Review: A Clinic on Story Telling
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 1, 2012
Greg Curtis is an indie author that I have raved about in the past for his story telling skills.  And All The Stars A Grave shifts gears, and is a space opera that is VERY focused on the "opera" element.  You have the prerequisite Curtisian societal outcast in Dr. Daryl Chamlers, a human xeno-archaeologist who loves getting down and dirty digging for artifacts of a long deceased alien race.  You have an intergalactic Community of space faring aliens that sees humanity as lower than dirt.  The ball starts rolling when they come for Daryl and recruit him to assist on an archaeological expedition on a former Calderonian world.Yet, as they go deeper and deeper into ancient cities filled with deadly traps, it becomes obvious that there is a mystery surrounding the Calderonian flight from their colonies.  The author allows the mystery to simmer as the aliens castigate and demean the human every chance they get.  Indeed, the protagonist is reviled and does quite a bit of chest beating over his status within this community, and eventually within his native Earth community as well.  At times, the author is over indulgent on decrying the character's plight, and I agree with the first reviewer that these antics could be toned down a notch.Additionally, I feel at times that this over indulgence detracts attention from the brilliance of the plot, and how the author manages to come up with one surprising twist after another.  Indeed, And All The Stars A Grave reaffirms my proclamation that Greg Curtis is a master storyteller, and this novel is his best work to date.