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The Watchers #1
If There Be Giants
A buried treasure. A family curse. Love despite the odds.
Archaeologist Dr. Mallory Jacks has uncovered an anomaly, a strange creature amidst familiar surroundings, at least to her. The discovery could change the world's perspective of anthropology and science, as well as shake the religious faith of millions. The latter, however, is beside the scientific point.
What is relevant is that the newly found artifacts do not fit neatly or logically into the timeline of events comprising the history of life on the planet. And unfortunately, this could be just the cusp of the problem. Who knows what else would be unveiled as the project continues.
The situation evolves more perplexingly as one of Mallory’s student helpers, Grey McKnight, becomes enmeshed in the mystery; especially, as she and Grey's relationship progresses beyond that of mentor and student. With each passing day, the upheaval surrounding the findings threatens to shatter their lives into countless surreal pieces.
Archaeologist Dr. Mallory Jacks has uncovered an anomaly, a strange creature amidst familiar surroundings, at least to her. The discovery could change the world's perspective of anthropology and science, as well as shake the religious faith of millions. The latter, however, is beside the scientific point.
What is relevant is that the newly found artifacts do not fit neatly or logically into the timeline of events comprising the history of life on the planet. And unfortunately, this could be just the cusp of the problem. Who knows what else would be unveiled as the project continues.
The situation evolves more perplexingly as one of Mallory’s student helpers, Grey McKnight, becomes enmeshed in the mystery; especially, as she and Grey's relationship progresses beyond that of mentor and student. With each passing day, the upheaval surrounding the findings threatens to shatter their lives into countless surreal pieces.
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First published November 24, 2016
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About the author
Ellison Blackburn
12 books87 followersAn early interest in the soft sciences, together with a career in information technology, ignited Ellison Blackburn's curiosity in singularities. Among her published stories are "Flash Back," the literary, slow-burn book one of The Fountain post-apocalyptic trilogy; "If There Be Giants," book one of The Watchers urban fantasy duology; "An Untimely End," the first book in the time-travel mystery series the Windy City Files; and the dystopian, cyberpunk novella "Virtue Us, The Future of Love."
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 4, 2016
Mallory Jacks and her best friend, Paisley Bourne, had an unusual hobby as children; with Indiana Jones as their role model, they explored the hills around their Cornish homes, collecting every scrap of history they could find. Years later, Drs. Jacks and Bourne, once again working together, are summoned to a farm where the farmer has uncovered a possible henge site. At first glance, on a rainy English day, neither doctor suspects that there’s anything more unusual about the find other than the fact that it’s unusual to find a henge buried. However, as they begin to unearth the stones, they make a discovery that has the potential to set both the scientific and the religious communities back on their heels.
If There Be Giants is a story of archaeology and myths, giants and visions, set in Cornwall, the seat of all British legend. Ellison Blackburn has created a story richly woven with archaeological detail and Christian mythology, and peopled it with her strongly-characterised protagonists. The wealth of technical detail provides a brilliant contrast to the supernatural elements, while the characters deal with very human concerns; a flaky grad student, trying to conduct a dig in the rain, an unreliable car; all of which underscore the unbelievable facts that the dig uncovers. This is one of the author’s strongest books to date, a fascinating debut to the new Watchers series.
I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
If There Be Giants is a story of archaeology and myths, giants and visions, set in Cornwall, the seat of all British legend. Ellison Blackburn has created a story richly woven with archaeological detail and Christian mythology, and peopled it with her strongly-characterised protagonists. The wealth of technical detail provides a brilliant contrast to the supernatural elements, while the characters deal with very human concerns; a flaky grad student, trying to conduct a dig in the rain, an unreliable car; all of which underscore the unbelievable facts that the dig uncovers. This is one of the author’s strongest books to date, a fascinating debut to the new Watchers series.
I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
January 13, 2017
Review: IF THERE BE GIANTS by Ellison Blackburn
(THE WATCHERS #1)
Mallory Jacks had been a staunch fan of Indiana Jones since childhood, and unlike many childhood enthusiasms, her interest in both archaeology and anthropology cemented itself and became her adult career passion as well. In company with her schoolmates Paisley, the two found a museum in their small Cornwall community. The turning point occurs with the uncovering of a henge stone. As the novel unfolds, Mallory discovers the existence of The Watchers. Such a discovery may well upend forever both established science, and accepted religions.
IF THERE BE GIANTS is a highly narrative archaeological suspense-thriller. It is first in THE WATCHERS Series.
(THE WATCHERS #1)
Mallory Jacks had been a staunch fan of Indiana Jones since childhood, and unlike many childhood enthusiasms, her interest in both archaeology and anthropology cemented itself and became her adult career passion as well. In company with her schoolmates Paisley, the two found a museum in their small Cornwall community. The turning point occurs with the uncovering of a henge stone. As the novel unfolds, Mallory discovers the existence of The Watchers. Such a discovery may well upend forever both established science, and accepted religions.
IF THERE BE GIANTS is a highly narrative archaeological suspense-thriller. It is first in THE WATCHERS Series.
March 23, 2018
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this because when a book comes from the scientific discipline of archaeology but dips into areas of fantasy (angels) and some unproven and arguably only metaphorical teachings (religious origin stories), then there’s a cross symbol at the top of each chapter, one might suspect that it has an agenda. However, I am pleased to be able to report that this book was pretty evenly balanced between championing religious mystical folklore for adventure purposes and putting it through the unforgiving process and evidence structures of science. The only thing I’d add to that is, the peer review process for scientific publications isn’t portrayed accurately (I work in the area of academic journals). You can’t just send your results to all the publications and they print it. That said though, this is intended to be an entertaining work of fiction and should not be picked at using a different set of criteria.
The basis of the mystery is that the author has introduced a situation where impossible objects are found in a place where they could not be, so it’s inexplicable. My instinct is to say “Ah, but that can’t happen because…” and then I bite my tongue and have to accept that this has been done deliberately to anchor the story. It’s okay then, I guess. Should I just point out the inconsistencies anyway to let the writer know I’m aware of them? Is that pointless?
In essence, sensible archaeologists discover an anomalous site that doesn't fit accepted and evidenced human history; specifically, that there are remains on site that shouldn’t be in good condition, don’t fit the evolutionary (fossil record) or developmental (technology) pattern and could be open to religious or alien interpretation. We have many clock systems, from very short (atomic clock) to very long duration (radioactive decay), yet these objects refuse to fit the established tools we use to make sense of everything else. Is it a prank?
Imagine the fuss that would ensue if we found a mobile phone in a rock stratum from the Devonian period (or a rabbit fossil, for that matter). It would undermine our entire pyramided knowledge system. The Aquatic Ape theory and the Palace of Knossos as a necropolis theory were both attacked by the establishment mainly because that's not what scientists had been taught at lectures by the previous generation of scientists. How do you overturn orthodoxy when every professional in your field has been taught it? Religious dogma matches this level of intransigence of course, as when Copernicus said we orbit the sun and religion contested that their Bumper Book of Bronze Age Guesswork said it didn't. It also said the mustard seed was the smallest seed, which it isn't, and I' d have been burned at the time for saying so but would have said so anyway because I can’t hold my tongue.
My position is quite realistic because I’ve never witnessed anything supernatural and therefore tend to put my confidence into things that have been evidenced. However, I would love, just once, to see something that turns everything I know to be (highly probably) true on its head. I would give anything to see a real dragon in the sky, have a chat with a spirit, find evidence of time travel or watch an extra-terrestrial vehicle land but this sort of super exciting thing doesn’t happen – except in escapist fiction – so if you want to experience what it would feel like, you have to read books. So here I am.
A few years ago, a sort of popularity surge seemed to happen in angel fiction. People in increasing numbers claimed to have had an angel intervene in their life. One person I met told me that an angel had guarded their tent all night from bandits. Whatever that really was, the person who told me was convinced it was an angel. There’s never any evidence of course (proof denies faith) but it was an intriguing puzzle.
Behoove, that’s a beautiful word. Bringing lesser-used words back into use always gets the thumb of appreciation from me. There are also characters called Aberdeen, Kincaid, Paisley and Abernathy – why is there a pattern of Scottish place names? Another mystery that isn’t revealed.
I take issue with “Biological remains are not normally found in henges” because the grave marker blue stones of Stonehenge ALL originally had cremation remains buried under them. The stones were later moved inward to the central circle to their present resting places and the biological remains stayed in their original post holes (apart from the ones collected and re-interned jumbled together in about 1925 with a little plaque from someone unhelpful who thought they were helping) but the current hypothesis is exactly the opposite of what’s said in the book – that each stone marked the grave of a human leader.
"Prehistoric man existed alongside the dinosaur, who knew?" This is the sort of line that pitches the story head over tail into the realms of fantasy, as large dinosaurs (not the ancestors of modern birds) all died out 66 million years ago and then humans became recognisable in their current form, or near enough, only four or so million years ago. To find evidence which would over-turn that gap enough to leave overlap would be staggering. Our form would have evolved again, for a start. Also, why didn’t civilisation or any progress at all happen during that supposed seventy million year waiting time? Have human brains only very recently started working? Perhaps we’re are still waiting. An evolutionary form “Part way between an ape and a human” is again a big no-no, something an archaeologist would not say. We, and all great apes, are evolved from the same common ancestor. We came from them and chimps also came from them, both evolving from the earlier form in parallel. We didn’t become the final evolutionary form of a different primate and then change into humans from that. Am I getting pedantic? Okay, okay.
The other awkward reality, although the mystery has been introduced deliberately, is extracting DNA (or alien equivalent) from anything older than a certain point isn’t possible. All soft tissue that we are aware of fossilises (is fully replaced by minerals) in about ten thousand years. The bones have gone and all that we find is mineral/stone that has seeped in and hardened in the shape of them. In this story, radio carbon C14 dating suggests two very different possibilities, that the remains are comparatively geologically recent (but they would still be fossilised) and that they may be some sixty million years old. The author is here introducing two mysteries, i.e. leaving the reader to decide if they prefer a supernatural age, origin and reason for no decay or alternatively that there might be a more realistic explanation.
Lightening (sic) bugs (in UK?). I’ll have to look that up but I’ve never heard of any. come to think of it, perhaps the story switched to the US and I was reading this in sleepy mode.
I’ve learned from this book what Nephilim means: a race descended from fallen angels that have gone native and mixed in a genetic capacity with humans. Many races have their ‘superman’ myth (See: George Bernard Shaw’s Man & Superman, the Aryan superman of Nietzsche and its derivative, that comic book character who flies around in his pants). Kings also loved to believe this stuff, that they were descended from Thor, Ra or Noah, so therefore had a divine right to do what they like. It’s a complete load of tosh of course, a fantasy designed to con the ordinary people into accepting authority. The Nephilim is a cute idea, that there might be semi-divine travellers among us, but it’s another manifestation of a very old control fantasy. It does help to generate the light romance theme of this book, which twines happily with the light scientific archaeology, light Christianity, light fantasy and magical mysticism. The researcher characters are serious and professional, so it’s a good thing they don’t get carried away with one belief system over another. We’re left with a firm sense of intrigue, with an overwhelming sense of the unproven which might just be true (the X Files used to play this card).
Despite all of that, I didn’t have many objections to the fictional direction of the story or the structural progression. The possibility of angels is interesting to a lot of people and what they might really be is a secondary aspect to explore. I did think the ending was too hurried and "how to militarise this advantage (tall, strong people) isn't convincing in a modern world with nuclear, biological and chemical weapon capability. The northern white rhino is tall and strong but the humans have made it extinct anyway, with conventional tools, so tall, strong people would be fatally vulnerable too. We’d probably use them for entertainment. Oh, the book’s just come full circle.
This is a well written story, decent, on the sensible side for a fantasy, not shoving religion down your throat and not superficial at all, delving in a semi-realistic way into several kinds of fantastical romantic relationships. It establishes that archaeology isn’t boring and doesn’t over-step the mark of realism too much, so keeps the reader on-side. A little diluted though. The threat posed, or complications in response to the discovery, needed a lot more gumption for this to ignite any imaginations. It needed a ticking clock to race our pulses and I think the ending lacked thump. That could be because this novel is followed by further instalments in the series, in which case read on in hope there’s a crescendo.
The basis of the mystery is that the author has introduced a situation where impossible objects are found in a place where they could not be, so it’s inexplicable. My instinct is to say “Ah, but that can’t happen because…” and then I bite my tongue and have to accept that this has been done deliberately to anchor the story. It’s okay then, I guess. Should I just point out the inconsistencies anyway to let the writer know I’m aware of them? Is that pointless?
In essence, sensible archaeologists discover an anomalous site that doesn't fit accepted and evidenced human history; specifically, that there are remains on site that shouldn’t be in good condition, don’t fit the evolutionary (fossil record) or developmental (technology) pattern and could be open to religious or alien interpretation. We have many clock systems, from very short (atomic clock) to very long duration (radioactive decay), yet these objects refuse to fit the established tools we use to make sense of everything else. Is it a prank?
Imagine the fuss that would ensue if we found a mobile phone in a rock stratum from the Devonian period (or a rabbit fossil, for that matter). It would undermine our entire pyramided knowledge system. The Aquatic Ape theory and the Palace of Knossos as a necropolis theory were both attacked by the establishment mainly because that's not what scientists had been taught at lectures by the previous generation of scientists. How do you overturn orthodoxy when every professional in your field has been taught it? Religious dogma matches this level of intransigence of course, as when Copernicus said we orbit the sun and religion contested that their Bumper Book of Bronze Age Guesswork said it didn't. It also said the mustard seed was the smallest seed, which it isn't, and I' d have been burned at the time for saying so but would have said so anyway because I can’t hold my tongue.
My position is quite realistic because I’ve never witnessed anything supernatural and therefore tend to put my confidence into things that have been evidenced. However, I would love, just once, to see something that turns everything I know to be (highly probably) true on its head. I would give anything to see a real dragon in the sky, have a chat with a spirit, find evidence of time travel or watch an extra-terrestrial vehicle land but this sort of super exciting thing doesn’t happen – except in escapist fiction – so if you want to experience what it would feel like, you have to read books. So here I am.
A few years ago, a sort of popularity surge seemed to happen in angel fiction. People in increasing numbers claimed to have had an angel intervene in their life. One person I met told me that an angel had guarded their tent all night from bandits. Whatever that really was, the person who told me was convinced it was an angel. There’s never any evidence of course (proof denies faith) but it was an intriguing puzzle.
Behoove, that’s a beautiful word. Bringing lesser-used words back into use always gets the thumb of appreciation from me. There are also characters called Aberdeen, Kincaid, Paisley and Abernathy – why is there a pattern of Scottish place names? Another mystery that isn’t revealed.
I take issue with “Biological remains are not normally found in henges” because the grave marker blue stones of Stonehenge ALL originally had cremation remains buried under them. The stones were later moved inward to the central circle to their present resting places and the biological remains stayed in their original post holes (apart from the ones collected and re-interned jumbled together in about 1925 with a little plaque from someone unhelpful who thought they were helping) but the current hypothesis is exactly the opposite of what’s said in the book – that each stone marked the grave of a human leader.
"Prehistoric man existed alongside the dinosaur, who knew?" This is the sort of line that pitches the story head over tail into the realms of fantasy, as large dinosaurs (not the ancestors of modern birds) all died out 66 million years ago and then humans became recognisable in their current form, or near enough, only four or so million years ago. To find evidence which would over-turn that gap enough to leave overlap would be staggering. Our form would have evolved again, for a start. Also, why didn’t civilisation or any progress at all happen during that supposed seventy million year waiting time? Have human brains only very recently started working? Perhaps we’re are still waiting. An evolutionary form “Part way between an ape and a human” is again a big no-no, something an archaeologist would not say. We, and all great apes, are evolved from the same common ancestor. We came from them and chimps also came from them, both evolving from the earlier form in parallel. We didn’t become the final evolutionary form of a different primate and then change into humans from that. Am I getting pedantic? Okay, okay.
The other awkward reality, although the mystery has been introduced deliberately, is extracting DNA (or alien equivalent) from anything older than a certain point isn’t possible. All soft tissue that we are aware of fossilises (is fully replaced by minerals) in about ten thousand years. The bones have gone and all that we find is mineral/stone that has seeped in and hardened in the shape of them. In this story, radio carbon C14 dating suggests two very different possibilities, that the remains are comparatively geologically recent (but they would still be fossilised) and that they may be some sixty million years old. The author is here introducing two mysteries, i.e. leaving the reader to decide if they prefer a supernatural age, origin and reason for no decay or alternatively that there might be a more realistic explanation.
Lightening (sic) bugs (in UK?). I’ll have to look that up but I’ve never heard of any. come to think of it, perhaps the story switched to the US and I was reading this in sleepy mode.
I’ve learned from this book what Nephilim means: a race descended from fallen angels that have gone native and mixed in a genetic capacity with humans. Many races have their ‘superman’ myth (See: George Bernard Shaw’s Man & Superman, the Aryan superman of Nietzsche and its derivative, that comic book character who flies around in his pants). Kings also loved to believe this stuff, that they were descended from Thor, Ra or Noah, so therefore had a divine right to do what they like. It’s a complete load of tosh of course, a fantasy designed to con the ordinary people into accepting authority. The Nephilim is a cute idea, that there might be semi-divine travellers among us, but it’s another manifestation of a very old control fantasy. It does help to generate the light romance theme of this book, which twines happily with the light scientific archaeology, light Christianity, light fantasy and magical mysticism. The researcher characters are serious and professional, so it’s a good thing they don’t get carried away with one belief system over another. We’re left with a firm sense of intrigue, with an overwhelming sense of the unproven which might just be true (the X Files used to play this card).
Despite all of that, I didn’t have many objections to the fictional direction of the story or the structural progression. The possibility of angels is interesting to a lot of people and what they might really be is a secondary aspect to explore. I did think the ending was too hurried and "how to militarise this advantage (tall, strong people) isn't convincing in a modern world with nuclear, biological and chemical weapon capability. The northern white rhino is tall and strong but the humans have made it extinct anyway, with conventional tools, so tall, strong people would be fatally vulnerable too. We’d probably use them for entertainment. Oh, the book’s just come full circle.
This is a well written story, decent, on the sensible side for a fantasy, not shoving religion down your throat and not superficial at all, delving in a semi-realistic way into several kinds of fantastical romantic relationships. It establishes that archaeology isn’t boring and doesn’t over-step the mark of realism too much, so keeps the reader on-side. A little diluted though. The threat posed, or complications in response to the discovery, needed a lot more gumption for this to ignite any imaginations. It needed a ticking clock to race our pulses and I think the ending lacked thump. That could be because this novel is followed by further instalments in the series, in which case read on in hope there’s a crescendo.
June 8, 2018
I'm on the fence with this book. The plot had potential. The story was there. But.
The characters felt a bit exaggerated, the sudden romance with little supporting story was jarring, and the characters were thrust into the story with hefty backstory filled with narration. The side characters were very, very cardboard with factory-sealed personalities and dialog options.
The plot was buried (pun, because it's about archaeology) beneath narration and dialog that didn't always make sense and explanations - this bordered, at times, on tedious; some passages felt more like a text book than a fictional novel, and it read like one, too.
And the writing. This is where the book fell off my wagon. The writing, while not bad, wasn't great. It was okay, middle of the road. Somethings were rushed over, some where drawn out through dialog with little supporting narration, and other times I had no idea who was speaking. There were moments where the characters were speaking about something, say a bone in this pit they found, but I - the reader - was not shone the bone; all I had was the dialog about the bone. It felt like a movie script in those places - where I just had dialog, no narration, to go off of.
However - I give If There Be Giants a 3 out of 5 - maybe a 3 and a half - because while it had flaws, it was an interesting read that kept my attention most of the time. It was one of those books that I could put and walk away from without any desire to return to it.
The characters felt a bit exaggerated, the sudden romance with little supporting story was jarring, and the characters were thrust into the story with hefty backstory filled with narration. The side characters were very, very cardboard with factory-sealed personalities and dialog options.
The plot was buried (pun, because it's about archaeology) beneath narration and dialog that didn't always make sense and explanations - this bordered, at times, on tedious; some passages felt more like a text book than a fictional novel, and it read like one, too.
And the writing. This is where the book fell off my wagon. The writing, while not bad, wasn't great. It was okay, middle of the road. Somethings were rushed over, some where drawn out through dialog with little supporting narration, and other times I had no idea who was speaking. There were moments where the characters were speaking about something, say a bone in this pit they found, but I - the reader - was not shone the bone; all I had was the dialog about the bone. It felt like a movie script in those places - where I just had dialog, no narration, to go off of.
However - I give If There Be Giants a 3 out of 5 - maybe a 3 and a half - because while it had flaws, it was an interesting read that kept my attention most of the time. It was one of those books that I could put and walk away from without any desire to return to it.
January 29, 2017
Archeologist, Dr. Mallory Jacks has uncovered an anomaly, a strange creature amidst familiar surroundings, at least to her. The discovery could change the world’s perspective of anthropology and science, as well as shake the religious faith of millions. However, the latter is beside the scientific point.
Set in the near future, but begins in the present; If There Be Giants is a science fiction thriller with a bit of romance. I really enjoyed the story! Dr. Mallory Jacks has grown up a fan of Indiana Jones and becomes an Archeologist. She is called out to a farm and makes a startling discovery while on the English dig. The details were brilliantly written and really draws the reader into the story. It mixes Sci-Fi with Urban and Christian myths. The plot follows Dr. Mallory Jacks as she struggles with moral and scientific dilemma, also involving her personal life, which is linked to the project. She is a strong and well characterized lead. Highly Recommended Read! I can't wait for the next book in The Watchers series!
*I was given a free copy by the author for honest review in the Goodreads group Shut Up & Read.*
Set in the near future, but begins in the present; If There Be Giants is a science fiction thriller with a bit of romance. I really enjoyed the story! Dr. Mallory Jacks has grown up a fan of Indiana Jones and becomes an Archeologist. She is called out to a farm and makes a startling discovery while on the English dig. The details were brilliantly written and really draws the reader into the story. It mixes Sci-Fi with Urban and Christian myths. The plot follows Dr. Mallory Jacks as she struggles with moral and scientific dilemma, also involving her personal life, which is linked to the project. She is a strong and well characterized lead. Highly Recommended Read! I can't wait for the next book in The Watchers series!
*I was given a free copy by the author for honest review in the Goodreads group Shut Up & Read.*
February 19, 2018
In all honesty I read this series backwards. I was asked to review the second book: The Second Son first and then the boxed set including the first book: If There Be Giants was offered. I will attempt to review them in the proper order.
If There Be Giants:
This book sets up the series quite well. The anthropology/ archaeology theme is fascinating to this reader and the author Ellison Blackburn even manages to include a faint hint of the religious aspects without drowning us with it.
I wish I had read this book before reading the second as it would have gone a long way to setting the scene and the characters.
The characters were well developed, but they seemed to accept some of the fantastical/religious connotations of the story too quickly. Although I am a Christian and those stories don’t surprise me, some of the characters displayed their disinterest in religion and they too quickly accepted that aspect of the story.
If There Be Giants:
This book sets up the series quite well. The anthropology/ archaeology theme is fascinating to this reader and the author Ellison Blackburn even manages to include a faint hint of the religious aspects without drowning us with it.
I wish I had read this book before reading the second as it would have gone a long way to setting the scene and the characters.
The characters were well developed, but they seemed to accept some of the fantastical/religious connotations of the story too quickly. Although I am a Christian and those stories don’t surprise me, some of the characters displayed their disinterest in religion and they too quickly accepted that aspect of the story.
March 26, 2018
I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I almost stopped reading it several times, but kept deciding to go a little further. Some of it is very tedious and dry, but other parts made me want to find out what would happen next. The most confusing part for me was when one of the characters died. It just seemed to appear out of nowhere, with no explanation. I plan to read the next book in this series. Hopefully there will be more explanation of events in this next one.
February 1, 2017
I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review.
WOW. This was a very interesting book set in the near future. It had lots of suspense and mystery with mythology and science thrown in. I was intrigued from the beginning and wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next. I can't wait to read the next book in this series. I definitely recommend.
WOW. This was a very interesting book set in the near future. It had lots of suspense and mystery with mythology and science thrown in. I was intrigued from the beginning and wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next. I can't wait to read the next book in this series. I definitely recommend.
August 20, 2018
Maybe I missed something, or a bit is missing from my kindle version, but what actually happened to Grey? One minute he was flying home, the next he was mangled and dead at the dog site. Please explain
What happened to Grey? One minute he was flying home, the next he was mangled and dead at the dog site. Did I miss something? Please explain
What happened to Grey? One minute he was flying home, the next he was mangled and dead at the dog site. Did I miss something? Please explain
October 8, 2018
A discovery could shake the foundations of everything they know. It may even make them question religion as well. What has been found? How will it affect everything? Read to find out
I received an advanced copy and I enjoyed it so much that I want to review
I received an advanced copy and I enjoyed it so much that I want to review
October 8, 2017
Great Story!
This was an amazing story. I thought if only it were true at first and then thank goodness it's not! It is an intriguing idea. I recommend this book whole heartedly.
This was an amazing story. I thought if only it were true at first and then thank goodness it's not! It is an intriguing idea. I recommend this book whole heartedly.
March 4, 2018
If There Be Giants was such a disappointment. One part of being a book reviewer is to be able to figure out if a book is just not for me, or if it is genuinely bad. This novel, I’m sorry to say, falls into the second category.
I could have been good, and I wanted it to be so badly. The concept the story is based on is brilliant, and I kept reading to the end because I was genuinely invested in the archaeology storyline. But in the end the writing is just bad, the story skips over important parts of the narrative, the characters and their relationships are boring and cringey, and all of those things taken together do quite a good job to overpower the story until all of the enjoyment is taken out of it.
Honestly, this is one more instance of me being fooled by a great cover (and a persistent marketing team) into thinking that a book would be good. I was genuinely interested in the « giant skeletons have been found, might be nephilims » storyline, but it was executed very clumsily with a cast of unlovable, stiff characters with no inner life or chemistry with eachother, forcing me to go through every tedious minute of their boring relationships. And then after all the the story suddenly verged from a very solid archaeological mystery to some sort of nonsense mysticism christian storyline, and I am *out*. I might skim the summary of the other books in the serie to see how it concludes, but overall I am very disappointed by If There Be Giants.
Full review here: https://blambooks.wordpress.com/2018/...
I could have been good, and I wanted it to be so badly. The concept the story is based on is brilliant, and I kept reading to the end because I was genuinely invested in the archaeology storyline. But in the end the writing is just bad, the story skips over important parts of the narrative, the characters and their relationships are boring and cringey, and all of those things taken together do quite a good job to overpower the story until all of the enjoyment is taken out of it.
Honestly, this is one more instance of me being fooled by a great cover (and a persistent marketing team) into thinking that a book would be good. I was genuinely interested in the « giant skeletons have been found, might be nephilims » storyline, but it was executed very clumsily with a cast of unlovable, stiff characters with no inner life or chemistry with eachother, forcing me to go through every tedious minute of their boring relationships. And then after all the the story suddenly verged from a very solid archaeological mystery to some sort of nonsense mysticism christian storyline, and I am *out*. I might skim the summary of the other books in the serie to see how it concludes, but overall I am very disappointed by If There Be Giants.
Full review here: https://blambooks.wordpress.com/2018/...
May 19, 2016
"If There Be Giants" is a fascinating addition to the speculative fiction genre. Set in the very near future--it actually begins in the present, and then carries on to about 2020--it follows an archeologist who has made a startling discovery on a dig in Britain. Buried next to a henge stone is giant humanoid skeleton that is either a few thousand or several million years old. Has Mallory discovered the missing link between humans and apes--or the mythological race of the Nephilim?
Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it combines aspects of "hard" scifi and myth-based urban fantasy. The main characters are all trained academics who approach the question of what they have discovered scientifically, and yet there are also suggestions that what they are dealing with has a religious rather than a scientific explanation, something that some of them, at least, are willing to consider. Although this is not that unusual for stories like this (Indiana Jones is explicitly referenced on multiple occasions), it is well-done here, giving realistic details of the excavation process and situating the story in the realistic here-and-now, even as it gives tantalizing hints of something more.
The main focus, though, is not so much on the science and mythology but on the interior life of the main character, the lead archeologist on the dig. A complex and compelling character, Mallory wrestles with the scientific and moral dilemma placed before her, as well as her personal tragedies, which, it turns out, are also linked to the project. A strong female lead who doesn't play into the stereotypes of strong female leads, Mallory is a welcome addition to the specfic genre. I definitely recommend this book for readers looking for smart, female-oriented speculative fiction.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it combines aspects of "hard" scifi and myth-based urban fantasy. The main characters are all trained academics who approach the question of what they have discovered scientifically, and yet there are also suggestions that what they are dealing with has a religious rather than a scientific explanation, something that some of them, at least, are willing to consider. Although this is not that unusual for stories like this (Indiana Jones is explicitly referenced on multiple occasions), it is well-done here, giving realistic details of the excavation process and situating the story in the realistic here-and-now, even as it gives tantalizing hints of something more.
The main focus, though, is not so much on the science and mythology but on the interior life of the main character, the lead archeologist on the dig. A complex and compelling character, Mallory wrestles with the scientific and moral dilemma placed before her, as well as her personal tragedies, which, it turns out, are also linked to the project. A strong female lead who doesn't play into the stereotypes of strong female leads, Mallory is a welcome addition to the specfic genre. I definitely recommend this book for readers looking for smart, female-oriented speculative fiction.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 5, 2016
I was initially drawn to If There Be Giants because I truly enjoy novels that explore the realm of scientific discovery whilst pushing the envelope within the sci-fi genre.
First and foremost, I will say that this novel is beautifully written. The attention to detail on the excavations made me feel as if I were a part of the team discovering the giants along with Dr. Mallory Jacks and Dr. Paisley Bourne. I also appreciated the complexity of the characters. Mallory’s calculated brain made her seem closed off from passion and love, which turns out not to be the case when she falls for her graduate assistant, Grey McKnight.
In regards to the overall plot of the novel, I was left confused and indifferent. I did not feel that the plot seamlessly flowed together. Rather, I found the storyline a bit jagged. The first 16 chapters of the book were tough to get through since there is not much action; it’s just the excavation. I felt like the story focused on the excavation in painstaking detail in certain parts, while the remaining was rushed and under developed. Even after completing the story, I don’t really understand the whole point of the giants being related to Nephilim. The reader knows the McKnight family is somehow involved, but again, it was quickly mentioned.
Disclaimer: this book was gifted in exchange for an honest review.
First and foremost, I will say that this novel is beautifully written. The attention to detail on the excavations made me feel as if I were a part of the team discovering the giants along with Dr. Mallory Jacks and Dr. Paisley Bourne. I also appreciated the complexity of the characters. Mallory’s calculated brain made her seem closed off from passion and love, which turns out not to be the case when she falls for her graduate assistant, Grey McKnight.
In regards to the overall plot of the novel, I was left confused and indifferent. I did not feel that the plot seamlessly flowed together. Rather, I found the storyline a bit jagged. The first 16 chapters of the book were tough to get through since there is not much action; it’s just the excavation. I felt like the story focused on the excavation in painstaking detail in certain parts, while the remaining was rushed and under developed. Even after completing the story, I don’t really understand the whole point of the giants being related to Nephilim. The reader knows the McKnight family is somehow involved, but again, it was quickly mentioned.
Disclaimer: this book was gifted in exchange for an honest review.
July 11, 2016
So far sooooo good!! I can't wait for the second installment of the series.
I purchased this book two nights ago. Night 1- stayed up late to read (which I haven't done in a long time!) Day 2-I rushed home from work to continue reading. I just finished and I'm already ready to reread it just to be sure I didn't miss any tidbits. The author wrote the storyline beautifully. It had just enough detail to paint a picture without being so wordy that you find yourself skipping over parts. My mind is reeling with questions. What will happen to Mallory? How will the find affect humanity? What's the deal with Keaton? Grey?! I have so many questions that I want answered, I'm really looking forward to future books in the series.
I purchased this book two nights ago. Night 1- stayed up late to read (which I haven't done in a long time!) Day 2-I rushed home from work to continue reading. I just finished and I'm already ready to reread it just to be sure I didn't miss any tidbits. The author wrote the storyline beautifully. It had just enough detail to paint a picture without being so wordy that you find yourself skipping over parts. My mind is reeling with questions. What will happen to Mallory? How will the find affect humanity? What's the deal with Keaton? Grey?! I have so many questions that I want answered, I'm really looking forward to future books in the series.
December 21, 2018
Meh
It wasnt a bad story, just very slow and difficult to focus on. Perhaps upon a second read it will be more enjoyable
It wasnt a bad story, just very slow and difficult to focus on. Perhaps upon a second read it will be more enjoyable
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