Review: Chronicles of Jenson Quest - book 1
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 1, 2012
This review was originally posted on Red Adept Reviews on 12/12/11.Description (from Amazon.com):Jenson Quest lives with his Aunt and helps her out by working in her nursing home, where his grandfather is one of the residents. For years Jenson has heard his granddad's seemingly ridiculous tales of how he and Jenson's father fought along side a friendly alien race and other humans in the defense of the many human 'Realms'. Now, however, it seems that his granddad's ridiculous tales are, in fact, true.Accepting the choice to step forward in place of his missing father and aging grandfather, and join the ranks of the Great Drak, Jenson joins the Keepers and the batch of new recruits and sets off across the galaxy to stop the Zyll Swarm and their latest Vuron weapon, which is threatening to destroy the Keepers and leave the human realms exposed to a danger that could begin the annihilation of the entire human race.But while the Keepers, assisted by the Great Drak and the humans of the Fourth Realm hunt down the Zyll Swarm and its new weapon, one Zyll has designs on gathering the whole of the might of the Zyll together and crushing the Keepers and the human realms once and for all using a new method of tracking that will enable the Zyll to find and destroy their target planets far faster than before.To accomplish his mission, stay alive, and perhaps discover what truly happened to his father, Jenson will have to find friends and allies that he never expected to find, and lead the warriors of the Great Drak into a battle that could end in the destruction of them all.With action and adventure from start to finish, Jenson Quest opens a new dawn in Sci-fi, with new characters to follow in this and future adventures.Overall Rating:  4 starsPlot:  3  starsWhen I started this book I was a bit dubious - what had I gotten myself into?  It's been a long time since I read science fiction, and the first chapter was heavy on the 'sci-fi'.  I stuck it out, and found myself being drawn in more and more.The basic premise of the plot - a space opera - is very commonplace, but the author manages to give it his own little 'spin' .  There are many human (or humanoid) worlds in the universe and they have formed a federation, called the Great Drak, to defend their various worlds together against the menace of an alien, militaristic race, the Zyll.  Each world sends one representative to the alliance, who must be from the same bloodline as the original warrior.  Failure to provide a representative leaves that world open to attack by the Zyll.  Not all representative warriors are willing to leave their homes and all they have known; nor are all equally well-prepared for their duties.  This is the story of Jenson Quest, the Earth's representative to the Great Drak.I found that the plot started out rather slowly, but by the middle of the book, I felt that the author had a surprise hidden around every corner, keeping me turning the pages.  The ending was edge-of-your-seat with a climatic battle showcasing loyalty vs. treachery and good vs. evil; and over all hung the ultimate question:  war vs. peace. There are subplots such as a coming-of-age story and division within the ranks of the Zyll (which is handled extremely well in my opinion, and is used to showcase some larger moral questions).While the story was self-contained and had a satisfactory ending, it's also unabashedly the first in a series (The Chronicles Of Jenson Quest - The Realms Of Jurriiis the sequel).Characters:  4 starsLike the plot, the characters started off rather slowly, and the author took his time building them up so you felt you were getting to know them gradually.  Several characters seemed set up to be 'stock' characters, and then the author pulled one of his surprising twists and you saw that there was much more to that character than first appeared.The Zyll are the first characters to be introduced, and they are presented as very hierarchical and formal, but later those same qualities are used to show that there's two sides to everything, and rigid formality can conceal both good and bad qualities.  Va'kaar from the title is the first Zyll we meet, and he is later used as the proving ground for the moral question underlying the story of the Zyll.The human characters are well-drawn also, and likeable.  Jenson is the hero of the story, and his personal growth is a major plot device.  Mussa was probably my favorite character and seemed to be the most well-rounded of all the major players.  Yanna and Cantor also played significant roles, and I was surprised about the direction in which the author took Cantor - and impressed as well, because he could so easily have slipped into the stock 'wise guy' profile.Writing Style:  4 starsI enjoyed the author's writing style.  He has a gift for vivid descriptions, and during battle scenes, I could 'see' the action in my mind's eye.  I was taken back to the days when the various Star Trek spin-offs were on TV, and I watched them avidly.  The style is light and easy to read, but there were times when I felt that the author was simply trying too hard, resulting in occasional awkward word choices.  None of those usages were actually incorrect, but they just stood out and caused the flow of the story to skip a beat.I did find it hard to keep the names (of the Zyll, mostly) straight, and towards the end, when events were coming to a climax, it was hard to remember who-was-who and which side that character was on.  But even then, you knew that the writing was rushed because everything was happening at once, and even the characters were probably having a hard time following events! This is the author's first book, and while I haven't read the second book in this series, it would not surprise me at all if his style has matured, and these little quibbles that I've pointed out no longer occur.What struck me the most about the author's writing style and which is responsible for my giving this category 4 stars instead of 3 or 3  is the way the subplots were handled.  Subplots often get lost in the main storyline, but not here.  The author had several subplots going at once, and he was able to handle them very, very well.  To be quite honest, the primary storyline seemed almost superficial when compared to the various subplots.  The author discussed many things:  the meaning of family; knowing when to `let go'; the difference between `righteous' and `self-righteous'; the eternal question of whether the end justifies the means, and many others.  If you look below the surface, there's a lot going on.  While it may not be as dramatic as the quest to save the world, it's still of great importance.