What do you think?
Rate this book
Stellar Wind
2012 is not the end of the world; it is the end of an era and it is the fifth time that Humanity will experience it. When one cycle ends, another begins. Stellar Wind 2012 is a fiction novel that includes the Mayan prophecies entwined in an epic adventure. The difference with Stellar Wind 2012 and the film 2012 is HOPE!
314 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2008
21 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 5, 2012
In this story you will learn about the Sacred Tree, Mayan prophecies, a real life soul-snatching table that is housed in a missionary church in the Andes Mountains and an old sailor yarn that began in 1712. John Henry must fulfill his mission to save our dying era of Man before the stars align on December 21, 2012. He receives vital help from many people, a seven-foot tall angel who fills John with extraordinary gifts, a young angel with keys to save Humanity from annihilation, Mayan King Pacal Votan, clever mermaids, Indigo Children, Cherubims and a sassy pirate queen. Will John Henry complete his quest before it is too late?
Most of the book is dark and foreboding, but the ending was perfect and I loved it. Leaves you with a feeling of hope. I loved John Henry and the fact that he was allowed to take a few "time outs" to experience love to buoy him up on his quest, so he would have the fond memories and love for others to have the strength to carry on.
There are a lot of characters and the story seems to go off on little side stories, but it always came back and tied to the main story, while adding interesting characters and side angles to consider. I never really lost interest in any of the stories.
I learned a lot more about the Mayan prophecies. And while I know this is a fantasy...... it makes me curious to see what, if anything will happen on December 21, 2012. This was a religious story of sorts, and I enjoyed that aspect of it. I really loved the "goodness" of the people who helped John Henry in his quest. I also loved that his family didn't forget him.
Most of the book is dark and foreboding, but the ending was perfect and I loved it. Leaves you with a feeling of hope. I loved John Henry and the fact that he was allowed to take a few "time outs" to experience love to buoy him up on his quest, so he would have the fond memories and love for others to have the strength to carry on.
There are a lot of characters and the story seems to go off on little side stories, but it always came back and tied to the main story, while adding interesting characters and side angles to consider. I never really lost interest in any of the stories.
I learned a lot more about the Mayan prophecies. And while I know this is a fantasy...... it makes me curious to see what, if anything will happen on December 21, 2012. This was a religious story of sorts, and I enjoyed that aspect of it. I really loved the "goodness" of the people who helped John Henry in his quest. I also loved that his family didn't forget him.
May 29, 2012
It is rather hard to write a review for this one. I really wanted to love this book. I "discovered" it while looking for something to add to my book club's 2012 reading challenge. It started out very promising. I enjoyed the Mayan legend and the characters and setting in the 1700's story were interesting. At times the story was very gruesome, but it felt right in setting up the beginning of the struggle. I would have rated this book higher if the story hadn't changed so drastically about halfway through. Henry and Cookey's characters seemed well thought out and I enjoyed Marcus too. My only issue with the first half of the book was that it could have used some editing....it went back and forth between almost reading a dry history book to reading an engaging dialogue between characters....it wasn't a smooth transition and it gave the first half a "choppy" feel. Somewhere in the middle of the story, Henry wakes up and realizes he's been asleep for 226 years and we are now in a story taking place in 2010. From here to the end the story went downhill for me. Many new characters were brought in and several seemed totally unnecessary to me. While the dialogue of the early characters seemed normal, I felt like the dialogue for the modern day story was awful. It was very "corny" and I felt like I was reading a high school paper that needed a lot of red pen!! The contemporary story didn't work for me at all. I thought it was borderline ridiculous. It is too bad, because it could have been much better and made for a decent book. I understand that the author was trying to illustrate that humanity was "wild" and young people get drunk and crazy and do stupid things....but please....we have to be intelligent readers if we just read the first half of the book! Now for the ending...sigh. Do we really need so much overly done drama right up to the end when we are already quite aware where it's headed? This HEA just left a bad taste in my mouth.....I felt like I started a horror novel and ended up with a young YA. This is just my opinion and I hate to be so harsh, but this was just ok for me.
May 5, 2012
Barber took a Mayan prophecy and created an intense and powerful story around it. The prophecy indicates 12/21/12 as the dawn of a new age - The World of the Fifth Sun. But in the previous centuries as the Fifth Sun approaches good and evil are sparring in an attempt to maintain and/or usurp control as the skies align for the transfer between ages. Whichever force has control at that time will have that control for the next 26,000 years.
Enter a bevy of great characters some of which are given the gift of lasting life as they fight across the ages to do what must be done in order that the force for good is successful. Enter also an ever-growing number of demons and forces for evil trying their best to turn the "table" and take as many souls as possible.
Yes, it is at times quite dark and sinister and it seems as though the battle may be in vain. Yet, you know it cannot be in vain and even though the eventual outcome seems predetermined in some ways, the fight to get there is inventive always bringing in new characters that just seem to perfectly fit and find their connection to those who already have been a vital part of the effort.
There is a lot in here about greed and materialism and treating others with respect as well as taking care of what we have been entrusted with. And while the underlying basic tenet has the forces of good and evil battling for control and we may make the assumption that the good ones will eventually hold the trump card, how they get there is quite a story.
Enter a bevy of great characters some of which are given the gift of lasting life as they fight across the ages to do what must be done in order that the force for good is successful. Enter also an ever-growing number of demons and forces for evil trying their best to turn the "table" and take as many souls as possible.
Yes, it is at times quite dark and sinister and it seems as though the battle may be in vain. Yet, you know it cannot be in vain and even though the eventual outcome seems predetermined in some ways, the fight to get there is inventive always bringing in new characters that just seem to perfectly fit and find their connection to those who already have been a vital part of the effort.
There is a lot in here about greed and materialism and treating others with respect as well as taking care of what we have been entrusted with. And while the underlying basic tenet has the forces of good and evil battling for control and we may make the assumption that the good ones will eventually hold the trump card, how they get there is quite a story.
January 5, 2010
After seeing a few reviews online AND seeing the movie 2012, I ordered this novel about 2012. Thank God it ended with hope for humanity. After seeing the movie (awesome effects) I needed to read something about 2012 that didnt leave a few chosen to go on in the new destroyed world. This novel really did the trick. There was a war of good and bad but I loved the fact that good ruled in the end. I learned more about the Mayan prophecies (in the film I learned NOTHING but dooom!!!). I want to recommend it for a fun, fast read...and...hope for humanity.
December 10, 2017
I had fun reading this book. I couldnt wait to get to the end...just to see what was going to happen. Like I said...I had fun.
July 25, 2012
A difficult book to rate, It is a self published book so I knew it wouldn't be perfectly edited, so there are many typos and spacial problems. I can over look all this for a unique story.
I did like the imagination and research it took to write this sacred quest. The premise of this story was epic as a prophesied John Henry battles to vanquish evil from our physical world. Starting in 1712 all the way to modern day. John is given the gift of lasting life to complete this long adventurous journey. the world is supposed to end December 21, 2012 by the end of the Mayan calendar. To fail John's mission would be catastrophic for all humanity. To succeed will bring the time of the fifth sun to a world of renewed peace and love. Weaved into this nautical at times gruesome yarn is diabolical dark chaos with ghost ships, an evil soul stealing table, pirates, A demon lord, ghosts, slaves, wars at sea and the light holy side with A Shaman, A Prophet, Angels, Indigo and crystal children as well as touch of everlasting love. All these things should produce a mesmerizing read but, I was immensely disappointed in the dialog and the pull to feel strongly for the characters. It grew to be very choppy as new characters are introduced that I'm supposed to feel for but couldn't. About midway through it skipped over to many lengths of time to flow easily and produce a solid complete story. Rushed in many parts and to fast in some of the critical character building moments which is why I couldn't build a bond with the many personalities.
I am pleased that I read it so I can go hash it out with my bookcluber's it should produce meaty discussions. Honestly getting to the bottom of it as far as my personal feelings, I felt like I was feed a crap load of sneaky propaganda. I really just want to watch it burn in my chiminea.
I did like the imagination and research it took to write this sacred quest. The premise of this story was epic as a prophesied John Henry battles to vanquish evil from our physical world. Starting in 1712 all the way to modern day. John is given the gift of lasting life to complete this long adventurous journey. the world is supposed to end December 21, 2012 by the end of the Mayan calendar. To fail John's mission would be catastrophic for all humanity. To succeed will bring the time of the fifth sun to a world of renewed peace and love. Weaved into this nautical at times gruesome yarn is diabolical dark chaos with ghost ships, an evil soul stealing table, pirates, A demon lord, ghosts, slaves, wars at sea and the light holy side with A Shaman, A Prophet, Angels, Indigo and crystal children as well as touch of everlasting love. All these things should produce a mesmerizing read but, I was immensely disappointed in the dialog and the pull to feel strongly for the characters. It grew to be very choppy as new characters are introduced that I'm supposed to feel for but couldn't. About midway through it skipped over to many lengths of time to flow easily and produce a solid complete story. Rushed in many parts and to fast in some of the critical character building moments which is why I couldn't build a bond with the many personalities.
I am pleased that I read it so I can go hash it out with my bookcluber's it should produce meaty discussions. Honestly getting to the bottom of it as far as my personal feelings, I felt like I was feed a crap load of sneaky propaganda. I really just want to watch it burn in my chiminea.
February 2, 2009
I bought this book because of its comments on Oprah, Amazon.com, Lifestyle and squidoo and goodreads. I guess that I'm picky and do a bit of research before spending the money on a book from an unknown author. After reading Stellar Wind 2012 all I can say is: Three cheers to the author! It was a fun, epic adventure. I was entrigued from page one and didnt stop reading until I finished 2 days later. Bravo! Though I wanted to learn more about what will happen on the famous Mayan date: Dec. 21, 2012, I understand that no one REALLY knows what will happen and that all writings are mere speculations. In a fun adventure and scary beginning, Stellar Wind 2012 gives its versions what is happening underfoot today and what will happen. It was a "save the world" type story that had me laughing, worried, on the verge of tears and ENTERTAINED! And isnt THAT what a good book is all about!?? Three cheers Catherine! Hopefully some famous Hollywood Producer reads it and turns it into the block buster film it has the makings to be! It's a book for all ages and will make a great film. I'm keeping my eye on you. You'll be in Oprah's book club and on the best selling list soon! I'd like to read your next novel! Jasmine
September 11, 2012
The Good - Loved the topic! There was alot of great research done to write about the many different locations and eras. It was fun to travel from early pirate to modern day times. It was exciting following our main character on a race against time, with the constant battle of good versus evil, including religous undertones, reference to the end of the world (Mayan calendar style), etc. I appreciated that there was just a smidgen of a love story... nothing that over-powered the story... just enough. The characters were and the story was well developed.
The Not So Good - At times, I found myself distracted by large chunks of missing time in the story and often found myself wanting to skim the sheer amount of decriptive details. Due to the fact that I loved the book's mix of fantasy and historical fiction, I would have rated the book much higher if not for the large amount of typos and spatial problems in the writing. I don't think I have ever read a book with this many issues. Apparently this is a self-published book and I guess that might explain it? Maybe having a friend or family member proof-read before publishing would have hepled.
Can TOTALLY see this story being made into a blockbuster movie!
The Not So Good - At times, I found myself distracted by large chunks of missing time in the story and often found myself wanting to skim the sheer amount of decriptive details. Due to the fact that I loved the book's mix of fantasy and historical fiction, I would have rated the book much higher if not for the large amount of typos and spatial problems in the writing. I don't think I have ever read a book with this many issues. Apparently this is a self-published book and I guess that might explain it? Maybe having a friend or family member proof-read before publishing would have hepled.
Can TOTALLY see this story being made into a blockbuster movie!
June 19, 2008
When I first started reading Stellar wind 2012 I wasnt sure what to expect. It started off kind of dark...lots of death and it seemed to last be drawn out eternally, HOWEVER!! as I continued to read I understood what the author was provoking in the reader: pain, suffering, desperation. THEN, the book picks up to become a WONDERFUL adventure around the world on a tall ship called Stellar Wind. And as the title insinuates, it has everything to do with the watershed date Dec. 21, 2012. What an adventure Stellar Wind took me on. I learned about ancient Mayan prophecies and Lord Pacal Votan (mayan prophet) is brought to life as a character. Since reading the book I have taken more interest in Mayan prophecies and what the date in 2012 could mean to Mankind. I wonder if I am helping to re-connect to Nature and the Natural Law of Time. Stellar Wind 2012 is a wonderful read, entertaining and...it made me cry, it made me laugh and it brought about consciousness in me to help this dying world of the 4th sun. I highly recommend this book. I did find a few typos but didnt care since the book had me mesmorized!
October 14, 2008
What a great read! I would recommend it to everyone! I was surfing Oprah's book club trying to find a good book to take with me on vacation. Perfect! It was fun, fast-paced, a page turner...just what I needed to unwind. There is an important enlightening lesson to learn here, what will happen in 2012? Stellar Wind 2012 has the answer!
And after I finished my 17 year-old daughter picked it up. She loved it too! Good job Catherine Barber. I got it on Amazon for $20 something...now with the crisis, its down to $14.
And after I finished my 17 year-old daughter picked it up. She loved it too! Good job Catherine Barber. I got it on Amazon for $20 something...now with the crisis, its down to $14.
October 21, 2008
I found this novel on Oprah. Once I started reading I could not stop. Being an avid reader, it amazes me that this book has yet to be picked up by a popular publishing company. From what I understand it is self-published. I was blown away by the obvious research put in it, the history...everything about it was absolutely incredible...well worth the time spent reading it. I bought it for $20.12. It's on sale now for $14.
October 21, 2008
A best-seller!
Want to read
December 9, 2011Novel Ideas May group read
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews