Clovers

by Samira

This is a story of Androxen, the sea, a nice bunch of aliens of the Andromeda galaxy, Samira, and some serious citizens of earth. It begins with Androxen of the seas, who can only breed males and so ever on the lookout for sirenmates in a waterful life together. But the old sage androx and the equally mature seasalt androx are Androxen of another sort. Appalled by the state of seas and land around, they badger aliens for blueprints for an all right world. And as the old salt plots across galaxies with his infallible plotter, unbanded frequency waves tingle with vibes of alien tracks. The rest is history, or rather, geography, as final outcome is an earth with extended platforms. In its past, this planet had been exploited, explored, and exalted in song, word, and deed, but now it could breathe again. Spacelings, normally visualized vandalizing the environs, reverse roles here, getting humans out of the hole and giving the planet an earthly chance. Good, clean humour. But underlying the light tone, there is an anxiety over the crisis confronting earthlings and an earnest hope that it ends in a happy beginning.

Genres: Fantasy

78 pages, Paperback

Published January 5, 2016

Reviews

[Heena Rathore Rathore-Pardeshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Clovers is a beautifully and cleverly written book that will serve as a really amusing read for everyone. It is fun and entertaining, but at the same time makes the reader aware of the problems that are faced (and to be faced) by the people of Earth.

I liked the illustrations of this book, done by the author herself, as they are cute and unique. I'm positive that this book will be well received by science-fantasy fans, given time. The concept is really different and I loved the unique way of writing. The new and unusual names and the ragged course of the story made Clovers a really interesting and amusing read.

If you want to read a unique science-fantasy this year, then I'd highly recommend Clovers.

You can also read this review at The Reading Bud.

[Siobhan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate giving books low ratings, especially when I’m the first person to do so. Unfortunately, it happens every so often. In fact, I think I was due to give a one star rating, as it’s been a while. Sadly, this was the book that left me giving a single star.

As always, I wanted to enjoy this book. It was painted with all kinds of uniqueness, and I was intrigued as to what I would be receiving. It’s a short read, and I was hopeful that it would give me a truly wonderful quick read. Alas, I couldn’t get into this one. I tried and tried – I told myself it was a quick read and I would be done in no time at all – but by the time I was nearly half way through the story, I simply couldn’t bring myself to finish it.

It is very much possible that the last half of the book is amazing. However, I recently decided I would not continue books I’m not enjoying. I hate not finishing books, but I have so many advance read books waiting to be read, that I cannot waste time forcing myself to finish something I’m not enjoying. Whilst the writing style makes for interesting reading with this one, I couldn’t wrap my head around the actual story.

Sadly, this one simply wasn’t for me

[Sadie Forsythe]

DNF 28%

I'm sure it's witty and clever to some people. However, at 28% I have 100% no idea what is supposed to be going on. Too much wordplay, not enough substance.

[Andrea Lundgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Review: "Clovers" is one of the more remarkable books I've read this year, with more fun than plot or characterization. If you like short stories that play with words, poke fun at humans, aliens, and androxen alike, and you aren't too concerned with have "deep characters" or an "engrossing plot," this might just be the next novella for you to read.

Here's a closer look at it's Narration, Content, Characters, Artwork, World Building, and my Overall Response.

Narration: Four out of Five. This is the strongest facet of the book. It's full of puns and wordplay with a touch of seriousness, and there's quite a bit of consonance and assonance. Some of the words are so long that even I wasn't sure what they meant within their respective contexts (and I have a longer vocabulary than the "average reader") but it was delightful to encounter words like "nascent," "decorum," and "peripherals."

However, it did feel like it was too clever at times, making it hard to understand the jokes. The humor wasn't pointed enough to be satire, which would've united the overall humor into a particular focus. Instead, it remained light and general, like a bubble of words with no weight behind it.

Content: Three out of Five. There is nothing particularly objectionable to the content, but at the same time, there isn't much to it, either. The plot is very basic, there is hardly any dialogue or real description, and most of the focus is on explaining what happens in a light and playful way. I wish there had been a stronger, clearer narrator to give the overall project color and perspective, but aside from her tendency to slip into mathematics or ramble, she didn't help give much focus to the story.

Characters: Two out of Five. The book is long enough to have major characters, but we never spend enough time with anyone to care about them. Even though the book is "written" by Samira, a fictional character, I never felt close to her or that that I understood or even knew what she was up to (saving the planet, to be sure, but why she cared that much I didn't know).

In general, the book isn't about strong characters but about wordplay. If you read for a character-driven scenario, where you want to know what happens because you're emotionally vested in the lives of fictional people...this isn't the book for you.

Artwork: Subjective. There is quite a bit of artwork, showing the androxen, the aliens, the ocean, and a number of other things. Like the story, there seems to be no attempt at realism here, so I'd say the two fit each other, though it did nothing to "draw me in" as a reader. (But perhaps that was the point, to write a "story" that is fun but reminds us of the seriousness of the environmental crisis of our planet? I know some authors prefer an "idea-centric" writing, where nothing is done that would distract from contemplating the philosophical theme behind the story, and if this was the goal, it was well done, but that's definitely not my "cup of tea.")

World-Building: Three out of Five. As far as I could tell, the world was consistent, but it was rather hard to understand what was happening and how the world worked in the midst of all the mathematical equations and linguistic acrobatics. For example, there were references to how male androxen longed for female companionship, and how they were attracted women who were drowning or whom they encountered in the water, yet there was insufficient explanation of how the transformation occurs that permits the women to properly accept the male advances. The author said this would be explained in the sequel, but for a normal fantasy book, it'd need to have more page-time in this book (explaining the what, if not the how and why). In general, the book is more about the words than the world behind them.

Overall Response: Twelve out of Twenty, for an average of 3. "Clovers" reminds me of a book of puns or jokes, where there is amusement but no serious weight to carry the reader forth from one page to another and nothing compelling you to keep reading. It may just be that I'm not the reader to greatly appreciate something this airy, for the satire and humor pieces I prefer tend to be extended metaphors where the detail adds to the delight, but this novella did make me smile.

For more reviews like this, click here.
Copyright 2016 Andrea Lundgren

[Kristyn - Reading to Unwind · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever started a book and wasn't completely sure what you were even reading about. This is that type of book for me. It is broken up into three sections and I am so glad that I continued reading into the second section because it started to make more sense and I could see what the author was trying to comment on.

The book uses a very heavy vocabulary and I did have to look up several words to see exactly what the author was trying to write about. If you can get passed the unusual writing style that the author uses it is a great short story to read. Overall the author is commenting on society today. I found portions of the book to be funny, which kept me reading on.

The illustrations in the book are awesome I felt like they helped for me to envision what the author was seeing while writing this book.

One thing I would suggest for the book is to have a disclaimer at the beginning regarding the overall theme so that people don't get turned off quickly due to the style and language because it is worth reading and getting a different perspective of the problems in society today.

I would suggest this as a book to read when you just need a complete break from your normal reading habits. Be prepared to look up a few words for a definition and also be prepared to reread sections to get the bigger picture. This is a super quick read and could be done in one sitting.

I received a copy of this book from the author Samira for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Dylan Hiler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of Clovers by Samira in exchange for my honest opinion. You can find her novel here. This will be a (mostly) spoiler free review.

Clovers by Samira is certainly a unique novel. It's the story that would have happened if Douglas Adams and James Joyce got together. It reads like a side story in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but would certainly be written in the style of Finnegans Wake.

Clovers isn't for everyone, let me get that out of the way. The author "Samira" uses a vocab heavy, alliterative, and disconnected style. As an author myself I wish I had nearly the talent she does in putting lesser known vocab together. The style the book is written is going to detract a lot of people from diving into the complete story. It requires patience, imagination, and likely a dictionary.

That doesn't make it a bad book by any means. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is one of my favorite novels of all time. James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake was fascinating...if impossible.

The story itself is about culture, it only takes about an hour to read, and its worth it for those looking into something that will challenge them!

[Terri Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

**I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review**

This is not a book that can be consumed, it is a book that needs to be savored. It is not a quick read. There were several words I did not know and I could not figure out given the context. I didn’t mind because it was nice to read a challenging book and the book only took a little over an hour to read. It is important to read all three sections of the book in order to get the full impact of the story. The writing style adds an almost lyrical quality to the story the enhances the uniqueness of the pictures in the book. Given the differences of this book, it is not for everyone, but I would recommend it for someone who is looking for something different.