March Madness for March 10th welcomes Author Kristen Stone:"Edge of Extinction"
Kristen Stone is a mother of one daughter and grandmother to three lovely children aged from 15 years to 2 years (roughly speaking). She lives in the Midlands of England with her very supportive and hard working husband.
Kristen has wanted to be an author from the age of 14, but was put off trying when told by her careers teacher ‘You can’t just be a writer.’ So she has drifted from one clerical job to another, not really having any real interest in what she is doing, apart from mastering the latest word processing package as each emerged.Kristen works best in the evening and as most office jobs require an early start she finally made the decision to ‘go for it’. After several attempts at getting an agent she has knuckled down to work and now her first book has been published by Night Publishing, who specialize is publishing struggling new authors.
Kristen also provides an editing service. For full details visit her website : www.kristen-stone-the-writer.com
Blurb
Why were his people dying? This is the question Kianda Mala needed to answer. Considered a god because he has a tail, accepted as a leader, Kianda emerges from the jungle to confront the modern world.
What he finds is a world beyond his comprehension where his people are deemed worthless and big business rules.
Links
Review
What I felt mostly after I had read Edge of Extinction was that it is so important that we stand up for the weaker groups on our globe - in this case - an Indian tribe in the Amazon. It is good when fiction books are dedicated to such a cause. I felt outrage at the lot the native inhabitants suffered at the hands of capitalists, who polluted their river by exploiting a mine upstream and making all the people of the tribe fall ill. I think that in fact fiction is a powerful tool in educating people, because we can identify better with the emotions and tribulations that the main characters have to face than when it is served as a real-life account and thus misses this emotional layer that can be so brilliantly tapped into by means of fiction but then only in the hands of someone as skilled as Kristen Stone, of course.
I liked the book because the story is built up excellently and I admire the way Kristen Stone has handled the first person narrative to describe the world through the eyes of an Indian man. There can hardly be a bigger difference between her English upbringing and this main character but she takes us through the book from within his mind in a consistent and clever way.
The setting, both in the jungle and in the miners' village, is described in a precise and vivid way. At times I felt the book was written by a clinical observer with the sharpest of vision. Every detail of this - often quite imaginative story - is elaborated.
I also enjoyed the descriptions of all the rituals in the tribe, really stunning research or imagination?
Last but not least, this book is very well-written and immaculately edited, which makes it a delight to read.
But no book is perfect and it is almost impossible to keep looking through the eyes of a "primitive" at Western society and not miss something here and there. So I would doubt the main character Kianda Mala would have called latex gloves by their proper name the first time he sees the doctor wear them or name a Jeep when being confronted with a car for the very first time. But these two things were the only ones that struck me as odd in the complete picture of perfect "innocence" with regard to western civilisation.
What made the book original for me was the type of story, fictional but almost palpably real. It keeps surprising me that Ms Stone has such an immense imagination and weaves this story so elegantly and seemingly effortlessly. The book is a great delight and a good educator. The images still stay with me after finishing reading it yesterday. Well done!
I liked the book because the story is built up excellently and I admire the way Kristen Stone has handled the first person narrative to describe the world through the eyes of an Indian man. There can hardly be a bigger difference between her English upbringing and this main character but she takes us through the book from within his mind in a consistent and clever way.
The setting, both in the jungle and in the miners' village, is described in a precise and vivid way. At times I felt the book was written by a clinical observer with the sharpest of vision. Every detail of this - often quite imaginative story - is elaborated.
I also enjoyed the descriptions of all the rituals in the tribe, really stunning research or imagination?
Last but not least, this book is very well-written and immaculately edited, which makes it a delight to read.
But no book is perfect and it is almost impossible to keep looking through the eyes of a "primitive" at Western society and not miss something here and there. So I would doubt the main character Kianda Mala would have called latex gloves by their proper name the first time he sees the doctor wear them or name a Jeep when being confronted with a car for the very first time. But these two things were the only ones that struck me as odd in the complete picture of perfect "innocence" with regard to western civilisation.
What made the book original for me was the type of story, fictional but almost palpably real. It keeps surprising me that Ms Stone has such an immense imagination and weaves this story so elegantly and seemingly effortlessly. The book is a great delight and a good educator. The images still stay with me after finishing reading it yesterday. Well done!
Please remember you MUST leave a comment on this post to have a chance at winning this book!
PLUS...Join this blog and be in the running to win not one but TWO books written by your host Soooz under her pen name of Stacey Danson..."Empty Chairs" and "Faint Echoes of Laughter"
An original, riveting and beautifully written book. Warmly recommended!
ReplyDeleteThis must be on my TBR list!
ReplyDeleteWhat I love about all the books in the Soooz March Madness collection is the diversity of genres and above all the originality of the authors' approaches to their stories. It seems to indicate a new freedom of writing styles that we are all fortunate to have so excellently reviewed by Soooz.
ReplyDeleteKirsten Stone's 'Edge of Extinction' appears to be an perfect example of this trend and is one book I would love to read.
Sounds like a good read! Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeletesweetiee.gal(at)hotmail(dot)com
I still think of 'Edge of Extinction' as 'Kianda Mala' as I first read it on Authonomy. It was a very early favourite.
ReplyDeleteAnd I recommend Kristen's editing service. She has given me an excellent pointer to improve my current work.
My thanks again to all the lovely folks that stopped by to comment on the post. Kristen Stone's wonderful "Edge Of Extinction" has been won by...CrystalRosette.
ReplyDeleteCongraulations! Your ebook will be on it's way soon.
Soooz
Damn! Late to the party again! Edge of Extinction is a wonderful read, and I definitely recommend it to anybody who cares about the future of our world. That's quite a lot of people, at a guess.
ReplyDeleteAs for Kris herself, well she's a lovely lady, always so positive, always encouraging others and incredibly supportive. I very much look forward to her latest offering, Penhaligon.
great review. what i've read of the book struck me as being soulfully written, grounded, vivid, about characters and a culture to care about passionately. i wanted that book to be published, and that was one of the reasons i got on board Night Publishing myself, as an author. quality writing worth being read, about an important topic.
ReplyDelete