A book review of Water Harvest by Eric Diehl
Water Harvest is an electronic novel that was given to me by the author to review. The book is science fiction in genre and takes place on another planet called Kast'ar.
Kast'ar is orbited by several moons and each of these moons has a colony on it. The colonies aren't able to obtain water from the moons so they take water from Kast'ar. This leaves the inhabitants of Kast'ar to have to combat these harvesters to defend their water supplies for their own survival. The head of the Kast'ar inhabitants is House Alar which is lead by Lord Gar and his son Cairn.
The story begins when the people of Kast'ar are preparing for the Harvest, and they are overrun by one of the lunar colonies led by Teigor Valiir. Valiir uses advanced technology the houses of Kast'ar haven't seen and is able to completely defeat House Alar, taking Lord Gar, Cairn, and Cairn's love, Neilai. Valiir is also aided by a Guild member named Gezladorn who uses certain substances to give him magic-like abilities. Since House Alar was defeated pretty easily, Valiir sets his sights on getting the remaining houses to fall in line and sends Cairn as a disgraced emissary to convince the other houses that it is futile to fight. However, Cairn is able to rally some of the houses to his aid and finds other allies in unexpected places. With their help, Cairn puts all of his energy into getting House Alar back and freeing his father and love.
This novel is the first book I have ever read on an ereader, and on my tablet, it was quite lengthy. It took me a long time to finish, much longer than it's ever taken me to finish a book in hard form. To be honest, I don't know if this is because I do not enjoy reading from ereader format, or if I did not enjoy the book that much. I would have to read other books in ereader format to be sure. What I do know is that once I was able to finish the book, I do feel like I enjoyed the total story. There were many characters to keep track of, as other reviewers have mentioned, but I don't think I found it as hard as other people. The many characters were a hindrance to me mainly because I was unable to really form a bond with any of them. The only character that I came close to having a bond with was Cairn, and this may only have been because I wanted him to rescue and reunite with his love, Neilai, so that there would be a form of closure.
The other complaint that I had with the novel was that the language used and the style of writing were (for lack of a better word) thick. I don't mean to say that the style was unintelligent - quite the opposite. I think that Diehl is very intelligent, and he writes in a competent and discerning style. The flow of the writing, however, can sometimes slow the reader down because the style verges on highbrow. I felt often that if Diehl had simplified his style a bit more so that the action flowed more quickly and the more meaty parts were found only in the descriptions then I would like the book that much more.
That being said, I would recommend this book to science fiction and fantasy fans who enjoy a story that follows a range of characters. I believe that the concept of the story is a good one, and that it is told well in Diehl's hands. I give this book a 3 out of 5.
Kast'ar is orbited by several moons and each of these moons has a colony on it. The colonies aren't able to obtain water from the moons so they take water from Kast'ar. This leaves the inhabitants of Kast'ar to have to combat these harvesters to defend their water supplies for their own survival. The head of the Kast'ar inhabitants is House Alar which is lead by Lord Gar and his son Cairn.
The story begins when the people of Kast'ar are preparing for the Harvest, and they are overrun by one of the lunar colonies led by Teigor Valiir. Valiir uses advanced technology the houses of Kast'ar haven't seen and is able to completely defeat House Alar, taking Lord Gar, Cairn, and Cairn's love, Neilai. Valiir is also aided by a Guild member named Gezladorn who uses certain substances to give him magic-like abilities. Since House Alar was defeated pretty easily, Valiir sets his sights on getting the remaining houses to fall in line and sends Cairn as a disgraced emissary to convince the other houses that it is futile to fight. However, Cairn is able to rally some of the houses to his aid and finds other allies in unexpected places. With their help, Cairn puts all of his energy into getting House Alar back and freeing his father and love.
This novel is the first book I have ever read on an ereader, and on my tablet, it was quite lengthy. It took me a long time to finish, much longer than it's ever taken me to finish a book in hard form. To be honest, I don't know if this is because I do not enjoy reading from ereader format, or if I did not enjoy the book that much. I would have to read other books in ereader format to be sure. What I do know is that once I was able to finish the book, I do feel like I enjoyed the total story. There were many characters to keep track of, as other reviewers have mentioned, but I don't think I found it as hard as other people. The many characters were a hindrance to me mainly because I was unable to really form a bond with any of them. The only character that I came close to having a bond with was Cairn, and this may only have been because I wanted him to rescue and reunite with his love, Neilai, so that there would be a form of closure.
The other complaint that I had with the novel was that the language used and the style of writing were (for lack of a better word) thick. I don't mean to say that the style was unintelligent - quite the opposite. I think that Diehl is very intelligent, and he writes in a competent and discerning style. The flow of the writing, however, can sometimes slow the reader down because the style verges on highbrow. I felt often that if Diehl had simplified his style a bit more so that the action flowed more quickly and the more meaty parts were found only in the descriptions then I would like the book that much more.
That being said, I would recommend this book to science fiction and fantasy fans who enjoy a story that follows a range of characters. I believe that the concept of the story is a good one, and that it is told well in Diehl's hands. I give this book a 3 out of 5.
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