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Parables of the Carpenter #2
Lightland: A Soul's Journey
THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
A deadly virus rages across ancient Africa and young tribesman K'tanu is the only one who is immune. Yet without counting the cost, he gives his life to save his loved ones.
After lying dormant for six thousand years, the virus, now known as Cobalt , reawakens and again begins its destructive march across the planet. When all seems lost, archeologists in Africa unearth a mummy whose perfectly-preserved heart is incredibly immune to the virus. In a final, desparate attempt to stop Cobalt, scientists illegally clone the mummy. At that moment, K'tanu's soul is torn from his wife and children in the afterlife Lightland and thrust back into mortality.
At first K'tanu is just another medical marvel and the scientists who cloned him have no idea they have interfered with the journey of his soul. But he eventually remembers who he is and realizes that to be reunited with his family in Lightland, he must first return to Africa. He is joined on his perilous journey by Christopher Tempest, the brilliant but reckless archeologist who recovered the mummy, and Kate Seagram, the beautiful and tenacious researcher who is trying to unlock Cobalt's deadly secrets. Together they will uncover two pasts... one future.
A deadly virus rages across ancient Africa and young tribesman K'tanu is the only one who is immune. Yet without counting the cost, he gives his life to save his loved ones.
After lying dormant for six thousand years, the virus, now known as Cobalt , reawakens and again begins its destructive march across the planet. When all seems lost, archeologists in Africa unearth a mummy whose perfectly-preserved heart is incredibly immune to the virus. In a final, desparate attempt to stop Cobalt, scientists illegally clone the mummy. At that moment, K'tanu's soul is torn from his wife and children in the afterlife Lightland and thrust back into mortality.
At first K'tanu is just another medical marvel and the scientists who cloned him have no idea they have interfered with the journey of his soul. But he eventually remembers who he is and realizes that to be reunited with his family in Lightland, he must first return to Africa. He is joined on his perilous journey by Christopher Tempest, the brilliant but reckless archeologist who recovered the mummy, and Kate Seagram, the beautiful and tenacious researcher who is trying to unlock Cobalt's deadly secrets. Together they will uncover two pasts... one future.
464 pages, Paperback
First published July 15, 2008
1 person is currently reading
221 people want to read
About the author
Kenny Kemp
29 books58 followersI am a restless soul who has always had the desire to hear and tell a good story. I majored in film production in college, got sidetracked by law school and a few years practicing law, returned to graduate film school, worked in Hollywood for several years as a screenwriter and filmmaker, stumbled into writing novels, and got unbelievably lucky when my memoir Dad Was a Carpenter won the international self-published book award in 1999, resulting in a three-book deal with publishing giant HarperCollins. I continue to self-publish because I love the hands-on nature of it. I speak to writers' groups and book clubs as I travel around the U.S. promoting my books. When I'm not writing, I love to fly my plane, listen to jazz, compose schmaltzy love songs, and dissect films.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
November 14, 2016
Text from the back cover of Lightland:
THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
A deadly virus rages across ancient Africa and young tribesman K'tanu is the only one who is immune. Yet without counting the cost, he gives his life to save his loved ones.
After lying dormant for six thousand years, the virus, now known as Cobalt, reawakens and again begins its destructive march across the world. When all seems lost, archeologists in Africa unearth a mummy whose perfectly-preserved heart is--incredibly--immune to the virus. In a final, desparate attempt to stop Cobalt, scientists illegally clone the mummy. At that moment, K'tanu's soul is torn from his wife and children in the afterlife--Lightland--and thrust back into mortality.
At first K'tanu is just another medical marvel and the scientists who cloned him have no idea they have interfered with the journey of his soul. But he eventually remembers who he is and realizes that to be reunited with hif family in Lightland, he must first return to Africa. he is joined on his perilous journey by Christopher Tempese, the brilliant but reckless archeologist who recovered the mummy, and Kate Seagram, the beautiful and tenacious researcher who is trying to unlock Cobalt's deadly secrets. Together they will uncover two pasts... one future.
THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
A deadly virus rages across ancient Africa and young tribesman K'tanu is the only one who is immune. Yet without counting the cost, he gives his life to save his loved ones.
After lying dormant for six thousand years, the virus, now known as Cobalt, reawakens and again begins its destructive march across the world. When all seems lost, archeologists in Africa unearth a mummy whose perfectly-preserved heart is--incredibly--immune to the virus. In a final, desparate attempt to stop Cobalt, scientists illegally clone the mummy. At that moment, K'tanu's soul is torn from his wife and children in the afterlife--Lightland--and thrust back into mortality.
At first K'tanu is just another medical marvel and the scientists who cloned him have no idea they have interfered with the journey of his soul. But he eventually remembers who he is and realizes that to be reunited with hif family in Lightland, he must first return to Africa. he is joined on his perilous journey by Christopher Tempese, the brilliant but reckless archeologist who recovered the mummy, and Kate Seagram, the beautiful and tenacious researcher who is trying to unlock Cobalt's deadly secrets. Together they will uncover two pasts... one future.
February 18, 2012
The first section about K'tanu's life was interesting and turned out to be the best material in the novel. My trouble began in the second section which zooms to a futuristic time and introduces Chris, an anthropologist, along with clumps of researched information that should have been edited out, and, a strange author intrusion describing ludicrous fiction and attributing it to the ACLU. That bit of prose read like pot-shot, revenge-oriented fiction. Worse--it was out-of-the-blue and somewhat jarring--and not in a good way. Because the author chose to call out the ACLU, a real organization with real accomplishments, the result was to trigger my reader 'propaganda ahead' alert.
I put that behind me in hope of getting on with the story. Unfortunately, the writing felt clunky (uninteresting vocabulary and simplistic descriptions without the magic of Hemmingway) and the characters spoke and moved like puppets being set up to further the author's agenda. Now, I don't have an issue with agendas--we all have them, but opinions and speeches have to feel organic. At one point, a character says, "All intelligent people believe in God." Fine. A character can say that, but time after time, I saw the author's hand in the puppet moving the character's mouth. The effect, the dream of the story, was lost for me, and I skimmed. And skimmed. Too much falling into arms and weeping, dull "I love you" dialogue. Unexciting chase scenes. Finally, I sensed that the entire story was to further an agenda about faith and cloning that was simplistic, one-sided, and without any true persuasive insights. Smart characters 'got it' while the evil ones didn't. The world was drawn in a way to allow the agenda to be right. Fiction should be much more interesting than that.
I will stop here because the novel made me grumpy and I won't inflict that on you. I don't mind disagreeing with an author, but the story, prose, and characters need to be more polished to make the journey, or debate, worthwhile. My apologies to Mr. Kemp, but I didn't like this novel.
I put that behind me in hope of getting on with the story. Unfortunately, the writing felt clunky (uninteresting vocabulary and simplistic descriptions without the magic of Hemmingway) and the characters spoke and moved like puppets being set up to further the author's agenda. Now, I don't have an issue with agendas--we all have them, but opinions and speeches have to feel organic. At one point, a character says, "All intelligent people believe in God." Fine. A character can say that, but time after time, I saw the author's hand in the puppet moving the character's mouth. The effect, the dream of the story, was lost for me, and I skimmed. And skimmed. Too much falling into arms and weeping, dull "I love you" dialogue. Unexciting chase scenes. Finally, I sensed that the entire story was to further an agenda about faith and cloning that was simplistic, one-sided, and without any true persuasive insights. Smart characters 'got it' while the evil ones didn't. The world was drawn in a way to allow the agenda to be right. Fiction should be much more interesting than that.
I will stop here because the novel made me grumpy and I won't inflict that on you. I don't mind disagreeing with an author, but the story, prose, and characters need to be more polished to make the journey, or debate, worthwhile. My apologies to Mr. Kemp, but I didn't like this novel.
December 20, 2011
I received a free copy of this book through a Good Reads First Read giveaway. Thanks for the opportunity of letting me read this!
I decided to move this up the queue and read it to get me even more in the mood for the Christmas season we currently find ourselves in.
However.
I'm very conflicted about this book. While it gave a great glimpse into 1st century life in Galilee, I felt like I was missing something. Perhaps it's because this is the second book in the 'Parables of the Carpenter' series and I haven't read the first? I was floundering along until it hit me -- it felt like Jeshua (Jesus) was nothing more than a secondary character in what should have been His story.
Don't get me wrong, I am all for the eisegesis of Scripture as it pertains to your life and your life experience. However, this was a bit too far a stretch for me, especially in regards to relegating Jeshua to the background for a large chunk of the book.
On the plus side, I really got a great sense of the cloak and dagger politics that went on and the rendering of Herod Antipas was so villainous, he was one of the very few characters that, for me, leapt of the page.
An ambitious story, to be sure, but in this case, when all things are considered, stick to the New Testament if you would like to read stories of Jeshua.
I decided to move this up the queue and read it to get me even more in the mood for the Christmas season we currently find ourselves in.
However.
I'm very conflicted about this book. While it gave a great glimpse into 1st century life in Galilee, I felt like I was missing something. Perhaps it's because this is the second book in the 'Parables of the Carpenter' series and I haven't read the first? I was floundering along until it hit me -- it felt like Jeshua (Jesus) was nothing more than a secondary character in what should have been His story.
Don't get me wrong, I am all for the eisegesis of Scripture as it pertains to your life and your life experience. However, this was a bit too far a stretch for me, especially in regards to relegating Jeshua to the background for a large chunk of the book.
On the plus side, I really got a great sense of the cloak and dagger politics that went on and the rendering of Herod Antipas was so villainous, he was one of the very few characters that, for me, leapt of the page.
An ambitious story, to be sure, but in this case, when all things are considered, stick to the New Testament if you would like to read stories of Jeshua.
February 2, 2010
I was given an autographed copy for my birthday. I read it and reread it. The story was intriguing on many levels. But the one part that really got me thinking and have thought about over and over was the food storage. Yes, food storage. The man is traveling across a desolate America that was victim to a pandemic virus. He was fine but had to travel alone. There was no government and he spent his time scrounging through abandoned houses. He stumbled across a house left by a provident living enthusiast. Bottled fruit, canned meat, blankets, emergency stores, guns, etc. It was such a comforting part of the book that I really was and am inspired to get going on my self reliance.
July 14, 2007
You know what? I really liked this... it was different, and while it shouldn't be taken as history, it was a REALLY interesting way to present the parables that really appealed to me.
August 31, 2009
I met Kenny Kemp at the SLC Costco where he was promoting his book. He is a very nice man, cordial and easy to talk to, and since I love reading, I decided to buy his book.
The premise of the book is interesting. It's a romantic, science-fiction thriller that takes place in ancient Africa in the beginning, and then in the not too distant future. A deadly virus causes a worldwide pandemic that claims the lives of billions of people. The only hope of finding a cure comes from the mummified remains of an African man who was immune to the virus centuries before. Scientists successfully clone the mummy and try to discover the source of his immunity.
While the idea is interesting, I was really quite dissapointed at how it was executed. The writing style is very descriptive, and Kemp has a beautiful way with words, but the way the story turned out overall was weak and, unfortunately, uninteresting. The plot advances slowly, trying to do a lot (such as form a relationship between the two main protagonists, develop an antagonist worthy of the reader's hate, create twists and unexpected turns, etc.) but ultimately fails in the long run. I figure it's never good to not even be halfway through a novel and wish I were finished so I could read something else. (My bad for not being able to leave a book half-read.)
Long story short, the idea was great, Kemp's writing style is good, but the story lacked strength and depth. To Kemp's credit, it is obvious he did a lot of research and put a lot of thought into the story; however, the final execution of the story fell flat and left a lot to be desired.
My advice: Skip this book if you don't like slow moving stories, read it if you have time and are interested by romantic, sci-fi novels.
The premise of the book is interesting. It's a romantic, science-fiction thriller that takes place in ancient Africa in the beginning, and then in the not too distant future. A deadly virus causes a worldwide pandemic that claims the lives of billions of people. The only hope of finding a cure comes from the mummified remains of an African man who was immune to the virus centuries before. Scientists successfully clone the mummy and try to discover the source of his immunity.
While the idea is interesting, I was really quite dissapointed at how it was executed. The writing style is very descriptive, and Kemp has a beautiful way with words, but the way the story turned out overall was weak and, unfortunately, uninteresting. The plot advances slowly, trying to do a lot (such as form a relationship between the two main protagonists, develop an antagonist worthy of the reader's hate, create twists and unexpected turns, etc.) but ultimately fails in the long run. I figure it's never good to not even be halfway through a novel and wish I were finished so I could read something else. (My bad for not being able to leave a book half-read.)
Long story short, the idea was great, Kemp's writing style is good, but the story lacked strength and depth. To Kemp's credit, it is obvious he did a lot of research and put a lot of thought into the story; however, the final execution of the story fell flat and left a lot to be desired.
My advice: Skip this book if you don't like slow moving stories, read it if you have time and are interested by romantic, sci-fi novels.
February 17, 2012
If there had been a 3 1/2 stars I would have given it that, but since there wasn't and I won this book on first reads, I rounded up. It's a creative idea and an interesting story. The details about Africa, the CDC, the future, were all great. It was really interesting in that it sort of made a case for faith without promoting a particular religion. If there's a religion that shines in this it is the ancient Egyptian one. It was interesting--talking mandibles, horrible, almost omniscient viruses. I found the ending very surprising. What happened with Cobalt wasn't what I expected.
Now for the bad side. I felt like it was too long. I got bored in the chase part and skipped a lot without feeling like I was missing anything. Also it seemed kind of preachy sometimes. I am a person of faith myself, and accept the idea that faith is relevant and important in conjunction with science, but somehow it seemed a little over done or something. I don't know.
Anyway it was a worthwhile read, very original.
Now for the bad side. I felt like it was too long. I got bored in the chase part and skipped a lot without feeling like I was missing anything. Also it seemed kind of preachy sometimes. I am a person of faith myself, and accept the idea that faith is relevant and important in conjunction with science, but somehow it seemed a little over done or something. I don't know.
Anyway it was a worthwhile read, very original.
September 1, 2015
This book is about how a disease overtakes the world and the only hope society has is in a 6,000 year old skeleton and the canopic jar buried with it. "Lightland" will take you on an intense adventure, with some unpredictable twists, as the main characters battle to protect and use K'tanu (the skeleton) to save what's left of the humankind.
It will definitely hold your interest from start to finish. It also has a touch of romance and there were a few parts, I must admit, that made me cry. It's a book that you could easily get through in just a few days, (I suggest planning to read it on days where you won't be very busy because you won't want to put it down!). If you have already read "Lightland" or anything else by this author please let me know! I'd love to hear what you thought about the book!
It will definitely hold your interest from start to finish. It also has a touch of romance and there were a few parts, I must admit, that made me cry. It's a book that you could easily get through in just a few days, (I suggest planning to read it on days where you won't be very busy because you won't want to put it down!). If you have already read "Lightland" or anything else by this author please let me know! I'd love to hear what you thought about the book!
November 9, 2013
This is a very unusual storyline. It is similar to "The Host" by Stephanie Meyer in the sense that it deals with the soul. The earth is ravaged with a terrible virus and the human race is essentially dying off. Then someone discovers that this is a recurring virus through which some people survive because they have an immunity. The search for the cure or secret to the immunity leads to Africa where a man is buried with his family. It is a problem for him to be removed from his family in any way because he may not be able to find them again. I don't want to include any spoilers so I'll stop, but you will do some thinking while reading this book. I liked it quite a bit.
November 12, 2011
This book is different that I thought it would be. The world is about wiped out by a disease that can't be contained. A scientist clones a dead person who is immune to the disease and it deals with the ethical implications of this decision. I'm not much for the idea of wiping out the world in one fell swoop. It smacks of trying to make people fearful of each other. Couldn't decide between 2 or 3 stars, but others may like it better than I did.
May 19, 2009
This book was really interesting. He did a good job of telling the story. I met the author and took a chance on the book. Unfortunately he uses far too many swear words for my taste. I don't think I will read anymore of his books. I would have rated the book itself higher based on the story but wouldn't recommend it to a friend.
December 20, 2011
The story is of Jesus prior to the delivery of the parables. It is beautifully told story of what life was like at the time of Jesus. Although not an historical account, it give additional insight into what th Jews of that time were expecting and what daily life under Roman rule must have been like. Reading this at Christmas time gave me an added message and increased understanding
February 20, 2012
The story is fun. The prose is fuctional. The themes are worth discussing. Part of me thinks, "Hey, Kemp took that idea from Contagion," but I know for a fact this book was printed well before I watched Gwyneth Paltrow die on her kitchen floor. So Contagion must have copied Kemp, while leaving out (what I think is) the meatier idea: Where do we go once we die?
September 6, 2016
While I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did the first book, it was still a great read. While not to be considered a "history" book, it was refreshing to have Jesus' parable expanded and really mad me think past the "bad" and the "good" people in the parable. Certainly would like to see more in this series!
October 21, 2014
Since I am the author, my opinion about the book is suspect so I'll defer to the following accolades won by the book:
* Gold Medal, Science Fiction, ForeWord Book of the Year Awards
* Gold Medal, Visionary Fiction, Independent Publishers Association
* Winner, Science Fiction, NextGen Indie Book Awards
* Finalist, Thriller/Adventure, USA Best Books Awards
* Gold Medal, Science Fiction, ForeWord Book of the Year Awards
* Gold Medal, Visionary Fiction, Independent Publishers Association
* Winner, Science Fiction, NextGen Indie Book Awards
* Finalist, Thriller/Adventure, USA Best Books Awards
September 16, 2009
Given to me by a friend. I'm loving it. The "supernatural" isn't weird awful stuff. I was thinking it was Science Fiction because of the scientific background of the main characters dealing with Ebola.
April 20, 2009
Don't let the cover fool you. This book is not a self-help book, but a science fiction thriller. It was quite the page turner, but I found the ending to be little bit of a let down so I only gave it 4 stars.
May 10, 2009
A very enjoyable and interesting take on a pandemic wiping out most of humanity. What makes this different than most is the fantastical element that reaches across time and death back to the early days of civilization.
May 12, 2009
I really loved this book. I was able to meet the author at Cosco, and he was very charming. He told me what his book was about, and his storytelling was amazing. I figured I would give it a shot, and was very impressed.
June 14, 2009
Very well written. Intriging story. Kept my attention. Very possible true scenario. Portrayed characters quite naturally. The author was pleasant to meet and I highly reccomment this book and others he has written.
April 22, 2009
This was a good story!
May 3, 2009
I loved this book! I read it in two days. Couldn't put it down. It was lovely to meet you Mr. Kemp! Thank you for the wonderful adventure!
October 24, 2009
very scientific, which i LOVE, but slightly confusing at some parts.
June 23, 2009
I liked the book. But the last three pages were not at all fitting to the whole book. I felt that it just dropped you. Other then that it was a good book.
June 25, 2009
Too many details, needed much more editing. Good story but it ends so quickly and starts so slowly.
April 30, 2010
I read this only because of book club. Dragged on. Was a little interesting though.
October 28, 2011
Kenny pulls you into the pages of his Biblical stories, making you a modern spectator of ancient events unfolding into some of Christ's best-known parables. Beautiful and insightful.
February 9, 2012
i really liked this book. the author made me feel like i was there in person.
July 11, 2012
I enjoyed this book a lot! Hard to put down and easy to lose myself in the story
November 9, 2012
Loved, just loved this book. That's basically all I can say. Imaginative, spiritual, awakening. Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews