D. Robert Pease

Noah Zarc and his family are travelling through time collecting animals from Earth - while the animals are still around to collect. In Noah's own time, the Earth has been uninhabitable and all animals extinct for almost 1,000 years. There is a bit of "Take care of the Earth before it's too late", but it's part of the story, and not preachy. (I think that's common sense myself, but obviously not everyone feels that way.) Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with the project, and Noah's entire family is in danger.

This was a fun book to read, with all the 31st-century gadgets, and Noah and his siblings picking at each other. The time-travel stuff made me a little dizzy, though. It always does. If you go back in time, are you changing events from that point forward, or were they always that way because you'd already been there... See what I mean? Time travel is fun; it just blows my mind. LOL

There was also all the references to the Noah's Ark story: The most obvious one being Noah's name: Noah Zarc. Also the massive ship on which they traveled and transported the animals: the ARC. The smaller ships they use to for short jaunts: DUV ships. The robot that accompanies Noah's parents to Earth to keep records: MOSES. And we can't forget Johah the whale.

I loved the twists and turns in the story and how it wasn't predictable. Even the bad guy wasn't completely evil. I like a well-rounded villain.

While reading Mammoth Trouble, I couldn't imagine what the author would have left to write about in a second book, but Pease did a great job of wrapping up this part of the story while leaving enough for another book.

I got this book free through the WoMen's Literary Cafe Review Program in exchange for an honest review.… (més)

Many say that Job, an undefeated warrior, is blessed by the gods. Job himself feels he's beyond the gods, with no need for such superstition. But there's a coming foe unlike any Job has ever fought before in A Chink in the Armor by author D. Robert Pease.

Ah! So here's an imagining of what the biblical Job could have faced as a young man, years before the events recorded in Scripture. While Job's characterization and the message in this story are on the heavy-handed side, the biblical account gives the message here its deeper significance.

This tale of war has the gritty drama of epic fantasy while remembering to make its central characters human. The camaraderie between Job and his friends has an easy feel, laced with some humor, so there's a reason to care about what happens to them.

On a technical note, there's a little confusion with homonyms here and there (metal/mettle, faired/fared), but the writing is otherwise polished.

I quite enjoyed this quick read.… (més)

This is a really well told story, full of action and excitement. If you love time travel, you’ll enjoy the way Noah jumps forward and backwards, and debates issues like the immutability of time (not in those words!). The context, world-building and plot are beautifully put together, and I can see Middle-Graders or their teachers, getting together to discuss how a Stone Age person would view our world, or ask how would you explain the internet to them.

The problem for me was that, once again, the fact I’m not a Middle-Grader rears its ugly head. I found the first two-thirds of the story irritating in its StarWars-Star Trek mash-up. For a grown up, there are a lot of predictable parts of stories from other things. But then, what are stories but retellings of old themes? It didn’t stop Shakespeare, after all. I have the same problem with His Dark Materials, so put my comments in that context. Having got over that two-thirds watershed, the story ripped along, and I paused only to admire Mr Pease’s magnificent descriptions of spacecraft flight and fight.

This has the promise of being a first-class series, so you’d better get started on it now!… (més)