Urtaru

by Armen Chakmakjian

In a rare blend of historically familiar situations, futuristic technology and religious conflict, Armen Chakmakjian has created the first book in his Urtaru Chronicles trilogy. Naerius is a rocky, seemingly unimportant planet. However, it has always been at the center of large power politics in this quadrant of the galaxy. Naerius's location at the contact point of 3 galactic empires - Darjiki, Raslavon, and Barsifi - lent the planet to superpower machinations. Pascal Adam Scintilla is a Naerian refugee on the dusty planet of Barabrum. Pascal's desire to return to his home world of Naerius is the driving force which guides his choices. A prophecy pits 2 religions, 3 empires and 3 generations of the Urtaru family in a set of events that might lead to galactic peace. Was Pascal the first of three as described in the prophecy of Dol? What is the gemstone?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

326 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2008

About the author

Armen Chakmakjian (1964 - ) was born in Bridgeport CT, the son of Armenian immigrants. His father was born in Jerusalem and lived in Amman, Jordan before coming to the United States in 1956. His mother was born in Istanbul, Turkey and moved to the United States in 1962. They met and were married and Armen was the first of their 4 children. Armen graduated from the Fairfield College Preparatory School and received a Bachelors degree in Computer Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Urtaru is his first science fiction fantasy book, a part of a planned trilogy. He thinks he's a social media personality, replete with twitter followers, facebook friends, and subscribers to his youtube channel, armenflintstone. Through a trick of fate, one of his sisters married a fellow in California who happens to be a grammy nominated musician and composer, named Armen Chakmakian. Anyone who knows Star Trek lore will eventually understand why he refers to this incident in terms that are not dissimilar to the episode "Mirror, Mirror"

He currently resides in Arlington, MA and works in the computer software industry and is pursuing an MBA at Bentley University.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first the cover and the authors prologue make you uneasy as it seems as though it will be tightly based around past historical facts.
However this is not the case, well the politics of thses fantastic worlds are loosely based in hostorical fact and some parts you can correlate to religious and poilitical beliefs in the earths past and present, but this just enhances the book rather than detracts from it.
It evolves well, and not entirely as you expect it too, there are some parts of the story that are obvious , yet they twist away from the staright and narrow path the reader expects quite delightfully.
A very well written book, the start is a little hesitant and nervous but the author gathers his stride well and takes the reader to his worlds and into his imagination looking forward to the next in the series.

I would say with a slightly different cover this would become far more accessible to a wider range of readers.

Book was free from goodreads

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to the author Armen Chakmakjian for participating in First Reads and providing me with a copy of this book. YAY!
I haven't started yet but my first impression is of dislike. The covers weird/lame and I know this seems really particular but the paper and font arent the usual for a book. They look more like something i would hand in for an essay. I will update as i read.

Okay, so i just started. This book doesn't seem to have a publisher? Is it even published? I dunno.
Im about halfway through and the story is pretty good but the writing is now. I keep finding spelling/grammatical errors which always take you out of the story and ruin it a little. Also theres alot going on very quickly and the narrative doesnt flow. Each parahrapg practically stops the story and another paragraph starts. Lots of the description is well done but once again seems tacked on. There is a lot of history and knowledge of these different words and different religiongs and its alot of information just shoved at you that its hard to grasp. I think the book needs to have some maps and some diagrams of things so you can understand it better. Also the characters interactions are written minimally, theres lots of talking (no he said she said, just plain dialogue) but not enough description about whats going whose looking where whose moving about ect. Also the first chapter shouldnt really be a chapter more like a preface. Anyways, ill keep you updated but the story is okay but they writting is not.

Okay i finished it. The story is good but the writing doesnt have be picturing or imagining anything. Characters are flat and everything moves along smoothly theres so side tails going on. Its ok.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have won a copy of this from First Reads (thank you). Not yet received but looking forward to reading it once I do. I will update once I have received book and have read it. 04/05/2011.

This book has taken me so long to finish and that is solely down to the editing which kept disrupting my flow of reading. Due to the Chakmakjian's rush to self-publish, the finished product is rife with spelling errors, inconsistent sentences and grammatical errors, which made it difficult to really follow. I also HATE the front cover - does not look like a sci-fi novel at all and think that definitely needs to change and make it more accessible to a wider audience.

On a plus side though, when I wasn't getting annoyed with editing issues, I enjoyed the general premise to the novel. The storyline was interesting and the characters well rounded. The writing style is quite minimilistic (especially during character conversations) which might prove difficult for many readers to enjoy (it did take me a while to get used to this), and for a sci-fi novel there isn't that much description about the landscape of the planets or decor or even about the characters (I cannot picture what any of them may look like) in general, which, if added, would make it far easier to imagine.

A good novel but it still needs some work to it; it really is a shame about the editing. I hope for the sequel(s), Chakmakjian hires a good editor. 04/07/2011.

[Jim Schillawski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knives. The technology to roam the universe, energy fields, inter-stellar communications and combat comes down to knives (oh, and shotguns). For every high tech thrust there is a high tech parry and the blade settles it all. Urtaru is a futuristic novel which projects old earth civilization conflicts into the universe. The progress of technology is juxtaposed to the stagnation of humankind. The civilizations are dominated by a common mythology and split by divergence of interpretation and further manipulated by an interloper. They war with one another because of their leader's megalomania. The belief that I am the chosen one, two or three of three.

We follow Pascal whose path to his home planet starts hunting deer and leads through conspiratorial conferences, holographic battle simulations, courts of emperors, and austere camps of warrior monks. This is a very different science fiction. Its a fast, enjoyable read. It challenges you to absorb the backdrop of the galactic history while it races ahead to its titanic climax. I recommend it for a change of pace.

My disclaimer. The author is a personal friend and I received my copy through a GoodReads giveaway. I am thoroughly impressed by Armen's first book and look forward to the next two of three though I may have to pay for those.

[Edward Telarroja · Rating 5 out of 5]

First I'd like to say I won this book from the goodreads giveaway and so thrilled I was able to get such a great book for free.

The characters are diverse, with each character somewhat mysterious because the author doesn't give vivid pictures of the main characters. Which, in a way I find great because it let's a readers mind wander and be creative. I loved the story line of Pascal and the author's use of changing the narrative to other important character's to get perspective through each of their eyes. Also the internal conflicts of Pascal, the romantic struggle between the three leads, and the political and military conflicts in the book are a perfect blend that suck the reader in from the first page and don't stop until the end. Overall a great plot and personally I can't wait for the next book in the trilogy!

[Steven Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author had a really great story with excellent imaginary as well as strong characters. This tale is one for those who like a good mixture of religion and politics in a fictional setting. Empires clash over the control of a central planet that in and of itself it nothing more than a dusty rock. Since it happens to be at the center of a prophecy made centuries ago about the fate of the universe this planet is now the most important place in space. Religions interpret the prophecy differently and it appears that none of the biggest players understand the probable meaning of the ancient text. Join Armen Chakmakjian in this first installment of the interstellar tale of the clan of Urtaru.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this through Goodreads First Reads.

I didn't finish this, because honestly I can't. There are so many spelling/grammar errors, which first off really bug me but also completely detract from the story. It doesn't feel remotely like a real book. The characters are boring and not well developed. When reading it I didn't actually care what happened to any of them, so more characted development would definitely be beneficial. The actual plot isn't too bad but some of the phrases and ways things are joined together is awkwarkd. All the history and religious aspects are quite interesting, but hard to keep track of. And appearance wise the book doesn't look that great (I have a big thing against photos that are pixelated because they've been stretched).

[Tiffany Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an amazing story. Science fiction can be a hard sell sometimes, but this book was great. I really enjoyed the book because I wasn't able to predict the outcome. Many books are predictable. This one isn't. I would love to speak to the author about the WWI historical connections. The description of the planets is awesome. I would have liked more information on how the character's look, but that may have taken away from the author's purpose. My favorite line in the book is "He looked at their faces and the dirt and soot that covered them made them all appear from a distance to be of the same race." I am looking forward to book two of the trilogy. As I was reading, I could see the story playing out on film! This would be a great sci-fi movie or television series.

[Chas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won Urtaru from First Reads. While the book has the bones of an interesting plot, it suffers from a rush to [self] publish. There are numerous typos, spelling, and grammatical errors that a good editor or writing group would have caught. I found the change in font (when narrator is thinking) difficult to read. I hope the author takes his time on the second book and finds a good editor.

[Pollyanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this in a giveaway and I was looking forward to reading it but I was disappointed by the story. I found it quite a dull read, I wasn't interested in the characters and I just didn't get any excitement from reading it. I want to thank Armen Chakmakjian for giving me the chance to read this book but I would not want to read the other 2 from this trilogy.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

2=It was ok

I was looking forward to this book but for me, the writing constantly got in the way of the story.

Note: This book was provided through the GoodReads First Read program with the expectation of an honest review. My opinions are my own.

[Armen Chakmakjian]

Winners of the Third Urtaru (2011) giveaway: I just mailed them (May 3). If you don't receive them by mid/late may, please let me know.

[Landy]

Thank you Goodreads First Reads for this free book. Looking forward to reading it when I get it.

[Mary]

I won Urtaru from First Reads. I look forward to reading it now that its arrived.

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Won this book on first reads.

[Jeffrey]

I hope to read and review this book soon.

[Isabel · Rating 1 out of 5]

not my kind of book. i won it from goodreads.