When Fate Is In Your Hands

Let me start by saying that I very rarely ever wish for a book to be longer; shorter maybe; but never longer. Now, keeping that in mind, this was a novel that barely capped the 90 page mark and could have very easily blown past 500 without even batting an eye.. and that one fact alone made it even more intriguing to me.

Before I get started on the more boring aspects of this review, let me set the scene for you… Think “Babylon A.D.” think “Mad Max” think “Concrete Jungle” got it? Great! Welcome to “The Tea Goddess.”

Remy and Darling don’t know each other (or at least that’s what they thought) but when a very odd turn of events (Remy has a mild panic attack and takes it out on a mailbox, and Darling jumps from a moving boat) thrust them together they realize they have something in common…they used to be married, oh yeah.. and they can see the future. After days of endless questions and dream analysis the duo suddenly realizes that THINGS aren’t always what they seem, and even worse…neither are the PEOPLE they are with. In a race to save a dying world can they save themselves in the process or will their pasts come back to haunt them?

This novel, even though it’s length was lacking, was (I have to admit) wildly entertaining; tackling a point of view that is not often thought of. Action Vs. Reaction. Here’s an example to help you understand what I mean. I’m sure most of you have heard of the “Butterfly Effect’ (no… not the movie, the theory) it is said, that a tiny butterfly can flap its wings and change the course of nature..setting off a tsunami thousand of miles away simply because the smallest amount of air generated from it’s wings changed a ripple in the ocean. Now… think of this on a larger scale (this is how this novel works) What if you could see the future? What if you saw that a drought was going to kill hundreds of villagers in Africa, so you change it… made provisions so it didn’t actually happen. However…now that you have changed the course of nature (Africa is nice and green) you have inadvertently shoved the planet off of it’s axis and 3 months from now there is going to be a earthquake killing thousand in Iceland. Would YOU keep trying to change things or would you leave them alone and live the life you’re dealt?

“Dreyer” did what nobody does…he created his own genre, called it “Ecopunk,” and then wrote a novel with such captivation that I read it in 1 sitting. His ability to describe a torn world and then have his characters see the beauty in it was stunning, however with the good comes the bad. It was a little hard to get emotionally connected to the heroes of the novel (and their battles) due to sloppy character development (I’m about 98% certain this would have been solved if the novel was a tad longer) and there were a few moments (dreams) of repetition I thought were completely unnecessary. (Once was enough.. we get it… Armageddon is coming.)

But at the end of the day…when it comes right down to it… this book was a good one. It was fast, it was well plotted, and most importantly it was entertaining.

My suggestion? If you need a quick read (on a plane or in a train for example) This novel is just what the doctor ordered.

Happy Reading my fellow Tea Goddesses and remember: Everything you do effects someone else… so remember to put down the toilet seat. 🙂

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