Chris HowardBesprekingen

I really loved these books and hope the writer does more in this world he's created. I originally got the books from the free Kindle Lending Library, but liked them so much that I ended up buying them. Who knows? They may not have been there when I go back for a re-read.

At times the story seemed to jump around a bit, but I had to do a fair bit of 'reading' via Text-to-Speech (NOT audiobook) in my car so I I could follow that way, I would imagine that a traditional read wouldn't be bothered by it.

I loved the undersea world and the Seaborn'--as the writer terms mermaids. I enjoyed it so much that I went to go find other mermaid stories and came up a cropper on i-hate-the-water, killer-mermaid, badly-done-mermaid-society and other horribly written indie mermaid books. One writer actually had mermaids that needed lights to see underwater?! How the HELL does a species develop in an environment where they can't even see? Needless to say that was a DNF that I didn't even bother to post in case someone thought the synopsis was good. ANyway, that was just a long paragraph requesting a good mermaid read--I prefer fantasy (non PNR), but will do a good PNR UF if it meters to fantasy over the romance.

I am really hoping Mr. Howard does more in this world, but judging by his site, is moving onto bigger and better. Despite that, I'll be keeping an eye out for more books by him.

I'm a little torn on how to rate this. On the one hand, the story is original, and the prose is fluid, visceral, and perfectly tailored to the voice of Rootless' narrator. Both of which I find admirable.

But that same narrator can't seem to think his way out of a paper bag, and yet somehow---simply by virtue of his potent emotions, as far as I can tell---he always manages to come out on top. Usually at the very last moment...and accompanied by a maximum of gratuitous violence and gore. (This, by the way, coming from someone who read and enjoyed A Clockwork Orange.)

The other characters have interesting details but don't ever feel fully fleshed-out, and the instant romantic connection between Banyan and his lady love never really makes sense. Which may have something to do with the fact that they don't ever have an actual conversation beyond, "Hey, I want to kiss you," or "Sucks that both our parents were taken," or "How 'bout you kill those people?"

So overall, though I can appreciate Rootless' uniqueness and prose, I didn't really enjoy the experience of reading the book all that much. And while I'd kind of like to know what happens next, the thought of reading the next book leaves me cold.

Rootless is an YA adventure story set in a dystopian future. Seventeen-year-old Banyan lives alone in a world without trees or animals. He travels the desolate remains of the country, selling his skills as a tree sculptor (using scrap metal, wires, glass and lighting) to the wealthy. The world-building is great, including a little Rastafarianism. The language and imagery are vivid, the characters are colorful and larger than life, there is lots of action, and even, a love story. The author's creativity extends to social and environmental issues too, such as the evil corporation, GenTech, which controls the food supply (genetically-engineered corn, immune to the marauding locusts) and kills anyone who tries to steal from them. Banyan sets off to find his father, gets derailed by pirates, and eventually finds allies to try to regenerate real trees to save the world. I am mystified as to why the recently-published sequel is not in local libraries.

I was glad to read this. It was good. I plan to read more from this author in the future. It's a great read and I was just fascinated by the way it was written.

Wow this was great. The graphics are unbelievable and i could just sit here for hours with this comic. Wonderful. Splendid.

I love how Howard makes me want to never stop reading with this work of his. Magnificent illustrations and work in all.

The graphics are stupendous and the story line is great.

This was better than the chapters before. Oh i can't wait to find out what happens next.

I couldn't have helped but love this. It makes me want to read for every minute of everyday.

I'm so enthralled with this chapter that nearly had a heart attack when it got good.

It was a glorious read and I want to read more.

Oh I was so anticipating a much smaller and less invigorating chapter but was surprised. I loved it.

Oh the awesome power of books. Reading books and comics makes me feel alive. Just like it did reading this.

Intriguing premise, terrible execution and characterization. Didn't finish.

Intriguing premise, terrible execution and characterization. Didn't finish.

In this post-apocalyptic, dystopian book we follow Banyan who is a tree builder. In the now desolate landscape trees do not grow, locusts eat everything in sight (including people), and GenTech genetically engineers the only edible food. Banyan uses recycled scrap metal and parts to create shrubs and trees that move and glow so the wealthy people can remember the world that once existed. While on a job Banyan comes in contact with a photo of his missing father sitting among “real” trees. Now, Banyan is on a search for his father and the Promised Land. On his way he will come into contact with friends and enemies, including poachers, pirates, and GenTech agents.

I liked Banyan’s character and the world building in this book, which was brought to life by trees that Banyan so lovingly created. The book went in a more science fiction direction then I expected, which didn’t detract from the book, but made it a little hard to follow as we got deeper into the GenTech world and the genetic engineering. I loved Alpha’s character; she was a pirate that reminded me of Tank Girl with her Mohawk and no-nonsense attitude surviving in a deserted wasteland. I wanted more Alpha and her relationship with Banyan. I flew through this book and will probably read the sequel. This was a good addition to the flooded dystopian market.

In this post-apocalyptic, dystopian book we follow Banyan who is a tree builder. In the now desolate landscape trees do not grow, locusts eat everything in sight (including people), and GenTech genetically engineers the only edible food. Banyan uses recycled scrap metal and parts to create shrubs and trees that move and glow so the wealthy people can remember the world that once existed. While on a job Banyan comes in contact with a photo of his missing father sitting among “real” trees. Now, Banyan is on a search for his father and the Promised Land. On his way he will come into contact with friends and enemies, including poachers, pirates, and GenTech agents.

I liked Banyan’s character and the world building in this book, which was brought to life by trees that Banyan so lovingly created. The book went in a more science fiction direction then I expected, which didn’t detract from the book, but made it a little hard to follow as we got deeper into the GenTech world and the genetic engineering. I loved Alpha’s character; she was a pirate that reminded me of Tank Girl with her Mohawk and no-nonsense attitude surviving in a deserted wasteland. I wanted more Alpha and her relationship with Banyan. I flew through this book and will probably read the sequel. This was a good addition to the flooded dystopian market.

In this dystopian novel every single tree has been cut down, leaving a world filled with dust storms, no wildlife, and no source of food other than popcorn. GenTech, a rich corporation, controls the growing, buying and selling of corn killing anyone who dares grow or steal their corn.

Read the rest of my review at: http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/rootless-chris-howard/

Saltwater Witch by Chris Howard - I knew this shit stupid search engine on Goodreads would choke up a turd trying to find that. It should just say title OR author, but god forbid you try both.

Fucking awesome graphic novel.

A beautiful graphic novel. I was expecting Kassandra to be some sort of siren but it is more original than that. When she cries, her tears summon creatures. A really great premise for the start of a series.

When I read the premise of this book and read about the map on the woman's body, I immediately thought of the movie, "Waterworld". The story is well written and carries you along at a steady pace. The characters are well defined. The author has done a great job of giving you one perspective of a character only to throw something in the main character's path that makes you look at the character again and re-think your feelings. I have read several books over the last year that are of the dystopian type that shows to what extent people will go to control society when things go wrong. Banyan was hired by a man named Frost to build trees on his property. The trees are made from scrap metal and lights. It is the closest thing they have to a vision of real trees. When Banyan meets the young girl who lives in the house with her mother, Frost and his son he learns from an item she has that his father may not be dead after all. His journey to find his father leads him to learn that all that he has been told is not necessarily what is true. When they mentioned the trash island he is taken to I immediately thought of the research some of our students did last year for our environmental unit. The researched "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch". I wondered if this was the inspiration for the trash island. This was a really great book. The use of the words "damn" and "hell" were the only two curse words in the book. I would suggest this book be read by 8th grade and above as it talks about the boys feelings toward a girl. There is nothing lewd in the book. It is just him mentioning his feelings of desire. unfortunately I hear this daily as I walk behind kids at school. That doesn't mean I want to hear it or condone it. It is however a fact of life that kids this age have raging hormones that we as adults try to keep a lid on. That is the only reason I would recommend it for the upper middle school or high school student. This is an author I had not heard of before and one I will definitely look forward to reading in the future, especially since this was just the first book in the series.

Enjoyed this book even with what I felt were plot holes. What I thought made up for this was that Banyan, the protagonist, and the first person narrator was so likable, and a surprisingly well developed moral compass considering the violent world in which he lived in. IT made it easy to like the story he told about his life building artificial trees in a world where no more natural trees exist due to GenTec's, an evil corporation, genetic engineering of pest resistant crops which resulted in super bugs that ate everything else on the planet. Banyan soon sets out on a quest to find his missing father, who left him, while also trying to find a (sadly) semi-mythical place where trees might still grow.

3.5 Stars

As happens from time to time, I've read a book that is wonderful, but that does not work perfectly for the kind of reader that I am. Rootless by Chris Howard is a true dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel set in a nightmare landscape. The writing is beautiful and the characters are unique. I definitely like Rootless and I'm very impressed by Howard's debut, but I'm too easily confused by science for it to be the perfect book for me.

First off, I want to praise Chris Howard's writing to the skies. The writing is beautiful, perfectly matched to Banyan and to the world itself. Howard manages to establish that Banyan speaks in dialect with the use of words like "reckon," but keeps it to a minimum. Thus, he clearly gets across the sound of the characters without making Rootless any less readable. Dialect done wrong is a miserable reading experience, and I think Howard takes a marvelous approach.

Howard builds from a pretty standard dystopian formula with the evil corporation GenTech, but the world itself is like nothing I've ever read before. The world has gone to seed in just about every way possible. Trees and animal life (except for humans and locusts) have died out. The only remaining food source is a genetically modified corn that the locusts cannot eat, which means the locusts have to settle for the only remaining dietary option: people. Man-eating bugs are pretty much my worst nightmare. There are also pirates, and a whole lot of other unscrupulous, cutthroat folks. In Rootless, characters really do suffer, and it's not all about the romance; people die in nasty ways, just as they should in a good post-apocalyptic.

Banyan works as a tree builder. What's a tree builder?, you might ask. Well, since the trees are gone, the landscape's a tad empty. Rich folks will pay to have trees built on their landscape. Banyan, as his father taught him, crafts trees out of metal. This is a very strange concept, but one that puts such a stark mental image of this world into my head. His cast of characters is just as memorably strange as the trees built out of metal.

As I mentioned previously, the world in Rootless is one in which countless things have gone wrong. Genetic modification of foodstuffs lead to stronger locusts, which lead to no trees. A lack of trees presents its own problems. The moon also came closer to the earth, which messed with the ocean. All of the non-human animals are gone. Everything that's left is controlled by a corporation, the only institution capable of making food without cannibalism. All of this was just way too much for me to process, and I spent a lot of time confused, trying to figure out why something happened and what repercussions it would have on society.

From interviews I've seen, I'm sure Howard has done his research and put tons of thought into everything, but he lost me. Actually, I had a similar problem with The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, which is beloved of many people who understand science much better than I do. To tell you the hard truth, I was at best a mid-B range student in high school science. I know just enough to get things really wrong and muddled. Readers with more science background or less inclined to puzzle over things endlessly will likely not have this issue. Also, since Rootless is told from a first person perspective, the world building will likely become more clear as Banyan learns more.

Oh, one last thing, Howard is a HUGE Star Wars fan. It's all over his inspiration board on Pinterest, for example. His love of Star Wars really shines through. There are some very cleverly done references, which I, having been raised from a young age to be obsessed with the original trilogy (the only one that exists in my brain), loved. Watch out for those, Star Wars fans!

I highly recommend Rootless to readers who enjoy harder science fiction with a focus on world building and storytelling. Fans of Paolo Bacigalupi and Star Wars should especially take note.½

Review:

In a world without trees, one makes beauty however one can. Banyan is a tree builder. His creations made from scrap metal are purchased by the elite to mimic forests of old. When Banyan meets the mysterious Zee while working on his current project he finds out something that will change his life forever.

Rootless, how do I wrap my head around you. I went into this book expecting one story yet what transpired was something completely different. Was it good still? Yes, Oh God yes. I love being surprised by a story and this one kept me on my toes that is for sure.

A world without trees is unfathomable. Yet, somehow the Author paints the landscape with such detail that it almost makes you believe such a world exists. The world of Rootless actually reminded me of Earth in the movie Wall-E, maybe less trash but still that landscape. If a world devoid of any plants isn't awful enough nothing except genetically modified corn grows on the planet. Can you imagine having to eat corn for every meal? I can't, but due to locusts swarms killing off everything else corn is all that is left. Speaking of the locusts, I forgot to mention these are man eating locusts. They will eat you if they catch you. Nasty right??

As for the characters, I loved Banyan. He has a gift for seeing beauty in stuff most of us wouldn't. He also is very practical and wise almost beyond his years. I really can't wait to see how his character evolves in the next book. I also liked Crow the watcher of Zee who really plays the anti-hero so well. It was fun trying to decide if he was good or bad. Ultimately, I decided he is a good guy just trying to survive playing with the hand he was dealt.

In the end Rootless is a debut that will stick out in my mind for being fresh and inventive. The world isn't necessarily unique but the execution is and that is what makes Rootless worthy of reading. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this book and give it a try. I will be rating Rootless by Chris Howard ★★★★.

*I received a copying Rootless to review via Netgalley. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any way for providing them.

I won a copy of Rootless through the Goodreads Giveaways program. Rootless is a fast paced post-apocalyptic novel. The world has been stripped of most all of its food sources except for the ones engineered by the GenTech corporation. GenTech produces corn and lots of it for inflated prices. Corn seems to be the only thing locusts will not devour. Banyan, the books main character is a tree builder. He learned the trade from his father who has since disappeared from his life. Since real trees no longer exist Banyan builds them from scrap metal and LED lights. The effect is pretty but these metal sculptures offer none of the natural benefits of actual trees. I enjoyed this story immensely. There was plenty of plot twists and action to keep my interest. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy science fiction or post apocalyptic fiction. Impressive first novel from Chris Howard. Looking forward to the next volume in the series.