Twilight of the Fifth Sun

Rating:
Summary: A good scare and an exciting first novel.
Review: As you walk past a cemetery or get a chill passing by an old house, do you ever wonder if maybe there are ghosts lurking about - things you can't see, but still haunt the world?

In this, my first novel, I took that concept to its extreme, offering not only one possible answer, but also a reason for the existence of spirits - tied to the origin of mankind's most ancient question... is there a soul, and what happens to it when we die?

To explore this enigma, I created what I hope you will find as engrossing characters, and engaged them in a climactic battle with a particularly nasty Aztec spirit - one who has his own warped beliefs about the afterlife and his apocalyptic role in it all. Of course, into this deeply philosophical exploration I threw in a sensual love story, loads of action, and I hope, a great deal of emotion.

It is, I believe, a tale which everyone will enjoy, not just those who love a good scare. It has romance, (some creative sex), tragedy, terror, and most importantly, it will make you think. And perhaps... you will never look at the stars the same way again.

Rating:
Summary: Great book-hope for more
Review: I just met David this summer and then got to read his book. I have always been a science fiction fan and this rates right up there, although, I have to admit, I had a little trouble with all those Aztec names! Good luck, Dave, on the next book. I am looking forward to reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Great book-hope for more
Review: I just met David this summer and then got to read his book. I have always been a science fiction fan and this rates right up there, although, I have to admit, I had a little trouble with all those Aztec names! Good luck, Dave, on the next book. I am looking forward to reading it.

Rating:
Summary: please make this correction
Review: I just submitted a full review for this book. I named the publisher as "Dark Moon Press," but I just double-checked (too late) and see that the publisher is "Dragon Moon Press." Would you mind making that correction for me before the review is posted? Thanks.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Engrossing
Review: I purchased "Twilight of the Fifth Sun" after reading a list of books available from the small publisher Dark Moon Press with one-sentence synopses, and thinking "Now here is a remarkably unusual plot." I had no idea what the writing might be like, but I thought a story about a pirate's ghost, a journalist, and a little boy fighting an Aztec God for the survival of the world would either have to be very good or very bad. It turned out to be very good!

Several features were present that made this book rather more than a run-of-the-mill fantasy. I am interested in history and cultures of the past, and this book exposes the reader to a facet of Aztec culture that is both intriguing and quite new to most people, namely, Aztec religion. Yeah, we've all read that the Aztecs believe in human sacrifice, but just what their religion is about has always been something of a mystery to me. I don't have time or motivation to bury myself (literally) in some dry treatise on Aztec religion, but having an opportunity to learn about it, to have it made real for me, in an interesting book like this is great. (And I hope what I learned is something like the truth!)

Also, I enjoy reading fiction involving life after death and the supernatural. I'm not a fanatic about it, but those books are interesting. And here is a book whose premise is that all persons either remain as ghosts, or else their "souls" go somewhere else. Sounds like a commonplace idea, but a book telling within its pages of encounters with ghosts of knights, pirates, suicide victims, vikings, Aztecs, conquistadors, and highway accident victims is not such a common treatment. And the answer the author comes up with for where souls go is pretty ingenious.

One thing I hate is a book full of interesting ideas, but with no real point to it, no emotional impact. This book does NOT suffer from that shortcoming! I think most thinking people want to believe that there is a purpose to life, that there is more to it than living a few years here in a difficult place, and dying. The author puts life here into a context which, while being rationally unbelievable, is still very emotionally satisfying. Furthermore, the characters are depicted in sufficient detail to be fully believable, whether they happen to be alive or not. So you sit reading this book, and after you have read some mere twenty pages or so, you realize that you actually can relate to these people, that you want things to work out for them, and furthermore, that the story is acting on you on some deep emotional level. And you think to yourself, "I really like this character. It would be great to have someone like this in my own life." And then you think, "And this character is a ghost." It makes for an exceptional reading experience. And when I say the context is not rationally believable, I should add that it does not stand in the way of enjoyment, at least for me. One does not read a book of this type and then criticize it for not being rationally believable! The entire book is about an area of life that goes beyond rationality. The key point is that the novel premise is supported by characters that one readily comes to accept as real.

The book is not perfect. For me, its greatest drawback is related to the difficulty of treating its premise. The party fictionalized mythology was explained in great detail in order to make it more believable. The problem is that the premise of the book is essentially spiritual, even bordering on metaphysical, and when you try to explain that through some supporting mythology you wind up with a lot of words and symbols that get confusing, and I did find myself wishing he had either spared me or at least done a better job of explaining the symbolism in the mythology.

But despite the one shortcoming, I found the book to be one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. People without imagination should stay away from this book, because they won't enjoy it. But if you enjoy a book that puts your everyday world in a different light, then you will really love "Twilight of the Fifth Sun." I hope the author will continue writing! I am looking forward to his next effort.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent-I couldn't put it down!
Review: I work with Dave and purchased his book in support. I never knew what to except and I was astonished. His writing skills are unbelievable. He made the scenes and characters come alive! I even laughed and cried with Rebecca the main character. I love horror/ghost stories, and this was right up there with Stephen King and Anne Rice!

Rating:
Summary: A Gem
Review: In a world where sacrifice has been forever instilled as the victims highest form of devotion, in a world where the sun is God, lies a calendar like a dying heartbeat, slowly ticking away. An unassuming anthropologist discovers a secret, a foretelling of an ancient civilization, and it's potential effect in the modern day world. Meanwhile, a hungry evil prepares to gather his pieces to fulfill this prophecy, and become Master of the Living and of the Dead. Unbeknownst to this evil spirit, is that the pieces that he so covets are unwittingly seeking his demise.

It is the story of a woman returning to life, after a harrowing death experience, only to realize that the world she now sees, is not the world she knew before. She finds solace with the friendship with a pirate dead for centuries and his dog before realizing her quest. It is the story of an abused boy, whose only peace is with the spirit of a little girl. The evil spirit recognizes the boy, as a threat and as a sign. The child's powers to save wandering souls, and take them to the next level in their journey, so shocks the evil spirit, it wants the child to do it's bidding.

David has an impeccable sense of putting the reader right in the scenes. You feel the icy and blank stares of the ghosts Rebecca encounters. You are mesmerized by the daunting nature of Duncan, the pirate, and you are captivated by the visions David creates, both horrific, and spectacular. You weep with this child, and you hope that he can be saved, for his chance of survival, dim as it may be, may be the only chance to save the world...

Rating:
Summary: A Gem
Review: In a world where sacrifice has been forever instilled as the victims highest form of devotion, in a world where the sun is God, lies a calendar like a dying heartbeat, slowly ticking away. An unassuming anthropologist discovers a secret, a foretelling of an ancient civilization, and it's potential effect in the modern day world. Meanwhile, a hungry evil prepares to gather his pieces to fulfill this prophecy, and become Master of the Living and of the Dead. Unbeknownst to this evil spirit, is that the pieces that he so covets are unwittingly seeking his demise.

It is the story of a woman returning to life, after a harrowing death experience, only to realize that the world she now sees, is not the world she knew before. She finds solace with the friendship with a pirate dead for centuries and his dog before realizing her quest. It is the story of an abused boy, whose only peace is with the spirit of a little girl. The evil spirit recognizes the boy, as a threat and as a sign. The child's powers to save wandering souls, and take them to the next level in their journey, so shocks the evil spirit, it wants the child to do it's bidding.

David has an impeccable sense of putting the reader right in the scenes. You feel the icy and blank stares of the ghosts Rebecca encounters. You are mesmerized by the daunting nature of Duncan, the pirate, and you are captivated by the visions David creates, both horrific, and spectacular. You weep with this child, and you hope that he can be saved, for his chance of survival, dim as it may be, may be the only chance to save the world...

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: One of the most gripping books I have ever read. Spooky, terrifying, heart-pounding fun.