between something she'd just seen and something she had seen or heard of in the past. That is actually not a problem on its own but it was done quite a number of times which I found really unnecessary and a bit annoying.
Finally, Rohini did not have much impact in the story. She was mostly a passive contributor with other characters directing her actions. She spent most of the story talking and thinking about connections.
To be honest, there was not much to the story in particular. Most of the book involved discussions and explanations. The major conflict involving the cabal was temporarily brought to a close in a veritably lackluster manner, and none of the major characters were involved. Also, with regard to the cabal and the central villain that spearheaded the group, they did not seem to be well thought out. The central villain, Bartholomew Simms, made decisions hastily and I considered some actions of his a bit unnecessary. The rest of the cabal had practically no presence and came off as kind of gullible, simply going along with whatever he said. It is not what I would expect from a bunch of cunning capitalists which is what they were portrayed to be.
All in all, I found the story boring. I felt it could have been written better and the characters could have been more properly developed. Despite this, it was a professionally edited work. I found little errors. However, my rating is 2 out of 4 stars . I deducted two stars because of its lackluster execution. The story lacked suspense or any sort of thrill and was more like an information dump with regard to Daoism. That being said, I recommend this book for those interested in slow urban fantasy and Chinese mythology.
******
Voice of the Elders
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Voice of the Elders by Greg Ripley
