The 5 Moons of Tiiana by Paul T. Harry

When the planet Melela is overtaken by the brutal Relcor, the royal family is sentenced to death. The day before their execution, the queen calls upon military man Rez Cantor to help her young daughter, the princess, escape. Rez manages to grab the princess and run, but as they attempt to leave the planet, they are sucked into a portal and flung to the opposite side of the galaxy to the planet Tiiana and its five moons: Urlena, Boutal, Zin, Aura, and Vashia. Landing on Urlena with no princess in sight, Rez is kidnapped and enslaved, just the beginning of his long journey to saving Melela from the Reclor.

From the gargoyle-like Brata on Boutal to the water-breathing Aquella and Dolla on Urlena to the menacing insect-like Zecla on Zin, dozens of species inhabit the five moons. As Rez meets, befriends, and fights these creatures, he learns more about them, how they live, and how they each contribute to the mysterious circumstances surrounding Tiiana. Though there seem at first to be an unnecessarily large number of species, each plays a central part in the way the society has come to work. And while the Aquella, Rez’s captors and the first inhabitants he meets, appear to be evil and controlling, they are in fact simply the middle-man, the bourgeois of Tiiana. Though Rez is the novel’s protagonist, the Aquella are perhaps the most human of the novel’s characters. They enslave and brutalize the childlike Dolla, as well as Rez, forcing them to mine for metal in an underwater cave, but in truth, this metal is meant to feed the enormous, insatiable enemy hovering over their moon, sent there by the Zecla in an attempt to destroy the moon so the Zecla could take over. The Aquella’s efforts to save their planet mirror that of humanity’s survival methods: sacrificing some morals when in dire circumstances.

Rez, the novel’s first-person narrator, acts as the typical heroic figure, saving the princess and the galaxy, befriending the “good guys,” and causing irritation to the “bad guys.” The other characters that Rez comes to befriend or to distrust each have distinctive and consistent personalities, creating an intricate and realistic society. Each of the five moons as well has a specific atmosphere and, along with its inhabitants, portrays a complex system in balance. Paul T. Harry’s world-building skills are superb.

Some grammar and punctuation errors are scattered throughout this 500 page epic, but not enough to distract from the story, which has the reader clutching the book in their firm grasp, unable to put it down. And while the main characters — namely Rez, the princess, and the Relcor — are quite archetypical, they are never clichés. The only issue that may create some uncertainty is the time frame of the story. Rez in enslaved by the Aquella for two years while he is separated from the princess and his home planet of Melela is overtaken by the Relcor. It takes him at least five years to travel between the five moons and to discover the simple truth behind this complex system of cohabitating creatures. The fast pace of the action at times contradicts the time frame of the story, leading the reader to feel as though the action has only taken Rez across the galaxy in a matter a few weeks, though in truth he has been in Tiiana for almost ten years. This matter, however, is the novel’s only distraction.

The 5 Moons of Tiiana is an excellent specimen of the science fiction genre. It is a gripping adventure with characters that come alive on the page and fast-paced action that will keep readers turning the pages to discover how Rez will save his love, his friends, and his galaxy.

Books I Read This Month - June 2012

The Great Night by Chris Adrian

I posted an individual review on this book here.

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

Claiming to be the book that sparked the environmental movement in the 1970s, this novel traces the journey of four misfits across the barren south-western United States as they attempt to demolish dams and bridges that are being constructed and are interfering with the nature in the area. The characters, a doctor, an ex-army man, a young woman, and a hobo Mormon, are very well developed, so much so that in the long sections where there are no dialogue tags it is easy to discern who is speaking. An anarchic novel with a solid message and many notable quirks, The Monkey Wrench Gang is an enjoyable and fun read.

Cubop City Blues by Pablo Medina

Hoping to ease the pain of his dying parents, a blind young man tells stories to them at their bedside. Buzzing with the jazz culture of New York City, these stories are all interconnected by The Storyteller’s, as he calls himself, passion for words and his deep understanding of human nature. This novel reveals that the world we inhabit is only as big as our imaginations will let it.

The Sea Is My Brother by Jack Kerouac

The lost manuscript of the first novel Jack Kerouac ever wrote, The Sea Is My Brother is an intriguing read with classic Kerouac style and themes, and though it is reminiscent of his later works, it is not as well-written. It should be remembered that he wrote this when he was only twenty-one years old, and considering the fame and respect he would later earn, I can see how this book could have been a launching pad for his career if it had been published when it was written. The story follows a young man named Wes who is about to embark on a journey on a naval ship, but before he goes, he goes on a drunken escapade, similar to those of Kerouac’s other novels. Unlike his other works, this book has a more conventional writing style, and I find it fascinating to read something he wrote so early in his career and to see how his talent developed over time. Even though it is not as well-written as his more well-known works, I would still recommend to Kerouac fans that they read this book. 

Peace, Aimee 

Books I Read This Month - May 2012

Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger

By the author of one of my favourite books, The Traveller’s Wife, this novel takes place in a flat in England, a place that two young twin girls inherited from their aunt when she passed away, who was also a twin, to the girls’ mother. The twins had grown up in America, and this flat in England is the first place they’ve lived away from home. Their aunt’s past quickly intrigues them, as do their neighbours, two men who have a connection with their family’s history. A beautifully written gothic fairy-tale, this story sucks you in so you can’t stop reading. Elegant and mysterious, readers of Niffenegger’s previous work will enjoy this story, as well as those who like the gothic genre.

Quo Vadis – Henryk Sienkiewicz

This is the book I read to fill in the gap of the A to Z Challenge for the letter Q. You can find the post here. 

A Briefer History of Time – Stephen Hawking

Because A Brief History of Time was already checked out of the library. Here’s something you perhaps did not know about me: I am fascinated by cosmology. Yeah, I’m sure everyone gets curious about the universe when looking up at the stars, but I am a serious cosmological hobbyist. I read books like this. The Big Bang, The Big Crunch, the concepts of both infinity and of nothing, the prospect of time travel, I am almost as obsessed with this stuff as I am with British comedy. Perhaps I will post something about this fascination of mine sometime in the future, but for now I will just suggest reading this book and tell you that Stephen Hawking is one of my personal heroes.

Astrid & Veronika – Linda Olsson

A young writer, Veronika, moves to Sweden from New Zealand so she can finish writing her novel, but when she meets an old woman, Astrid, her sorrowful past begins to catch up with her. This novel illustrates a moving cross-generational friendship between two women dealing with troubled pasts. Some aspects may distress readers, but even when the writing gets a bit sentimental, it is never pretentious, and it is inspiring throughout.

Sonata for Miriam – Linda Olsson

The second novel of the author above, Sonata for Miriam also delves into the idea of one’s troubled past preventing one from moving on. A composer who recently lost his teenage daughter discovers that his parents had a dark secret in Poland in the years leading up to WWII. Olsson effectively weaves the journey of searching for the answers to his parents’ mystery with the conflicts that the character is dealing with in the present with the death of his daughter and the prospect of confronting his ex-wife. These two main plot lines meld together to form a detailed picture of the character, bringing past and present together in order to reveal the future. Like Olsson’s previous novel, it can be overly sentimental at times, but that does not detract from the moving relationships between the characters.