Sonant

by A. Sparrow

Something strange lurks in a vacuum-sealed bell jar in a wealthy eccentric's parlor, feeding on the unearthly sounds his musical mercenaries create. When suicide attempt survivor Aerie Walker passes his audition, her life takes a major turn for the weird. Aerie Walker should be famous or dead or both by now, just like her idol, bassist Scott LaFaro, who in 1961, at the peak of his fame, died in a fiery wreck in upstate New York. She plays upright bass too, and plays it very well. Won awards and acclaim, but could never manage a living. When her odyssey in professional jazz ends with spoiled dreams and a failed suicide attempt in Tokyo, she retreats to Ithaca, NY where she hopes to pursue a new career in the culinary arts. One night after work, a 'musicians wanted' posting catches her eye. She takes her bass out of storage and to a bizarre jam session in the wilds of Connecticut Hill. She ends up joining the oddest of ensembles, playing atonal, improvised music for a mysterious bell jar, but never in public. Musical alchemy, patron Aaron Levine calls it. The thing in the jar does interesting things to carbon when the right sort of dissonance sends it resonating. This strange 'music' disturbs John and Cindy, the God-fearing couple who live next door, to the core of their souls. The hellish racket seems to draw the oddest creatures out of the forest. Cindy even thinks they might be demons. Pastor Mac, her illicit lover, agrees to intervene, cashing in a favor from an old friend who runs Last Hope Ministries, a commando deliverance outfit specializing in high tech, large caliber exorcisms. When Aaron goes away on business, the band, pining for recognition, brings the show to town, bell jar and all. The gig proves disastrous, freeing the entity in the bell jar, wreaking havoc on the alchemist's designs and nipping Aerie's musical comeback in the bud. But in the process, cuckold John becomes a fan, accomplice and secret admirer of Aerie's. And he alone has the inclination and ability to jam the gears of a potentially deadly deliverance. Sonant celebrates music and nature and the mysteries of the heart, riding the ‘Slipstream’ between gritty contemporary fantasy and magical realism.

Genres: Paranormal, Fiction

455 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 29, 2011

Reviews

[Iain Coggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like so many (far too many) self-published works, this one has an uncomfortably high degree of mechanical errors; this being one of the reasons I am giving it less than five stars. That being said, Sonant is a wonderful novel and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Sparrow has a curious knack for dragging out a story without allowing it to slow down or grow stale--and yes, that is a rather loaded comment on my part. As I was reading the book I repeatedly found myself asking when are we going to get to the point? And then, no sooner than I had asked, Sparrow knocks the speed of plot development up a notch to keep me going. I am on the fence as to whether this is good literary technique or triage for a mildly pedestrian narrative. In either case, I was driven to finish the story and see what happens, and I wasn't disappointed! The book has a surprising ending that one cannot really see coming despite what is an obvious build-up in retrospect. Sparrow's prose is tight and focused, and her characters are rich in depth. There is a fresh contemporary quality to the story as well and her sense of place and modern Americana comes across well despite her spare details; s/he says just what s/he has to say in order to set a scene and does not belabor the process. Another aspect of Sonant that I enjoyed is Sparrow's careful tying up of details. I did not encounter any unresolved loose ends, however minor. Most enjoyable of all for me as a reader, is Sparrow's willingness to allow the reader to decide what to make of these fully humanized characters; the reader is very much the fly on the wall. A final note, the element of Magical Realism is carefully embedded into an entirely plausible world to such that the realism of the story's world enhances its impact considerably, and this may be my greatest compliment to the author. Excellent work here and I recommend it wholeheartedly!

[Yasmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a quirky read. I love a book that can just lose itself in the details. In Sonant, music plays a huge part in the plot, and it was fun to just read through lines dwelling on the harmony and melody of sound. For a music lover, it's the ultimate geekfest. I was riveted.

Religion also seems to be a focus of this novel in both it's positive and negative aspects. The over zealous are humane but flawed as are the ones without faith. It's not preachy in the least. It's quirky.

My only complaint is the editing. Words were missing, creating incomplete gaps in sentences. Filling in the blank was no biggie, but the book could have used a bit more editing.

[Cindy DeLong · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing story that stayed with me long after I finished reading it. I was glued to it from the beginning. A girl names Aerie plays string bass extremely well. She is hired to play in a band that plays weird music that strengthens strange whirlwinds that turn carbon into diamonds. The neighbor woman is concerned and call in church groups to end the music. The neighbor's husband is curious and wants to discover what exactly is going on. Thought provoking!

[Bruce Hodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to find something a little out of the ordinary. Gritty characters, may take a tiny bit to get into this one but is worthwhile. Plot thickens nicely, the characters continue to grow, and it remains nicely wierd and offbeat. Really an original idea and that's a hard thing to come up with these days.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book either as free download or on sale from B&N.

Interesting but odd story, I wish it had gone into more of the metaphysical beings and less of the religious crazies. Music that caused the beings to grow and react (plus produce diamonds)but was seen as "devil-made" by the crazies.

Too many asides and not very necessary backstories.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can get past the awful editing then it's a good book - interesting characters, ideas and storyline. The same goes for the author's other books - Lethe, Xenolith and Peregrin.

[Olive]

it kept me on my toes. quite a tragic ending for John and Aaron