Sean DeLauder

The author kindly gave me a copy of his book to read through Making Connections' ARR, for an honest review. Thank you!

This story was told through the eyes of Hedge; a form of plant life sent to Earth and is impersonating a human. The book blurb gives a good description of what the book is about, so I won’t go into that.

I enjoyed this story; the humor reminded me a lot of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Because the world is seen through the eyes of Hedge, we get an alien’s take of what human life looks like on our planet.

The book flows well and is easy to read. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a quick, humorous read.

Oh, and I have to add, I looooove the cover. It's so nice to see a well done cover with beautiful colors and nice use of text.
… (meer)

The Speaker for the Trees is a scifi/fantasy novel wherein humanity is observed and judged through the eyes of an alien race, familiarly known as plants. The Council of Plants planted plants (smiled when I wrote that!) on Earth to ascertain why our planet hadn't been conquered by plants (they hadn't seen my yard!), and whether or not mankind is a threat to the universe and should thereby be eliminated. Okay, I'll stop playing with the plant thing. The plot is delicious (because I'm a vegetarian?) and unique in that the alien plants share certain flaws with humans, so the pot calls the kettle black, which eliminates an objective moral superiority thereby showing that tolerance and empathy are the true virtues.

This novel felt easy to read as the style is similar in tone to books such as [b:The Little Prince|157993|The Little Prince|Antoine de Saint-Exupéry|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1233949421s/157993.jpg|2180358] and [b:Doodling|10880532|Doodling|Jonathan Gould|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327204735s/10880532.jpg|15796068], which, strangely enough, also incorporates toasters. Hmm. Sentences vary from short, staccato ones that startled me and made me laugh, such as:
"Hedge exhaled a deep, shuddering breath. He was going to need a toaster."

-- to longer, more convoluted yet with oddly packed truth-isms, such as:
"By adulthood humans had trained themselves to be coy and manipulative in response to the coy and manipulative society in which they lived, which led them to believe that everyone was being as coy and manipulative as themselves and were uncertain about what was true and what was not."

Whereas The Little Prince is whimsical and illogical, The Speaker for the Trees manages to be whimsical and logical. Hedge's story is heartfelt, as only beings without hearts can demonstrate. Humans and plants are imperfect, yet the capacity to see beyond the flaws and to care for the sweet vulnerabilities that require a bit of nurturing to bring about a grand flowering--well, that is close to being divine.

If I were pressed to find fault here, I'd say I least appreciated the concept of the Visitors. The Mr. Visitor character added intrigue, and a wee bit of tension, but was not "fleshed" out enough to be truly threatening. For me, the Visitors, though interesting, were the least developed and thereby most disappointing component of the story. There. I was brutal.

Summary: Very enjoyable read. Please do so.… (meer)

4.5/5

In The Least Envied, one easily recognizes the first leg of what Joseph Campbell described as “The Hero’s Journey”. The Hero's Journey is a deeply satisfying narrative structure found in all sorts of drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development. To begin the journey, a hero first receives a Call To Adventure, which the hero refuses, of course. Fortunately, a magical guide comes to the hero's aid and helps the hero Cross the First Threshold, into dangerous realms where the hero enters The Belly of the Whale, which separates them from the known world, and where the hero will undergo a metamorphosis.

We all know and love the structure because the adventures the hero faces will not only be challenging and exciting, but will illuminate some concept and enrich our understanding of the world, and ourselves.

The plot structure is the only aspect of The Least Envied that was predictable. The characters, dialogue, actions, and ambiance are fresh and intriguing. Sean DeLauder begins his novel with "So this was the fabled West, gritty and mean." But this is not the US West—it is the West of some strange world, with strange steel-boned creatures and giant monsters that stomp through Dirtburg, a dusty town with characters that had me hooting and cursing, all at once.

DeLauder writes with an unique style that I enjoyed from Speaker for the Trees. His voice is fresh and interesting, but this novel is not for fast reading, and certainly not for skimming. So much is unexpected that nearly each and every word has to be dissected and savored. The attention is worth the effort because the images are quite vivid and wonderful.

Many themes are explored during this hero's adventure—the nature of heroism, for one, and fate, among others. There is an undercurrent of philosophy here, but without preachiness or pretension, more like Lord of the Rings in some respects, yet thoroughly modern and gritty in others.

Now that you find yourself primed and ready for this adventure, I must admit that I was one of Sean's First Readers, lucky enough to possess the manuscript before publication. Be patient, for he'll have the edited version out sometime soon—and then all of us can wait for Part II together.… (meer)

Hedge is not human but a plant sent here to live among the humans and observe. The Counsil of the Plants and the Plant of Ultimate Knowing wants to know if humanity is a threat to the universe. So Hedge along with other plants take on human form, where he lives on his farm, tends to his bees, and eats his earthwifes pork chops. Until one day when he is summoned home.

This was such a good story. I fell in love with Hedge and some of the other characters. You forget that he is a plant until he reminds you of it. The description of Hedge eating the pork chops, since he has no stomach, and how he gets rid of them had me laughing. The fact that he cares for his wife so much that he makes himself unattractive when he discovers that it hurts her when other women pay attention to him, makes him seem so human. He makes himself fat and bald and Anna loves him even more for it. He tries to come to terms with the fact that although he is a plant he is somehow having human emotions that really come out when he is told that the human race needs to be destroyed. He knows he cannot watch this happen and so decides he must do something to save them.

If I could give this story more than 5 stars I would. I will definitely be telling people about this book.… (meer)