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In Maps & Legends #1
The Wannoshay Cycle
Book by Michael Jasper
- GenresFictionScience Fiction
369 pages, Hardcover
First published September 25, 2003
5 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Michael Jasper
128 books18 followersMichael Jasper is fascinated with exploring the places where the normal meets the strange. In pursuit of this fascination, he has published over a dozen novels, a story collection, and over sixty short stories, along with a digital comic with artist Niki Smith.
In the past he's tried bartending, teaching junior high, painting houses, being a secret shopper, working construction, and many more jobs; he prefers fiction writing. For his day job, he works as a technical writer.
He lives with his family in North Carolina, and his website is michaeljasper.net.
In the past he's tried bartending, teaching junior high, painting houses, being a secret shopper, working construction, and many more jobs; he prefers fiction writing. For his day job, he works as a technical writer.
He lives with his family in North Carolina, and his website is michaeljasper.net.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 31, 2008
The premise of The Wannoshay Cycle might be familiar to some readers: alien refugees from a dying world crash land on Earth. But whereas some authors would use that premise to explore the flash and glitter of aliens and spaceships, Jasper uses it to explore humanity.
His heroes are a single mother with a sick child, a priest fighting to hold on to his faith, a young drug addict and filmmaker ... real people, each one affected in different ways by the arrival of the Wannoshay. The mother fears for her job as the U.S. government attempts to integrate the Wannoshay into the factory where she works. The priest must find his role when he's brought in to speak to the Wannoshay about faith.
One example of Jasper's skill is the way his characters react the first time they meet the Wannoshay. For most, there's a moment of instinctive fear and panic. The Wannoshay are something outside of our experience. Millions of years of evolution have done nothing to prepare us for the truly alien, and that moment of first contact is overwhelming. While it might be less glamorous than the heroic explorer who meets a new race without a glimmer of fear, Jasper's version is far more believable.
The plot is a bit light compared to some SF fare. There are no space battles, no desperate race to save mankind from destruction. Much of the book feels almost leisurely as we learn about the characters and the Wannoshay's struggle against cultists and racism, not to mention the mysterious ailment plaguing their race. It is this ailment that drives the plot, as our characters learn more about the choices the Wannoshay made when they left their world.
Jasper has clearly spent a great deal of time developing the Wannoshay and their culture. The result is an interesting book, and a perceptive examination of how America might react to the arrival of such refugees.
His heroes are a single mother with a sick child, a priest fighting to hold on to his faith, a young drug addict and filmmaker ... real people, each one affected in different ways by the arrival of the Wannoshay. The mother fears for her job as the U.S. government attempts to integrate the Wannoshay into the factory where she works. The priest must find his role when he's brought in to speak to the Wannoshay about faith.
One example of Jasper's skill is the way his characters react the first time they meet the Wannoshay. For most, there's a moment of instinctive fear and panic. The Wannoshay are something outside of our experience. Millions of years of evolution have done nothing to prepare us for the truly alien, and that moment of first contact is overwhelming. While it might be less glamorous than the heroic explorer who meets a new race without a glimmer of fear, Jasper's version is far more believable.
The plot is a bit light compared to some SF fare. There are no space battles, no desperate race to save mankind from destruction. Much of the book feels almost leisurely as we learn about the characters and the Wannoshay's struggle against cultists and racism, not to mention the mysterious ailment plaguing their race. It is this ailment that drives the plot, as our characters learn more about the choices the Wannoshay made when they left their world.
Jasper has clearly spent a great deal of time developing the Wannoshay and their culture. The result is an interesting book, and a perceptive examination of how America might react to the arrival of such refugees.
September 19, 2008
My review for the library: http://watertownreads.wordpress.com/2...
January 23, 2009
Aliens have crash-landed on earth in the near future. This story is from several perspectives of people who are able and willing to communicate with the immigrants.
March 30, 2015
indecipherable!
I have virtually no idea what this so called book is about! Truly wasted time reading it. Have Master degree but did not help.
I have virtually no idea what this so called book is about! Truly wasted time reading it. Have Master degree but did not help.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews