Fighting what we’ve become.
An ancient dimension of dark echoes from the past.
Lisa and her family barely manage to escape an invasion from the Rebel army in their home of Malta. Shortly after this episode, she discovers Exo, the ancient dimension she cannot understand until her late 20s. Exo is made of memories of the past; it brings forth all the strong echoes we leave behind. Lisa desperately wants to resolve the conflicts of this inner world peacefully, but quickly learns she must fight the shadows in people’s hearts, materialized through battle re-enactments, warfare and emotional turmoil.
“Are we in danger? I heard Daddy talking to Uncle Bernie about some bad people coming to our island. There’s only water protecting us from them, see?”
“Ah, their long debates over the phone… It’s just chatting; just people talking. No worries here, my dear.”
Her mother paused and reflected on whether to be more honest with her child, as some school advisors were recommending, or whether to continue shielding her from the world’s problems.
“I don’t want them to come to my school. My friends might stay at home because they’re scared.”
“They won’t,” the mother replied with another smile as she caressed the little girl’s brown hair. “They won’t. Let’s get inside, sweetheart; it’s getting chilly.”
They resided in a fortunately situated neighborhood. Though just two miles from the shore, it was elevated enough to have an unobstructed sea view over the gentle slope of their rocky hill. Before entering the house, Lisa spotted some movement above her head.
“Hey, it’s Reblas!” She waved at their neighbor, who was tranquilly gazing through his telescope, poking out of his dark attic window. “Any shooting princesses today?”
“Why don’t you come over and take a look? It’s a cheesy moon out tonight,” beamed the man. He was recently retired and enjoyed the simple pleasures of life on the island.
“It’s late. Maybe tomorrow,” Lisa’s mother called back.
“’Night, Reblas.”
“Sure thing, Strawberry. It’ll be there tomorrow as well—always waiting for us to look up and admire it!”
The electric shutter on the back door slowly closed after they had passed through. Reblas adjusted his telescope’s lens and angle, observing the horizon, while in the background, concerned voices on the radio discussed the recent riots in Europe and the increasing numbers of boats crossing the Mediterranean Sea from both continents.
Review
This book had a lot of interesting elements. Time travel, shamans, a protagonist who travels to outer space—there was no shortage of remarkable things happening here.
I want to say this wowed me and that I was drawn in to the many time periods and concepts traversed in this book. Rather, I am walking away feeling confused and like there was something in this story that stayed just outside my reach. Lisa, our main character, found herself able to enter a sort of dream state after a traumatic event in her childhood. In her late twenties, she learns this dream state is the result of her shaman status and that she can stop evils from different time periods in Earth’s timeline. This leads to many action scenes and many discussions on inner truth vs. external understanding. It was all very fascinating but felt inaccessible to those who aren’t already well-versed in advanced shamanistic teachings.
Away from Lisa’s shaman world (called Exo), she leads a physical life that I felt didn’t really meld with the shaman side until the very very end. She is a scientist in real life, and again, the science felt like it was beyond the average person’s understanding.
There are many, many characters, and the POV jumps between them at will. This made following the story tough. Even more, it made connecting with the characters difficult. Most of the story seemed to be Lisa, but even so, she never felt fully fleshed out. Getting little glimpses into the thought processes of so many others left me feeling like I’d been introduced to too many people at a party.
Overall, I think this book has a lot to offer but not necessarily for everyone. I spent most of my time confused. When I wasn’t confused, there were some truly visionary things happening, and the book gives some fantastic commentary on different time periods. Perhaps I needed to be in a different mindset to fully understand this. Nevertheless, I think those who want a book they can read over time and really ponder would enjoy this.
A fan of nourishing SF&F fiction. Seeker of essential truths in historical non-fiction. Exploring life for almost half a century. Delivering action and matters of the inner self. “Chan has license to be more philosophical and issue-oriented, and on the whole he blends together different genres well.” (John Staughton, SPR)
To check out other stops on this tour, visit the tour page here.
All the opinions expressed in this review are my own. Read the full disclosure here.