This was the first fiction book I’d read in a while and I dragged out my time reading it for farrrrrr to long. Not that the book wasn’t good, I just don’t think I was in the mood for reading in general. Overall, the book was okay. It felt like it didn’t have much pace to it. The I know the final act is supposed to be where all the action is but it just felt like nothing interesting really happened until the last 30% of the book.
The whole premise of the story is that the human race has found a method to prevent aging. Now on it’s own this sounds like it would be a great concept to look into. How does society react to such an achievement. Does everyone agree with it, is it safe, that kind of thing. Unfortunately a lot of these ideas are never really touched upon as we are placed directly into a place in the story where everyone is already immortal and there is only a small few who still disagree with the permanent ceasing of aging. I feel like there would be so much more content to work through has the story been placed at the beginning of the creation of immortality rather than at the period where it is widely accepted that no one dies of old age.
I have to commend the author on his ability to talk techno-babble however. A significant portion of time in the book is spent explaining the science of immortality and occasionally the religious aspects of such a process. These, I expect were added to make the world seem more believable however I do feel that sometimes there was just too much science being thrown about that it somehow made it feel as if the book was overcompensating for the fact that immortality through such means are not in fact possible. As if I was forced into believing that it was possible rather than just imagining it was possible.
The main characters do feel real however. They react to situations as would be expected, asking all the right questions and receiving the answers that I myself would be looking for. This makes for enjoyable reading as it feels easier to connect with the characters throughout the story.
Overall, did I enjoy The Cicada Prophecy? Yes. Would I place it up at the top of best books ever written? No. Would I have enjoyed it more had I read it quicker? Most likely. Unless for some reason I read this book again, I will lay the blame for my limited enjoyment of this book in my lack of reading speed rather than in the quality of content the author has produced. If he does still intend to continue writing, I feel a more low level, personal story from the beginning of the switch to immortality would be a very interesting avenue explore and should something like that appear I would definitely make the effort to read it.
Interested? Click here to buy The Cicada Prophecy on Amazon.
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