Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Emily and Levi are out on the beach when they find a silver pickup truck in the middle of the ocean. When Emily and Levi go to investigate they find someone trapped in the back seat, injured.
But this someone isn’t human, it’s something else and nothing like anything they have seen before but as it turns out that isn’t even the most interesting thing about Kato. Because the fact of the matter is that Kato is part of a sentient species.
Levi is struggling with himself and his sexuality. Making things worse is the fact that Kato seems to like him and not only is Kato a man but he is also not a human and Levi can’t seem to deny that he feels something for Kato too.
This is a really short story at least as far as I am concerned. My reader puts this at 146 pages but with the speed that I flew through the pages,this book might as well have been 50 pages long instead of thrice that.
This book had me hooked from the beginning. I read the first chapter which I found in the author’s email requesting the review but I couldn’t stop after having read only a single chapter and I would have seriously bought this book just to find out what was next if it had already been published. But it wasn’t so I couldn’t, but I did download a sample off of Smashwords which had a lot more content but still not enough to satisfy me and I remember going off on a hunt to find a book to distract me until I could get my hands on an ARC. Thankfully I got it the next day and I finished it in the same day.
God this book was unbelievable. It had such an amazingly well-executed premise and just the concept of this book had me so hooked, imagining that there is a sentient species right here on Earth that we know nothing about. I also loved the author’s idea of not having Kato be an alien because initially, I thought that was the lines along which this story would be headed but it didn’t and I fell a little bit more in love with this book.
As if that wasn’t enough to make the story good, the author tops it off with some amazing characters, perfect in their imperfections. I was already in love with Kato throughout the book but I didn’t realise how much till Kato finds himself in trouble and then I couldn’t wait for him to get out of it. But what was surprising is how much I loved Levi. I think I loved the fact that Levi wasn’t super model hot and he actually had some fat on him. The fact that Levi is confused, doesn’t quite understand who he is and at the same time struggles with his body could have gone really wrong because I don’t appreciate a self-deprecating personality in denial but Levi, God Levi makes it work. What was amazing about Levi was how his inner worth always shone through and his quiet strength was always on display no matter how blind he was to both these qualities of his. I also loved Emily, she is just such a contained character and I loved her independence and her confidence and her tendency to worry. This was one woman that I genuinely admired.
I can’t think of a single character in this book supporting or otherwise that wasn’t memorable and I truly fell in love with all of the nice ones and hated all the other ones.
The story doesn’t let up for a second because even though the story line moves slowly the pace of the book is fast. Things move slowly but at the same time it feels like everything is moving by too quickly or maybe it was my own reluctance of not having the book end coupled with my eagerness to know what happens next that made me feel that way.
This book ends suddenly, it is like reaching the top of a crescendo and instead of being gently guided down you find yourself in a free fall. I loved the ending but at the same time, I wanted more. This book truly had a dichotomy of emotions rising up in me.
There are a few loose ends that aren’t tied up in this book. Firstly, the fact that we never find out how Kato ended up in that trunk and secondly, we never find out what Charlotte wanted to discuss with Kato. Not that I mind too much. As far as I am concerned this book was perfect in spite of its flaws.
This book is amazing but it was imagination that flows throughout this book that has me so enraptured with this book and all its characters.
Cover Art. I really like the cover for the book not because of the picture that adorns it, which to be honest I find a little childish but what I love about the picture is that I can see how that image inspired this body of work or vice versa which makes this image more than just how it looks because it might look childish but it has depth.
Sales Links: Preorder at Amazon
Book Details:
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 