Ripped Apart by Geoffrey Arnold
| Ripped Apart by Geoffrey Arnold | |
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| Category: Science Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Luke Marlowe
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| Summary: Sometimes thrilling and sometimes baffling, Ripped Apart is nevertheless consistently original and entertaining, with ideas about new worlds and alien ideas making interesting reading | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 448 | Date: December 2015 |
| Publisher: Matador | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1784624750 | |
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Qwelby and Tulia are teenage aliens, growing up in a world and environment far removed from our own. When the twins interfere with a forbidden experiment, they find themselves transported to opposite ends of our Earth – Qwelby in Finland and Tulia in Africa. To survive, they must re-establish their telepathic connection, find each other, avoid capture, and return home. They say that their people arrived on Earth 75,000 years ago, were the cause of the development of the human race, and now need the help of those humans if their race is to survive.
Now, this is a puzzling one. I'll admit, I was initially somewhat dubious when I read the authors explanation for this story – author Geoffrey Arnold is a medium and astrologer who says that he received telepathic messages from the twins, and this is their story, told by them through him. Now, it should be mentioned that I am quite the cynic – so this took a little (okay, a lot) for me to get past, and it was a good few chapters in that I was able to relax and enjoy the story.
When I did though, I discovered that this is a clever, well-written science fiction story, that manages to balance fascinating theories about quantum science and alternate dimensions, political commentary on the state of our planet, and intricate world-building with the fact that it's a good old fashioned page-turner. The society the children come from is a fascinating one, and the glimpses we see of their world in the opening chapters are genuinely intriguing, and something that I hope will be expanded upon in future books, and as someone who has lived Science Fiction since I was a small child, it's nice to read something that genuinely has a feel of originality to it. The twins are compelling characters with a well-developed relationship – their relationship is particularly unique due to the telepathic connection between them, and the loss that is felt when that link is severed is palpable. The plot does go on a little longer than I would have liked – but it ends on a good note, and I'm sure it'll be expanded on in an interesting fashion by Geoffrey (with help from the twins) in the next instalment. Many thanks to the publisher for the copy. We also have a review of Hunted by Geoffrey Arnold.
For further reading I would recommend I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore – a fast-paced Aliens in our World series that, whilst a little silly, is a good, fun read.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Ripped Apart by Geoffrey Arnold at Amazon.com.
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