Giant Virgin Births

Don’t get worried. This is actually a book review. 😉

The Sound of the Stones is a book. Hang on, that didn’t start well. The Sound of the Stones is Beth Hammond’s first adult novel. Hang on, that didn’t sound right either, it’s not erotica. It’s actually billed as a Young Adult Fantasy.

Billing this book as YA Fantasy doesn’t do this book justice in my opinion. In fact it actually put me off reading it at all. However I bit the bullet and got stuck in and very quickly found that, much like quicksand, it sucked me in and refused to let go.

It’s a tale of two worlds, our own, and another earth-like world. Except this other world is one where humans are subjugated by an unpleasant, trans-dimensional alien species who impregnate human females via their dreams and use the hybrid off-spring to control and dominate the human slaves. So there’s one weird ingredient already. Virgin births!

And there’s Giants. And humans with special powers. And a mission. And family. And unlikely friends. And monsters. Even giant worms. Oh yeah. A love story too.

But what makes TSOTS special for me is the voice and the humor. There’s no olde worlde mediaeval speech in this fantasy (Thankfully). The dialogue is modern and laced with in-jokes and even a little innuendo. I found myself chuckling at regular intervals as well as getting excited, worried for and caring about the characters. I started liking the ‘good’ guys and hating the bad ones. Just what a good story-teller should achieve.

As it is book one of a trilogy the story obviously has a long way to go. Because of this I do have one small criticism. The book starts in our world and introduces ‘Frankie’, an orphan with a love of books who encounters a strange character in a bookshop that is shutting down and discovers an ancient tome that will prove key to the story and provide the connection between the two worlds at a later date. Then the story shifts to the alternate world and stays there right until the end when we finally get reintroduced to Frankie. This annoyed me. But it’s actually a back-handed criticism. The reason I found it annoying is that just when I was getting engaged with the Frankie storyline I was transported to the alternate reality and Frankie didn’t make another appearance until the final chapter. At which point I’d pretty much forgotten about her. And now will have to wait for book two. 😦

Still, in summary, I would recommend this book for pretty much all age groups. It’s funny without being a farce. It’s thrilling and exciting without having to resort to gore and violence for the kicks. And it’s engaging and you do actually want to know what happens next and where it’s going to go. What more could you ask for?

You can buy it here (Amazon).

And here. (Barnes and Noble)