Chris Howard

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.

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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.… (more)

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.… (more)