“NOAH ZARC: MAMMOTH
TROUBLE”
by D Robert Pease
REVIEWED BY: Books4Tomorrow
OVERVIEW
Noah lives for piloting spaceships through
time, dodging killer robots and saving Earth's animals from extinction.
Life couldn't be better.
But the twelve-year-old time traveler learns it could be a whole lot worse. His mom is kidnapped and taken to Mars; his dad is stranded in the Ice Age; and Noah is attacked at every turn by a foe bent on destroying Earth... for the second time.
Life couldn't be better.
But the twelve-year-old time traveler learns it could be a whole lot worse. His mom is kidnapped and taken to Mars; his dad is stranded in the Ice Age; and Noah is attacked at every turn by a foe bent on destroying Earth... for the second time.
REVIEW
I never thought I would
enjoy a book written for children as much as I did “Noah Zarc”. What first
caught my eye, is the beautiful and appropriate book cover. If I saw it on a
shelf in a bookstore, I would’ve purchased it right there and then.
It’s an adventure-filled
book chock full of moral lessons for children of a slightly more advanced
reader’s age (middle schoolers), but I would recommend this lovely book to
young and old alike. Themes such as not letting your disability hold you back, concerns
about how we are destroying our planet and how to respect animals, are explored
in a fun way, without being preachy, as a modern take on the theme of Noah’s
Ark.
I enjoyed all the places
Noah and his family took me – from the Ice Age and medieval Scotland, right
through to 30th century Mars and Venus, on a suspense-filled journey
to save Noah’s mom and stop the evil Haon from killing all the animals in the
past, as well as the ones saved by the Zarc family in the present. The part of
the story where they travelled to the Ice Age to save Noah’s father, had me
rolling on the floor with laughter when it was described how the cavemen, with
their primitive weapons, attacked the spaceship. Seeing the events in the story
unfold in my imagination, was like watching a blockbuster movie – it was that
much fun!
Time travelling forms a big
part of the story, but at times I found it hard to understand the mechanics
thereof. I didn’t feel alone though, as some of the characters couldn’t get
their heads wrapped around it either! Luckily it is written in such a way, that
the reader doesn’t necessarily have to understand it to follow the storyline.
All the characters are well
defined and easy to identify with – you even feel sorry for the bad guy. Part
of a close-knit family, Noah is a twelve year old boy who pretty much takes life
for granted – as kids do at that age. Even though he is a paraplegic, focus is
placed on his talents, courage and wit, and how certain responsibilities are
placed on his shoulders, even though he is in a “wheel chair”. The characters
grow throughout the story, and by the end of the book, these characters have
different points of view than they did at the start of the book.
I had loads of fun reading
this book. Lots of unpredictable twists; a few family secrets; the true-to-life
banter between Noah and his siblings; the honesty and realism of the
characters; cool space-age gadgets; vivid and beautiful descriptions of the
different environments; the concept and moral lessons of the story; and how it
really got me thinking about ecological issues – were the highlights for me.
The only negatives for me was
the beginning and ending of the book. Although it is book one in a series, the
reader is thrust into the first chapter, not having a clue what’s going on, and
it is only explained much later in the chapter. So for a good while there I was
confused and felt like putting the book down, although my mind was quickly
changed by the time I got to chapter three. Also, I found the ending to be quite
blunt. It felt as though the author stopped in the middle of a sentence; and therefore,
the 4 star rating.
Overall, I found “Noah Zarc”
by D Robert Pease, to be a delightful book and an entertaining, yet also educational read. This book is the perfect excuse to buy it for your kids so you
can secretly read it after they’ve gone to bed.
I have high expectations for
the next book in this series!
BOOKS4TOMORROW star rating: 4/5
READ MORE REVIEWS:
Don’t just take
my word for it - “Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble” by D Robert Pease has received
many wonderful 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon.com (24 x reviews) and GoodReads
(16 x reviews). You may view it here http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12407005-noah-zarc and here http://www.amazon.com/Noah-Zarc-D-Robert-Pease/dp/0615524990/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323467561&sr=1-1
PURCHASE LINKS:
SmashWords – www.smashwords.com/books/view/81489
1 comment:
Thanks so much for this review. I'm glad you liked it. I guess I shouldn't have let my editor talk me into deleting that last sentence I had in there originally :-)
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