You will be changed forever
David Chernushenko's new thriller... is eye-opening, so impactful its message will be seared into the soul of the reader... If you go along for the ride, I guarantee you will be changed forever...I felt anxious about the future of the planet while reading the book. But that is exactly the point. I also felt inspired to take action; apathy is impossible after reading Burning Souls.
Review by Tanis Browning-Shelp, The Mainstreeter, Aug. 2019
A real page-turner
I found David Chernushenko's writing compelling, authentic and intense. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
Luce Napert, Ottawa, Canada
Great Read
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! Compelling characters and their stories against the backdrop of environmental and social justice themes that are so relevant and important. Couldn’t put the book down for the last half.
David Rhynas, Ottawa, Canada
Compelling narrative
About a third of the way through this novel, I realized that I was always thinking about it... the characters are passionate, inventive seekers trying to navigate a world that’s falling apart around them. They are fundamentally good, at times heroic. This compelling narrative weaves together many strands of thought about our global climate crisis, and paints a believable (and grim) picture of the near future. Yet there is hope, as embodied in the main characters, who represent a kind of idealized global community of shared values. We hope because of their choices, as individuals, and collectively. It is rare to find a book that offers depth, insight, believable characters, and still gives you a good page-turner of a story. Highly recommend.
Anne Mowat, Nelson, BC, Canada
Burning Souls is a Compelling Read
In this page-turner novel Chernushenko has joined the dots between the many calamities of modern life: pollution; famine; drought; extreme weather; melting permafrost; the hubris of capitalism; the lack of political vision and foresight, to extrapolate to a devastating conclusion within a few short years. This book issues a challenge to every reader: will you have the courage of Simone to take the fight against insidious evil to its logical conclusion? Burning Souls is a great book."
Frank Johnson, Ottawa, Canada
Burning Souls is a well crafted and exhaustively researched novel that is an intimidating reality check for all of us... this novel is not about some dystopian future - the action is unrolling in real time in our current political context as four “burning souls” travel the globe from North America to Europe to Asia over the next 5 years. Burning Souls has forever changed how I view the future. It is essential reading for all who want to be prepared for the brave new world that awaits us in the all-to-imminent future. Will we burn with the same passion for justice, compassion and hope?
Kelly Thompson, Nairobi, Kenya
2020-02-11
Four friends attempt to save the world in this environmentally themed thriller.
Earth’s biosphere is in a death spiral, and things are about to get worse. This is especially frustrating to those who have worked for years to attempt to convince recalcitrant humanity of the need to change its practices. Beginning in the late 1990s, four idealistic young people set out to do just that: save the world from the looming threat of climate change. The four met at Cambridge University: Sagan Cleveland, an atmospheric chemistry student from inner-city Detroit; Ebitsubo Jiro, an international business law student from Fukushima, Japan; Jenny Fung, an engineering student from Malaysia; and Simone Cohen, a Canadian journalist studying international relations. The next decade proves a highly educational one even as it takes them each to different places around the world. Another decade introduces new struggles: Nuclear disasters, new technologies, coverups, and corporate greed challenge the endurance—and friendships—of the four. Like everyone else, Sagan and the others live through climate-spurred social upheavals that alter humanity’s relationship with Earth. But, with the inaction of the masses, will they be able to find a way to do something about climate change before it’s too late? Chernushenko’s (Sustainable Sports Management, 2001, etc.) prose is smooth even as he litters it with exposition regarding both the plot and the real crises facing humanity: “In place of fees,” Simone’s “share from book sales could be given to charity….‘I’ll split it between Puerto Rico hurricane victims and California forest fire crews!’ ” The timely novel has a Michener-ian heft to it (the book is 666 pages), and Chernushenko takes a largely effective kitchen sink approach to dramatizing climate activism in the form of his four heroes. But he does that at the expense of some verisimilitude—readers will never truly forget that this is a highly didactic work meant to educate them about the environment—and for this reason, it isn’t as thrilling a piece of fiction as it could be. The book tries to be as big as the problems it tackles, but one can’t help but wonder if a smaller, specialized story would not serve as a more poignant educational tool.
A tale that mostly succeeds in fictionalizing the last 30 years of climate change’s effects.
