Heroes of Distant Planets Book I: Surviving the Improbable Quest
By Anderson Atlas
If you give this book a chance you will have just found your new favorite series. Atlas presents us with a one of a kind adventure for adults and children alike. This is riveting and wonderfully original. I really can’t say much except that it is awesome and deserves to be read around the world.
The first note of awesome is the fact that the main character is a paraplegic. Someone who has lost total control of his limbs. So there are two battles this character faces, three if you include the initial tragedy that left him that way. I don’t think I ever imagined I would see the day where someone who couldn’t use his legs would be the main character in an adventure novel. Yes, he does fight and he actually manages to hold his own in most cases!
Allan is definitely a character you will love. I can’t personally relate to his struggle as someone bound to a wheelchair but I can relate to his feelings of betrayal. He describes how everyone would smile at him and then say rude things about him or his family behind his back. Probably every young person on earth could identify with that to some extent. But this little tidbit of information opens the door for relatability which really helped form a connection between myself as a reader and him as a character.
The present tense is amazing. That is my very favorite style of narration so I was more than pleased to see it in such an amazing story and especially pleased to see it done right. More than that, I was pleased with the vivid descriptions and wild creativity demonstrated in this book. The creatures, the world, the characters, the adventures, everything was take-your-breath-away good and I loved it. The flow was great and the rhythm of the story melted everything together. Atlas’s style of writing is very old fashioned, paired with the excellent illustrations it makes this book look and feel like an old classic.
I truly have no complaints about this story and I applaud the author for giving us something we have never seen before. Atlas has opened the door for diverse characters of all standing—or not! I love, love, LOVE the fact that Allan is different and I hope this book paves the way for many more to come and have success.
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*