No Return [NOOK Book]

Oh yes, this is one for the ages. No Return is a dazzlingly orig

Oh yes, this is one for the ages. No Return is a dazzlingly original work of fiction, a defier of genre, and a story of deep relevance and emotion.

As I could tell by the jacket blurb, promising such things as outbound mages and a man made of metal spheres, there is nothing like No Return. The world of Jeroun abounds with before unseen innovation and spectacle, all portrayed with vibrant imagery and language. Mages craft spells from the ground up corpses of ancient aliens, the god Adrash rearranges his giant metal spheres of the Needle by hand, and the numerous distinct races and cultures each worship or villify Adrash in their own way. It is, in fact, so original that when I read the jacket blurb, I thought it was science fiction. While reading it, I thought it was fantasy, and now that I have finished it, I realize more than ever that the two terms are meaningless, and neither can encompass No Return.

The book definitely isn't for everyone, though. It has some stern words for religious fanaticism, which, as an atheist, I could not help but agree with. A major theme is overcoming things that hold us back, namely, guilt, authority, religious indoctrination, and of course, God (or Adrash, one might say).

No Return is also overtly sexual. There are some very graphic scenes of intercourse, heterosexual and homosexual both, masturbation, a rape scene or two, and several detailed descriptions of chiseled male anatomy. There were times when even I was a bit put off, and if you don't have the stomach for this sort of thing, you had best steer clear.

As for the writing itself, the only flaw I could perceive was the occasional lull in pacing. Particularly, I found the scenes with the outbound mages more interesting than those concerning Vedas, Churls, and Berun, as the latter seem concerned, for the first half, at least, with the trials of their journey to Danoor. It seemed to me that it switched from the former to the latter at rather inopportune times.

Nevertheless, No Return is easily the best book I've read this year, and I'd be hard pressed to find another one quite as good. I anticipate a return to this setting, and I eagerly await it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great read!

This is the type of story I hope to find while scouring through page after page of sci-fi/fantasy offerings-something different! There's a lot of books that are written based on common themes but I really enjoy a new premise that makes me wonder "how did the author come up with this?". This is one of those stories. The world is described in bits and pieces where a lot is left open for a sequel or sequels but I will definitely return to find out more and look forward to the continued development of the main cast.

Awesome Book; Great Read

This book was awesome from the beginning. This was one of those books that i could not put down and i didn't whenever possible. The story was engaging and captivating.

In reading this book, i felt like i was there with the characters going through their stories with them and that speaks of true writing talent.

I really hope the author writes at the very least a sequel. This book was AWESOME and i'm hopeful i'll have the opportunity to see how the story continues.

The world building in this novel is fabulous. The races of peopl

The world building in this novel is fabulous. The races of people in the novel were completely unique. The magic was fascinating. The characters are well developed and interesting. The plot takes a while to take shape, but is worth the effort in the end. I wish the character motivations had been more clear. This is a good read.