Across Time, Love Eternal

Rating:
Summary: New Novel Brings Feeling of Unity to African People
Review: Across Time: Love Eternal is an exciting adventure story by Dr. O. J. Harp, III. It's an uplifting story that should bring a feeling of unity to African people across the Diaspora. Many African ethnic groups are represented through the literary device of wise sayings given by the ancient African (Kemetic) sage Imhotep. A refreshing use of multiethnic characters (white, African-American, Hispanic, African) gives this story unique distinction.

The novel answers the question: What might happen if modern day science decides to clone an ancient Egyptian Mummy? In the novel cloning is used to bring back long extinct animals. A woolly mammoth and prehistoric reptiles live again and add an anachronistic flavor to this epic story.

The novel is an exciting, fanciful tale that brings to mind recent cinema blockbusters such as Harry Potter, Spider Man, and The Lord of the Rings. It's a whimsical tale full of ancient Egyptian (Kemetic) magic and African wisdom. It's a story just right for all those in need of fantasy and escape, especially the young and those adults who refuse to grow old.

I highly recommend this novel. Hopefully it's not the last from this author!

Rating:
Summary: Great Literary Piece
Review: Filled with mysticism, magic, and lore of ancient Egypt, this Historical Science Fiction novel spans across the ages from the beginning of human civilization to a future time of clones, holographic images, and mechanical 'bots'. It is a love story,which lasts across the very depths of time.
I highly recommend this book to anyone in search of adventure. I have finally found the appropriate Christmas present for my friends and family.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent setting, but story doesn't reach designattion
Review: Using a classic era as a backdrop, and aligning it with a genre that may not have been the recipient of attention from any other writer, this should be the impetus for historic science fiction to show some color and take an advantageous facade. With first impressions doing wonders for visual effects, the cover art rendered for O.J. Harp, III's debut offering is eye-catching to say the least. I read this book with mixed emotions. On one hand, I hungered for a read of epic proportions with the book cover whetting my appetite showing sacred images of pyramids and the colorful and iconic replica of King Tut in all of its splendor. Tease me with the specter of vivid coloration, and it would be easy for me to believe that a story of epic dimension would be par for the course. I would imagine then, that Across Time: Love Eternal being for the author a way to engross the reader into the psychological importance of embracing Egyptian culture lore, and him being able to craft a storyline with a contemporary feel. I got neither.

What I got was a greater appreciation for the author's persistent penchant for research and his ability to give reference to all of the historical analogies to support this period piece as being legit. Wrapping it around an enigmatic prop extolling mysticism, intrigue, magic, futuristic gadgetry, holographic imagery, and giving it a feel for it to be a love story was too much soup for the kitchen to handle. Albeit, and with more concern for readers to be able to learn history as it's being portrayed here, it would behoove readers to not get lost along the way to comprehension. Why? Fiction of this nature is not widely appreciated, it would have been best if this tale didn't have so many conflicting plots so early in the script. The author gives a gallant effort, and does a credible job when historic content is needed to illustrate a point. The story is agonizingly slow in the beginning, and I surmise here that the author's intent was to build the characters and give reference to setting. This is a love story with a different twist in an authentic, if not alluring aura with omniscient overtones as the protagonists travel in retrospect from the distant past to the present. Using and implementing survival techniques for progression, the characters are allowed much latitude to encompass wide areas of interpretation...and this, I feel, is one of the major flaws of this book. Disjointed in parts, with too much going on before adequately defining and sustaining a flowing sequence of events to suggest stability, the story leaves one wondering which analogy to follow in assessing the author's point(s) of reference. As such, the feverish activity, and frenetic confusion takes away from the good creative _expression that is evident throughout the novel.

The theme is timeless, but if conveyed in a way where plots and subplots doesn't cause chaos without losing the strength of the story, the reader would not be left exasperated recovering from one climatic high to the next. The challenge in reading this book (if not abandoned out of frustration), would be to do so without underlying notions of the 'what's next' theory.

A wide audience might find this novel exciting and informative because of the potential to educate beyond the normal fare in fiction. If I were ignorant of historic facts as it pertained to Ramesses the Great, Imhotep, and the pharaonic influence on Egyptian mystique, I would have been more than satisfied. The latter suggests an upside that saves this offering from mediocrity. Where good fluid narrative should've been complimentary fostering ideas of continuity, it wasn't there, save for deterrents that kept it too busy. If this can be avoided in future writing endeavors, reading across time may eventually have its merits, and O.J. Harp, III would be able to establish a literary legacy that should be eternal for all of his future fans. Despite this reviewer's slant, one should read this book for your own interpretation for there is still something to be salvaged.