We’re just about nearing the end of the year, but apparently 2015 had one last big surprise for me. It came in the form of Barsk: The Elephant... ...more
What would you get if you put Orwell’s Animal Farm, Adams’s Watership Down, and Kipling’s The Jungle Book into a blender with David Brin’s “Uplift” series? You might well get Lawrence Schoen’s novel Barsk.
Rich in texture, full of great dialogue, and terrifically realized creatures, Barsk is ultim... ...more
(The review is based on a review excerpt kindly offered to me by the publisher via NetGalley.)
Being a fan of the fantasy genre, I have read many different fantasy novels and short stories. Yet, when I first read 'Barsk: The Elephant's Graveyard''s description, I felt it might offer me something u... ...more
It's impossible to say enough great things about Lawrence M. Schoen's new novel, "Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard." I found it to be uplifting, visionary and a damn good read... I took my time reading it as I wished to savor every moment of this marvelous and enthralling book. Schoen describes hi... ...more
Surprising no one, I love to read. I like most books that I pick up and usually only have a few incredibly petty "well what if this had been different" kind of situations with them. There have been, however, a hand full of books I just couldn't finish.
While I don't write a thing for every book I... ...more
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT give up on this book. I was not captivated and almost put it down but I persevered and it was well worth the read. Anthropomorphism runs in a heavy vein through my favorite books and one would have expected me to fall immediately in love with t... ...more
"Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard" has rich, intricate worldbuilding, but the story is definitely driven by the characters (who are all anthropomorphic animals, mostly elephants).
Our hero, Jorl ben Tral, can summon the dead using his control of nefshons: memory particles that survive the death of... ...more
Barsk is a breakout stand-alone novel. Think Animal Farm meets Dune. It has a cast of wonderful characters, all of them animals uplifted in some distant past. The animals run the universe in this far future. The characterizations are deep and interesting, the plot fairly twisty. A nice flair for... ...more
In the distant future, intelligent anthropomorphic animal races populate the galaxy, and the most marginalized race among them is the Fant, a species of "uplifted" elephants on the isolated planet Barsk. When dying Fant begin to disappear, Jorl, a Fant Speaker (one who can communicate with the de... ...more