Susan Plunket

A call goes out across the universe....volunteers are needed for a mission to Earth. Seven times it has been tried to liberate humanity from the dark lords that keep the planet from progressing. And every time the effort has failed. Many respond to the call, eager to free Earth from its dark lords and help humankind venture into the fourth dimension and beyond. Volunteers will be transported to Earth, stripped of their memories, and mingled into society. Before the battle against the evil forces holding the planet, the Venutians will have to remember who they are and bring forth their multi-dimensional strengths for the war to free earth. But it will be difficult. The dark lords use many vices to hold humanity prisoner....drugs, power, money....it will be a hard fight.

The world building in this book is an interesting concept, but nothing really new. The rest of the universe has evolved past selfishness and more base emotions to a higher class of emotions....love, peace, acceptance for all, etc. While humans on Earth are held back by their more base emotions and behaviors. While based on truth, I have to be honest and say I found the obvious social commentary difficult to read. I understand the intent, but the story really isn't sci-fi. It's a 344 page tale about the evils of current political, social and acceptance issues....with multi-dimensional aliens thrown in. While I applaud the effort to weave a intergalactic mission around current problems, this sort of story has been done to death in the past few years in one way or another, and the plot of this book just wasn't strong enough to carry it out in a good way.

I stopped reading at about 75% and DNF'd this book. This story is just clearly not for me. I did not like the writing style and found the obviously contrived plot just too much to slog through for 300 pages. I agree with the basic underlying idea -- we need to evolve past petty hatred and violence. But, I'm not going to make it through a tale of peace-loving aliens coming to save us from our backwards ways. The writing and plot are just not strong enough to carry the concept. That is only my opinion as a reviewer. Others might like this story and offer a differing viewpoint. But, I have to always be honest in my reviews.....and I just could not finish this book.

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from John Hunt Publishing via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**
… (mehr)

This is quite simply a beautiful book. A group of wanderers who represent universal goodwill are needed to prevent the Earth from succumbing to its possible fates of degeneration or annihilation.
They incarnate as humans to attempt to thwart the Dark Lords intentions, and to help humans remember their own divinity. The group’s plan to defeat the forces of negativity simply by increasing the positive energy of Earth’s inhabitants is a succinct metaphor for the ideal of overcoming adversity without using force.
The story has many permutations on contemporary spiritual beliefs and explores them from alternative perspectives. The concept of free will as a universal law is an interesting and appealing example.
Plunket’s writing is erudite, imaginative and exhilarating. It abounds with alignments to the sciences and spiritualism, and this highly entertaining novel should be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of readers.… (mehr)