2008;
368 pages. New Authors? : Yes. Book 1 (out of 2)
in the “Timekeepers” series. Genre : Historical Fantasy;
LDS Fiction. Overall Rating : 3*/10.
King Gilgamesh has lived for a long, long
time, but his days are coming to an end.
He has six children, and the gods have ordained that they too will live
for centuries on end, albeit not as long as their father.
There’s a downside to this. They are
fated to be pitted against the six children of Chantu, the implacable foe of
Gilgamesh. And Chantu’s kids, like those
of Gilgamesh, will be similarly long-lived.
But
the gods have a sense of humor, and have devised several objects that will be
up for grabs among the two sets of children, including an amulet, a tablet, a
scroll, a bracelet, and a seal.
And a vial. Which contains the
elixir of immortality. Yeah, that should
stir things up for quite a few centuries.
What’s To Like...
The "Gilgamesh" in Pieces
of the Puzzle is based loosely on the incredibly old Epic of Gilgamesh story, which comes to us from
ancient Sumer. The Wikipedia article
on this is quite interesting and can be found here. PotP starts out with a prologue, set somewhat
soon after the Great Flood; but the bulk of the book is the storylines of the children of Gilgamesh. Timewise,
their stories are set in the 20th Century, and that’s “BC”, not
“AD”.
By
then, the kids have scattered into Africa, India, China, Mesopotamia,
Phoenicia, and North America. Historically, this is an
interesting time for those zones; civilization is just beginning to take
root. And not coincidentally, one each of the
Chantu children has also settled in the vicinity of each of these six locales.
The
authors have inserted a handy “Cast of Major Characters” at the beginning of the
novel. Bookmark it; you will be
referring to it frequently. The
historical settings are adequate for the story, but not overly detailed. The upside to this is that there are no info
dumps. Stylistically, this is a “cozy”
tale – some pirates drown, but that’s about as gory as it gets. There is also an instance of reaching up a
camel’s “canal”, but that’s more funny than gross.
This is not a standalone novel, but it ends
at a decent spot, with most, but not quite all, of the rival siblings being drawn to one giant meeting. Jennifer Fowler and Carrie Wahl have published
the sequel, Race To The Portal, but that
seems to be it. It doesn’t look like
Book 2 was meant to be the end of this series, but Amazon doesn't show a third book, so the whole effort may have
fizzled out.
Kewlest New Word ...
Gwier (n.)
: Hmm. Google came up empty for
this. A made-up word?
Kindle Details...
Pieces of the Puzzle sells for $2.99
at Amazon. The sequel
sells for $3.99.
Excerpts...
“I am seeking the
Far Away, Utnapishtim.”
Menachem raised
an eyebrow. “You must come from far to
use that name. What is your purpose?”
“He and his wife
know the secret to eternal life. I wish
to be immortal, as well.”
Menachem
frowned. “My children have completely
corrupted everything I taught them. Like
all men, you seek the impossible. It has
been decreed no man shall find immortality in this life. Men are weak, and it is a blessing that our
lives here are temporary. Everything we
gain here is as naught when we pass on.
I have seen more life than any man on earth today, and I know it would
be a curse to choose this immortality you desire.” (loc. 132)
They were mean
and miserly, hording (sic) everything they
had, unwilling to share just one crust of bread with an outsider. Even their trees were caged to keep animals
from stealing one bite of their bounty.
The unfortunate beggar who chanced to come to these cities and ask for a
bite to eat would be showered with gold and silver, while all food was
mockingly withheld from him. The poor
man would die on the streets with an empty belly and full pockets, which would
be raided as soon as he was dead. (loc. 4041)
“Perhaps…a long life is
not always the treasure one might think.” (loc. 2220)
Truth be told, Pieces
of the Puzzle didn’t resonate at all with me. The pacing was slow, and there was way too
much telling and not nearly enough showing.
The half-dozen storylines were too many and too repetitive, and the six
protagonists were cookie-cutter clones of each other, and rather dimwitted to
boot.
The storytelling is unambitious.
Our heroes are “drawn” to cities, or “feel the need” to board a certain
ship. They also all have the “magic
ability” to understand all languages past-and-present, which avoids those pesky
communication issues. Amazingly, one of them is
able to gad all around the New World, with only a dog for a companion, and not
run into any food or foe problems.
But the real turn-off for me came when the story veered off into
Religious Fiction. I knew I was in for this
when Abraham & Sarah (aka Abram and Sarai) were awkwardly and pointlessly inserted into the
story, time-after-time, with the authors gushing effusively about how spiritual
they were. The only mystery was exactly
what sort of dogma I’d be subjected to, since Abraham/Sarah are crucial to at
least three religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
It took a while, but this
finally became clear when swords were introduced into the North American
narrative. The only place you’ll find
this sort of nonsense is the Book of Mormon, and no one considers that to
be historically credible. This is not
the first time I’ve had to endure religious drivel disguised as literary
fiction (another example is here), and it’s one of my pet peeves. Hey, Jennifer and Carrie, Amazon has a Religious
Fiction section; if you want to toss your religious views into a
storyline, kindly label your book’s genre(s) properly. You are not doing God’s Will when you resort
to deception.
3 Stars.
Not recommended. Add 2 Stars
if you’re LDS and think all those Jaredites, Nephites, and Lamanites just
routinely made transoceanic trips to the New World at incredible speeds. SMH.
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