Soulsaver

Rating:
Summary: Not a book, I'd normally pick up, but...
Review: A gripping, fast-paced, amusing look at a future that was both terrifying and hopeful. Crisp, sure writing swept me into the story, willy-nilly. Well worth the ride!

Rating:
Summary: For Readers Interested in Writing
Review: A novel that uses first person, present tense is not easy to find, probably because there are not many convincing reasons to use it. In Soulsaver, James Stevens-Arce does it well.

This book is an interesting and fast-paced satire. The protagonist, Juan Bautista Lorca, is a callow youth blinded by the society in which he lives. That Stevens-Arce chooses to tell his story from this little twerp's viewpoint is daring for the reader doesn't take immediately to him. Stevens-Arce carefully mitigates that problem in several ways.

First, he doesn't get inside his head much until the character begins to change, and to grow. We can never be certain but I believe this was a conscious decision because poor Juan doesn't have a deep thought stored anywhere in there, anyway. It is a perfect approach to this kind of character building.

One of the difficulties of using this method is that the reader gets less insight into the character than we have become accustomed to. Any we do get comes from the dialogue and/or what is happening around Juan. There is an advantage here, as well. The action moves forward very quickly and we find ourselves immersed in the time (The Year of Our Lord 2099) and the place (San Juan, the capitol city of our 52nd state). And, surprising, this is enough. The author has carefully balanced what the reader is likely to miss with what she gets.

As Juan develops and finds his own depth, we find that Steven-Arce is a writer with a first-class instinct for words as well. For those of us who long to see, hear, and feel when we read, this novel is not a disappointment. We must wait, but we get wonderful similes like, "...the sun...looks like a communion wafer pasted against the sky," and "...the Swiss cheese of pigeon holes cut into the ancient wall..." Stevens-Arce has crafted a book where there is only straightforward, uncluttered writing until the reader is hooked. Only then do we find passages that are pure poetry. By that time we find ourselves literally gobbling it up.

Stevens-Arce has one more trick to keep the reader hanging in there while this shallow youth ogles breasts, bounces to the music blasting into his headphones and relishes his own benign happiness with himself and the god-awful world he doesn't see around himself. He uses present tense. I hate present tense. Yet I hardly noticed. It propels the novel forward when it needs momentum. After it has done its job the reader becomes so used to it, it is no longer a factor.

If I were still teaching English, this book would become one of my texts. It's not often that one finds first person, present tense put to such carefully crafted use. It's also not often that one finds a book that lauds the often-maligned ability of thinking for oneself. Next to Holden Caulfield, Juan Bautista Lorca may be the best literary example for youth in recent times.


Rating:
Summary: For Readers Interested in Writing
Review: A novel that uses first person, present tense is not easy to find, probably because there are not many convincing reasons to use it. In Soulsaver, James Stevens-Arce does it well.

This book is an interesting and fast-paced satire. The protagonist, Juan Bautista Lorca, is a callow youth blinded by the society in which he lives. That Stevens-Arce chooses to tell his story from this little twerp's viewpoint is daring for the reader doesn't take immediately to him. Stevens-Arce carefully mitigates that problem in several ways.

First, he doesn't get inside his head much until the character begins to change, and to grow. We can never be certain but I believe this was a conscious decision because poor Juan doesn't have a deep thought stored anywhere in there, anyway. It is a perfect approach to this kind of character building.

One of the difficulties of using this method is that the reader gets less insight into the character than we have become accustomed to. Any we do get comes from the dialogue and/or what is happening around Juan. There is an advantage here, as well. The action moves forward very quickly and we find ourselves immersed in the time (The Year of Our Lord 2099) and the place (San Juan, the capitol city of our 52nd state). And, surprising, this is enough. The author has carefully balanced what the reader is likely to miss with what she gets.

As Juan develops and finds his own depth, we find that Steven-Arce is a writer with a first-class instinct for words as well. For those of us who long to see, hear, and feel when we read, this novel is not a disappointment. We must wait, but we get wonderful similes like, "...the sun...looks like a communion wafer pasted against the sky," and "...the Swiss cheese of pigeon holes cut into the ancient wall..." Stevens-Arce has crafted a book where there is only straightforward, uncluttered writing until the reader is hooked. Only then do we find passages that are pure poetry. By that time we find ourselves literally gobbling it up.

Stevens-Arce has one more trick to keep the reader hanging in there while this shallow youth ogles breasts, bounces to the music blasting into his headphones and relishes his own benign happiness with himself and the god-awful world he doesn't see around himself. He uses present tense. I hate present tense. Yet I hardly noticed. It propels the novel forward when it needs momentum. After it has done its job the reader becomes so used to it, it is no longer a factor.

If I were still teaching English, this book would become one of my texts. It's not often that one finds first person, present tense put to such carefully crafted use. It's also not often that one finds a book that lauds the often-maligned ability of thinking for oneself. Next to Holden Caulfield, Juan Bautista Lorca may be the best literary example for youth in recent times.


Rating:
Summary: Good prose, but the ending was a let-down
Review: An enjoyable read, as well as a book with substance. From the beginning I was caught up by the wave of energy that drives the story along, the enthusiasm pumped into every description. Each word has its purpose, and catchy phrases come like recurring musical notes in a symphony. All the characters, even minor players, are well-wrought. The world of the soulsaver would be ugly and grim, except that the sheer crazy power of the people's misguided belief raises them from the morass. All are striving to outdo one another in their closeness to God. But who is the true God and who is the Antichrist? Can miracles really happen? Exploration of these questions gives the book philosophical punch as well as shine and sizzle.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: Excellent sci-fi boook, very imaginative. Wonderful descriptions. I wanted a teeny bit more at the end, my only complaint. Not even big enough to knock it to four stars. Loved it!

Rating:
Summary: A new fan forever
Review: I am not a science fiction reader and didn't know what to expect from this book, but after reading it, I will be counting the days for James Stevens next novel.It had so many things that are happening in our moral decaying world ,that it gave me an earie feeling, like a premonition, of something not too far away if we don't open our eyes on time.Yet it gives you hope, because it teach you that the answer to your doubts and fears are inside you. Only you can save yourself.I enjoyed every word in it and could not stop reading until the last page.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond 1984....dunn...dunn...dunn!!
Review: I had heard about this book from someone I know and was rather anxious to read this "incredible story"... SO...After managing to get my hands on a coveted copy of James Stevens-Arce's 'Soulsaver' I dove into the pages with a tremendous amount of excitement. I had heard good things about the book and I was anxious to see if Soulsaver was able to live up to the expectation I had blatantly placed upon it. It took me ONE day to read this fantastic book. Now, I'm an extremely picky reader and I usually don't thoroughly enjoy books the way I did enjoy 'Soulsaver'. I read Sci-fi often enough but my true love lies with the classics. Jim Stevens has himself here a classic with this spectacular fable of a world on an extreme edge. The book is not too fantastic that it's unbelieveable, this book hits so close to home that I had chills knowing that the world he portrayed is only but a few years away. If anybody reading this loves dystopian stories like: 1984, Brave New World and is also a fan of religious lore and representation...this novel has it! Don't be pushed away by the sci-fi shroud that surrounds it. Just try picking it up and reading it if you're a fan of reading good..nay...excellent stories. This one is a definite keeper!

Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: I was fortunate enough to see the bound galleys for James Stevens-Arce's first novel, "Soulsaver." I remember reading a short story of his by the same title in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in the early '80s. Stevens-Arce has developed that original intriguing glimpse of a dystopic future into a dizzying journey to the end of the 21st century, when Puerto Rico is the 52nd state in an America taken over by a televangelistic theocracy.

The world Stevens-Arce evokes is richly textured and detailed. The book's narrator, Juan Bautista Lorca, is a rookie technician in a squad whose mission it is to quick-freeze suicides for subsequent "re-animation." The fascinating, fast-paced, occasionally sexy and frequently hilarious narrative tracks Juan's voyage of discovery as all the tenets of his faith and sense of self are challenged and rearranged. The book's climax hinges on the most outrageous second coming since "A Canticle for Lebowitz."

In the grand tradition of Orwell, Huxley and Brunner, Stevens-Arce has given us a terrible, fascinating and convincing vision of a future that just might be only a hundred years away.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent and Original Saving
Review: One of the most intelligent science fiction novels I had had the honor to review. James Steven Arce is a remarkable author with that certain touch of taking a character and a twisting plot and make it almost too true.

The setting of this novel kept me sitting at the edge of my seat. The characters, so well developed I could see them as I read them. The whole concept of this book was original and unique, besides being highly intelligent.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys science fiction mixed with mystery, fantastic conflicts and a surprising ending that will keep the reader returning to it to get the full impact.

Rating:
Summary: Eternal life -- whether you want it or not!
Review: Religious fanatics control this truly dystopian society of 2099. Puerto Rico is a microcosm of events that happen across the USA for it is the 52nd state. Faith and religious beliefs are examined, challenged, and altered in this delightful, somewhat shocking, all too plausible novel.

Juan Bautista Lorca, a rookie technician, and his partner Fabiola drive a FreezVan for the Suicide Prevention Corps of America (SPCA -- yes, a glimmer of the satire woven throughout the book). They race to the scene of a suicide, pack ice around the body, then take it Saint Francis of Assisi Resurrection Center in time for repair and revival. Returning to life after the harrowing experience of death, deep freeze, and resuscitation generally prevents the individual from trying to commit this heinous crime again. Only those who truly do not want to live in an over populated, under fed, under educated, and overly controlled society try a second suicide -- and they make sure the body can't be made to live again.

This book has won many awards: Best First Novel of 2000--Rocky Mountain News; Best of the Year 2000 list--San Francisco Chronicle; Best First Novels of 2000 Recommended Reading List--Locus magazine.

This is the story that I could easily see Kevin Smith (Silent Bob) turning into another great hit movie. Five stars.

Victoria Tarrani