The Pit

Falaha's Journey #2

by Jeno Marz

***THIS EDITION IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.***

THE PIT is the second installment of Falaha's Journey, a xenocentric science fiction trilogy. Length: approx. 42 000 words. The books of the series are not stand-alone and should be read in numbered order.

The young Danna couple, along with their new companion, continue to discover the truth about their world and themselves in their search for an opportunity to save their people.

Family secrets slowly surface, hidden feelings are revealed, and new ones emerge. Ambitions and desires are fueled with every passing day, which could be their last. Answers bring more questions, solutions more problems, and life goes on, even if time is not their ally.

Will luck abandon them again or take their side in the war that might wipe out their entire race?

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 27, 2013

About the author

I'm a writer from Latvia, Northern Europe, with background in electronics engineering, computer science, and warehouse logistics. All my fiction is aimed at an adult audience. English is my third language.

Connect with me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenoMarz/

OS UNIVERSE SERIES by Jeno Marz

FALAHA'S JOURNEY SERIES
Falaha's Journey: A Spacegirl's Account in Three Movements (Books 1-3: Descent; The Pit; Perseverance)
Falaha's Journey: Into Pleasure (Books 1-3: Welcome to Adulthood; This Lonely, Lonely Spaceman; The Man in a Box)
Falaha's Journey 2: Graveyard of the Gods (In revision)

RJG TRILOGY
Rjg: Blood Threads (Rjg #1) (In revision)
Rjg: Adventurous Tide (Rjg #2) (In revision)
Rjg: Godslayer (Rjg #3) (In revision)

Reviews

[Tomass · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book of the trilogy delights us with a deeper insight into characters, their cultures and motivations, and the overall conflict. A very intriguing and complex story with lots of character development and building up to something huge in the final book.

Characters

Enter Falaha, a regular Danna child. Our main five-year-old narrator. Not a superwarrior, not a damsel in distress, not a princess, not any of those archetypes you might expect from a young alien lady. Her amazing character is what makes her stand out.

She is a kid with all the feelings a kid usually has. Though she's introverted and doesn’t have a habit of voicing her thoughts for others to hear, her actions as well as the fierce fusion of strong mind and burning heart is what captivates people around her. She’s also flawed and insecure at times, but she definitely can keep things under control. She is very mature for her age, which is the case with girls a lot of times.

Girly (by her culture’s standards)? Yes.

Flirty? Absolutely.

Warm, affectionate, and lovely? The epitome of that. She's touchy. She likes people. And she’s likeable.

Knows what she wants? You bet. Get in her way, and they will never find your body.

Now, Eyuran, a boy 4 years older than Falaha and another main character is a striking contrast to the girl. He’s a typical young Danna guy: a bit slow on the trickster side, but very loyal and hard-working. Despite being more straightforward compared to a Danna female (I’m guessing a work of thousands of years of their species evolution—girls are more shifty [in a positive sense]), he is very observant and sensitive to Falaha. Being over the head in love with her, he sometimes steps into the overprotective zone, which pisses off the girl. But she deals with that in her own way.

Despite seemingly possessing the characteristics of being one, Eyuran is definitely not a follower—the guy has his feelings, interests, ambitions and desires. Just as Falaha he is a well-rounded character. The two make a deadly combo (well, they definitely would when they grow up, but they have to survive first.)

This guy will probably appeal to the romantically-inclined readers.

Baro. He is a bit old to be put into the same category with the kids above—38 years old—yet this guy is priceless. If you have read the first book, you know how he ended up together with the kids. Another introvert, just like the two above, he still makes a well-balanced asset to their team. Tho ‘team’ is a bit stretched, because they still have a long way to go truly to be one. When their communication fails, hilarious misunderstandings ensue.

Just like the girl, this guy is working things out in his head. There's this feeling like he's not sure he should be there, but you later feel as if he knows EXACTLY why he's there. For a lot of the story he seems like he's in the background because he wants to be there.

He narrates his parts of the story, yet he’s someone to be figured out.

Falaha and Baro compliment each other intellectually--a combo that can kill you with their brains probably. I'd even say he met his match, but sometimes she is too much even for him.

Kieren, Falaha’s father. We finally get to meet her dad. Larger than life and full of emotions, he cares a lot for his daughter and he’s a very huge figure in her life. But she is definitely not his shadow, though the two are very much alike. Another powerful combo, father-daughter this time.

Dorgu and Shaamta. The source of all troubles for the main characters and their people. Have their own agenda and mercilessly carry out their plans. They briefly come to light in the beginning episodes, yet the range of their actions and ambitions spans across time and space—definitely not the enemy to trifle with.

Other characters. There is one more character who plays big part in this story, and several secondary ones, all of which are also good. But I will leave that for the readers to discover.

The overall opinion. This is a fantastic cast that fully comes to life in the course of this part of the story, with Falaha being one of the best female characters out there. The thing is, this author writes both sexes well—as rounded, yet flawed and interesting people.

Plot

This is a pure character-driven story as much as hard science fiction can be. It is fast-paced and unique, and the world-building is superb.

It is a family story by large, yet it is also a coming-of-age story of a sort, but definitely not a kids/young adult one. It has many things going on, which are tightly packed into relatively short form and not always in linear fashion.

I don’t want to spoil things here, so I won’t describe the plot in more details than the pitch for the book does.

The overall opinion. A quite short and fast yet worthwhile, intelligent, and refreshing read. I’m definitely waiting for the final part of this story.