Elaine White's Life in Books

Book – Earthshatter (Haven Prime #1)
Author – Albert Nothlit
Star rating - ★★★★★
No. of Pages – 530

Cover – Awesome!
POV – 1st person, multi POV (with brief 3rd)
Would I read it again – Yes!

Genre – Sci-Fi, Adventure, Apocalypse, Alternative History


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY DSP PUBLICATION, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine


This was an awesome feat of detailed story planning and world building. There was such a complexity – from character interactions, events and consequences – that it had an epic effect, when they were revealed. Yet nothing was ever too far-fetched, too far out of reach or understanding. The fact that we had 7 (really 8, but mostly 7) main characters could have made this confusing to read, except for one thing – the genius use of 1st person, multi POV. Without becoming omnipresent, each character gets to tell their own story, as and when it’s appropriate. Their POV lasts exclusively for anything from 1 to 8 chapters; as long as is needed.

And that’s where things get interesting.

The story begins with a diary format, with the entire Part 1 in 3rd person. Not only does the time/date format give us a real time build up to 'the swarm' – the event the entire book is based around – but we're introduced to the characters in a much more complete way. Thanks to the 3rd person POV, we get to know the ins and outs of each character, who they are and how they act with other people, from a slightly more all-round perspective than 1st person allows. Which is one of the reasons 1st person doesn't really work for me – it takes so long to learn who “I” as the character is (in terms of age, gender, build, abilities, personality etc) that it can often take 5-10% of the story to learn who “I” am. This 3rd person, allowing us to know character first, then letting us since into their 1st person POV, made all of that irrelevant. There was no confusion, no uncertainty, just letting us get to know each character right from the start. By the time Part 2 begins (the end of 3rd person and the start of 1st person POV), we already have a foundation for who these people are.

I love that the bugs (centipedes) are not only a wholly original concept – being not at all scary in real life, but becoming something monstrous in a believable, entirely possible way – but they also have a real scientific classification. That is how much attention to detail has been put into this book – we have medicine, psychiatry, technie stuff, military, scientific and more going on, and the details are never passed off, glossed over or ignored for any of them. Each is explored in the kind of detail required to the extent that matches the knowledge and qualifications of the characters, as well as the requirements of the story.

When it comes to characters, I naturally have my favourites. The top most two never changed for me, though the others fluctuated according to the story and how they treated my favourites. Here's my evaluation of all the characters, to help you understand why they're in the order I place them (favourite to least favourite). I'm going to try to keep spoilers out of it, as much as I can.

Dex – childlike, sweet, caring
Kenichi – fun, cheeky, comic relief, smarter than he's given credit for, attentive
Alain – mysterious, fun, smart, Dex's brother and the unofficial leader
Nikos – second leader (or the leader when Alain isn't around), strong, dedicated, survivalist
Omar – techie geek, fun, strong, chubby in a good way (he's not held back or ashamed of how he looks, even when he's teased for it)
Joachim – doctor, thoughtful, careful, smart, scientist
Rain – bit of a wimp, self involved at times, flirty, doctor and more open minded than everyone but Dex
Marie – very self involved, selfish, egoist, superficial, tries to be a leader, teases or underestimates the others often

If I had to rank Kyrios (who is an It not a Who), then he's come just under Nikos. He's interesting, devious, smart and mysterious. I really hated Marie, as you can tell, because she was so dump to what was obvious, as well as close minded. She had no room in her head for anything but her own thoughts and opinions.

For me, Dex was the most incredible character. I hated the way everyone ignored Dex, even after he'd proven himself countless times. Alain humoured him, but never really believed or understood him. Kenichi didn't try to change or understand Dex, but he accepted him as he was and, although made his unofficial babysitter, took up the challenge and tried to befriend Dex, bringing him out of his shell and even teasing back and forth with him. Rain and Nikos eventually redeemed themselves by understand and appreciating Dex, but only after he'd saved their lives by being 'weird'.

Though we didn't see Dex's POV often, I understood him the most. Any time he spoke or acted, I smiled or felt relief or concern, because – to me – he's the most important person in the group. He's also the most expressive. No one knows or appreciates him, but he's written in such an open way that we never have to wonder what he's thinking or feeling; he's an open book to anyone who looks at him and although often faces ridicule for it, doesn't shy away from speaking his mind, especially when it's important. Everything is right there in how he's acting or what he's saying.

When it comes to the plot, I loved every minute. I read this on holiday, so I had to put it down a lot in between, which I really hate doing. I love to get absorbed into a story and read it over the course of one day. But, stopping frequently just showed me how good this story was. It never affected my reading, except in a good way. I never stopped wondering about what would happen next, who would be in trouble or who would get the next POV and what it would reveal. I was always eager to get back to reading. The POV format meant that I got just enough of what I needed/wanted to know, but was left in the dark a bout enough to keep my reading and anticipating more.

There were so many twists and turns, but it never felt overdone. Nothing in this incredibly real world felt impossible, ridiculous or unbelievable. Everything had a scientific possibility, even when the 'thing' had a very real chance of being supernatural or extraterrestrial. Everyone was of an age and background to explain their behaviour and knowledge base, that were so vital to the plot.

And, just so you know, there is no love stuff here – no sex, no real relationship except that of two brothers who love each other and no romance. BUT, it worked. It worked better that way, because it meant the story was entirely focused on the plot and the survival of these characters.
Still, I'm totally shipping Nikos/Alain and Dex/Kenichi, no matter how unlikely they may be or how long it might take. I don't care. I love those two potential couples together; that's when the real sparks fly.
I really loved that there was no romance. The story stayed true to its roots, with life and death situations and no rubbish of wasted time/effort on anything but survival.

The reasoning and cleverness of the trials was quite something. It really had an efficiency and sense that was all Kyrios, but also made sense of everything that came before.

Despite being told a lot in the blurb, I was pleasantly surprised and relieved to get to see it all unfold for myself. I'd worried that we'd suddenly be thrust into this unfamiliar world, in a survival situation. Instead, we got the build up and exploration I wanted, right from T-minus so many hours to the big event and beyond. I loved and appreciated the tension build up, the uncertainty and gradually being told which 'card' belonged to whom, only after we'd been given enough clues to guess for ourselves.

The idea of the advanced tech – recorders and Kyrios, etc – meant that we got to experience things our 8 MC's hadn't, in a very real way, while gaining answers at the same time. Even better was how there was no repetition of events when the POV changed. We got to see what was important and if we didn't see something, it was because it wasn't important or we needed to discover that later.

Nothing was left to chance.

Overall

It was a fantastic sci-fi adventure, with steampunk element. Without an obvious romance, the story's focus on the survival of the characters meant that we got an action packed adventure story, full of nervous anticipation and pulse-racing excitement.

I can't wait to read book 2. And, fingers crossed, Dex (or a new favourite) is waiting there to captivate me.

Favourite Quote

"Dex knew that was the way people expected him to look. The poor, helpless crazy boy. Look at him. He needs help. In truth, he didn’t need anybody’s help. And he was stronger than even Alain suspected."

"I screamed. I imagined kamikaze centipedes with guns bursting through the window and pouring onto the streets. I didn’t care if it was insane. I was panicking."

"It was like a nightmare version of a 3D puzzle, with a death threat hovering over my head and a timer to boot."