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Lethe
Dan Tompkins, dead of supernatural causes at age 22, washes up on Lethe, where souls go to forget life and strive for Elysium. Pining for Gina, the love he left behind, Dan wants out. He teams with rogue soul Marco Sabonis to find a way back to the land of life. The Elysial powers are not amused. There may be Hell to pay.
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First published May 26, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 14, 2017
Afterlife
A freak storm ends Daniels life too soon. After floating in the sea for what seems like eternity, he awakens on a beach in the afterlife of Lethe to find that he is now physically a woman and the higher-ups have plans for him. He must make a choice. Either ascend with Bianca and fulfill their plans for him or trust Sabonis who is sure he can return to the living.
The book ends without explaining everything, but if you read A. Sparrow's other books you'll find that Lethe is just one possible world of the afterlife. Sparrow's writing is very engaging and descriptive, and he spins the wildest tales. Great stuff.
A freak storm ends Daniels life too soon. After floating in the sea for what seems like eternity, he awakens on a beach in the afterlife of Lethe to find that he is now physically a woman and the higher-ups have plans for him. He must make a choice. Either ascend with Bianca and fulfill their plans for him or trust Sabonis who is sure he can return to the living.
The book ends without explaining everything, but if you read A. Sparrow's other books you'll find that Lethe is just one possible world of the afterlife. Sparrow's writing is very engaging and descriptive, and he spins the wildest tales. Great stuff.
April 11, 2013
2.5 stars
This is another one of those books where I feel like I had to have read something completely different than all the 5 star reviewers. It wasn't poorly written and I honestly really enjoyed part of it. Five stars though? No.
Things I liked:
1. I truly enjoyed the parts of the book that took place the day Dan dies. I thought they were engaging and made me feel the skin crawling feeling Dan experiences all day.
2. I liked the ending, but I also think that had to do with the fact that it took place in the same setting as the day he died. For some reason, those segments just held my interest so much more.
Things I didn't like:
1. No one ever seems to answer any of Dan's questions, well, not the important ones anyway.
2. Marcos. He wasn't particularly nice to Dan, yet Dan pretty much stuck by him in Lethe because they both were American and spoke English. He does redeem himself in the end, so I will give him that.
3. I really disliked the occasional change in narrator from one chapter to another. Seriously, I spent several minutes trying to figure out which character we were focusing on in some instances because it not only changed narrators, but it also suddenly went to some area of the world within the book that hadn't been mentioned or alluded to and revolved around a character we knew nothing about. Basically it made me think to myself, "Why? Why should I care about this?"
4. It's never explained (or I just didn't get it) why Dan was so necessary to what's her name's plans.
Ultimately I really didn't care what happened to Dan or Marcos or anyone else in Lethe.
Also, every other review says that it was a nice quick read or they read it in 2 days or whatever. It took me a month. Ugh. It could very well be that this was just not a book for me.
This is another one of those books where I feel like I had to have read something completely different than all the 5 star reviewers. It wasn't poorly written and I honestly really enjoyed part of it. Five stars though? No.
Things I liked:
1. I truly enjoyed the parts of the book that took place the day Dan dies. I thought they were engaging and made me feel the skin crawling feeling Dan experiences all day.
2. I liked the ending, but I also think that had to do with the fact that it took place in the same setting as the day he died. For some reason, those segments just held my interest so much more.
Things I didn't like:
1. No one ever seems to answer any of Dan's questions, well, not the important ones anyway.
2. Marcos. He wasn't particularly nice to Dan, yet Dan pretty much stuck by him in Lethe because they both were American and spoke English. He does redeem himself in the end, so I will give him that.
3. I really disliked the occasional change in narrator from one chapter to another. Seriously, I spent several minutes trying to figure out which character we were focusing on in some instances because it not only changed narrators, but it also suddenly went to some area of the world within the book that hadn't been mentioned or alluded to and revolved around a character we knew nothing about. Basically it made me think to myself, "Why? Why should I care about this?"
4. It's never explained (or I just didn't get it) why Dan was so necessary to what's her name's plans.
Ultimately I really didn't care what happened to Dan or Marcos or anyone else in Lethe.
Also, every other review says that it was a nice quick read or they read it in 2 days or whatever. It took me a month. Ugh. It could very well be that this was just not a book for me.
December 22, 2012
If you read the reviews of Lethe by A. Sparrow, the word strange comes up quite a bit. Strange and dark. I would add to that odd and weird. But odd, weird, strange, and dark in the best sense.
This is a really good story. It is hard to get your fingers wrapped around it, though. Lethe is the River of Forgetfulness, from which the dead drink to forget their earthly lives so that they may reincarnate. When the main character, Dan, washes ashore he has not forgotten his prior life, but he is lost, confused and disoriented.
I think the thing that is hard to pin down about this book is that the world Dan wakes up to is rather abstract, and yet that abstractness has been captured in detail and specificity. There is a lot of wandering in this book, and it slips into sci-fi with entities living/existing in cells and membranes. But that doesn’t define the story either. Because it is balanced with concrete passages about Dan’s life prior to his arrival in Lethe. Or wherever it is he actually is.
This is one of those undiscovered gems. I haven’t read a lot of Ursula LeGuin but it makes me think of the Lathe of Heaven. Perhaps, better done.
I do like the other main character Marco Sabonis. I liked the ending a lot because the story doesn’t go where you think it will go. Not every loose end is cauterized, but you get a nice sense of Ahh...good story.
It makes your eye twinkle, because it’s rather clever. I read it in about twenty-four hours. If you are up for something that really is different, and hard to categorize, but very clever, well-written, and kind of fun in a dark way, pick it up. Last I checked it was FREE on Amazon.
This is a really good story. It is hard to get your fingers wrapped around it, though. Lethe is the River of Forgetfulness, from which the dead drink to forget their earthly lives so that they may reincarnate. When the main character, Dan, washes ashore he has not forgotten his prior life, but he is lost, confused and disoriented.
I think the thing that is hard to pin down about this book is that the world Dan wakes up to is rather abstract, and yet that abstractness has been captured in detail and specificity. There is a lot of wandering in this book, and it slips into sci-fi with entities living/existing in cells and membranes. But that doesn’t define the story either. Because it is balanced with concrete passages about Dan’s life prior to his arrival in Lethe. Or wherever it is he actually is.
This is one of those undiscovered gems. I haven’t read a lot of Ursula LeGuin but it makes me think of the Lathe of Heaven. Perhaps, better done.
I do like the other main character Marco Sabonis. I liked the ending a lot because the story doesn’t go where you think it will go. Not every loose end is cauterized, but you get a nice sense of Ahh...good story.
It makes your eye twinkle, because it’s rather clever. I read it in about twenty-four hours. If you are up for something that really is different, and hard to categorize, but very clever, well-written, and kind of fun in a dark way, pick it up. Last I checked it was FREE on Amazon.
January 12, 2013
This book isn't a book at all but rather an ebook. I found that to be an interesting format choice, though perhaps it's because you don't need a publishing deal to get your works out there. In this case, I'm fairly certain the author didn't have an editor. Over and over again, I found weird mistakes or repeated lines where they didn't make sense. It was a bit jarring, but then again, so was the story. Lethe, named for the river of forgetfulness fabled to be one of the five rivers of Hades, represents a twisted, dark version of the afterlife. There are those who ascend by forgetting their earthly lives and those who can't let go and instead become squatters. The author focuses on Dan Tompkins, a dude who has no destiny to die but is helped along but an ancient ancestor looking for souls of her descendants. He washes up on the shores of Lethe in a woman's body (with no further explanation). He traverses all over the island and further, learning about the perils of both squatting and ascending. His experiences in Lethe are punctuated with the story of his death. They finally coalesce near the end, where the story takes a fairly unexpected but delightful turn. This is where I'd put in the half star for my rating and give it a 3.5 out of 5. Overall, I thought the story was a bit disjointed and found it hard to pay attention. Once I was about halfway through, it finally hooked me. Definitely worth a read if you're looking for something off the beaten bath. No pun intended for those who do read it :)
October 2, 2011
This was a strange but interesting book with a very different aspect of life after death.....The whole idea of heaven/hell is not pretty and it seems very rough and primitave with a lot of violence. There is not much beauty to behold and just thinking about ending up there makes one not want to expire in this lifetime.
Some of the story was easy to visualize and understand but when it got to the "Elysium" part of the book.......the descriptions were so bizarre and strange that I had a hard time getting a good picture of it in my mind. I hate reading a book that I can't visualize with clarity.....makes it hard to keep my interest for I can't follow something I can't understand.
The main characters were very likeable and you did feel their frustration and pain of being dead.....the quest to get back to their previous life is all consuming and drives them throughout the story.....one thing to remember is that sometimes the things we want do not always turn out to be what we want them to be and not the best thing for us.
It was definately interesting to read the writer's view of heaven/hell and compare it to what we really know......I enjoyed reading this book and the ending was satisfying simply because it went in a direction that I never would have thought.
Some of the story was easy to visualize and understand but when it got to the "Elysium" part of the book.......the descriptions were so bizarre and strange that I had a hard time getting a good picture of it in my mind. I hate reading a book that I can't visualize with clarity.....makes it hard to keep my interest for I can't follow something I can't understand.
The main characters were very likeable and you did feel their frustration and pain of being dead.....the quest to get back to their previous life is all consuming and drives them throughout the story.....one thing to remember is that sometimes the things we want do not always turn out to be what we want them to be and not the best thing for us.
It was definately interesting to read the writer's view of heaven/hell and compare it to what we really know......I enjoyed reading this book and the ending was satisfying simply because it went in a direction that I never would have thought.
June 18, 2011
Lethe is Dan's story. A regular kind of guy, totally addicted to WoW, has a ok job. Until one day, he begins to have strange feelings in his body, a raccoon tries to kill him and he attempts a suicidal jump into a ravine.
The 'thing' in his body finally finished the job and our hero is dead.
Death is not angels and clouds, it's not fire and demons. It's land and water and mountains and a bunch of strange undead in different stages of decay. To make things worse, Dan ends up with a female body!
He ends up becoming friends with Sabonis and gets to explore the lands and levels of Lethe. They make a pact to return to the living...the finally do achieve this tough goal BUT it's not what they think it will be like.
Pick up Lethe by A Sparrow.
The 'thing' in his body finally finished the job and our hero is dead.
Death is not angels and clouds, it's not fire and demons. It's land and water and mountains and a bunch of strange undead in different stages of decay. To make things worse, Dan ends up with a female body!
He ends up becoming friends with Sabonis and gets to explore the lands and levels of Lethe. They make a pact to return to the living...the finally do achieve this tough goal BUT it's not what they think it will be like.
Pick up Lethe by A Sparrow.
January 2, 2021
Neat story and perspective of life and death. Totally enjoyed the layout of Lethe vs. Earth. The storyline worked to give solid breaks between events while not losing the reader to the complexity.
I felt like the hierarchies (both worlds and occupations) could have been more explored and explained. I also wanted more explanation of the ending.. how does/did that work in timeline?
Great diversity of characters with consistent actions and easy to relate and cheer for.
I felt like the hierarchies (both worlds and occupations) could have been more explored and explained. I also wanted more explanation of the ending.. how does/did that work in timeline?
Great diversity of characters with consistent actions and easy to relate and cheer for.
April 23, 2011
A nice sci-fi work that deals with a man caught between life and death who resists leaving the transition area (Lethe). I found this a good effort by an independent author and a story worth reading for sci-fi fans.
August 6, 2015
Nice quick little read. definitely an interesting take on life after death. Would of liked a little more explanation of what happened to souls after being cleared.
August 21, 2012
My first foray into independent E-books, and man what a gem I found. I've gone on to read 4 other of his (hers?) books, and all have been great reads.
Don't stop!
Don't stop!
April 14, 2013
This was a very weird book.
April 30, 2017
This a supernatural thriller that is a bit slow and confusing at first, but gets better toward the end. Dan Tompkins finds himself in Lethe, a strange place that is sort of a between life and death world. Of course, Dam would rather be anywhere else and heads on an incredible journey to get back to life before death. This is the first book I have read by this author who has a totally unique story line and a different lean on life and what comes after.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews