BOOK REVIEW: Noah Zarc by D. Robert Pease

Noah Zarc:  Mammoth Trouble is Book One of a new Science Fiction Adventure for Young Readers.

Noah Zarc is twelve and is a quadripelegic from birth and is the youngest of three children.  He, his siblings and his parents are time travelers who have dedicated their lives to bringing animals back to the uninhabited Earth.

Noah loves living on the Moon and looking after all the animals he and his parents have collected.  They travel through time to collect animals that have gone extinct in order to repopulate the Earth after the great Cataclysm where the Earth was destroyed and people were forced to move to Mars and Venus.

Life on these planets is harsh but the harshest of all are the Venusians.  Their planet is over-populated and you cannot walk outside or you will die instantaneously from the poisons in the air.  The Poligarchy rule the planets and they are adament that no human shall ever live on Earth again.

Not everyone is happy about this and Haon sets to bring his own kind of justice to the status quo.  Haon grew up on Venus and he believes it is appalling that people live like little less than animals while the Earth has been deemed protected.  Haon wishes to kill off all the animals in order to save his people from certain death.

When Noah's parents go missing, its up to Noah and his brother and sister to find them.  The last known whereabouts of their parents was in the Arctic around 6500 B.C., and the three must find their parents and stop Haon from destroying the animals forever.  Will Noah have the stamina and the courage to stop Haon from reigning destruction down especially after he learns about some things about Haon that could change his decision?

I thought Noah Zarc was an excellent reader for young minds.  I loved how the story unfolded, drawing the reader into the world of the Zarcs.  I thought Noah was a very likeable character who used his disabilities to his advantage instead of feeling sorry for himself.  I found him to be wise beyond his years and his approach to most situations was carefree and reckless, however, he always felt remorse that things didn't always turn out the way he had predicted. 

I didn't get much feeling for the parents, however, each of the children was written wonderfully, even Adina, who stows away on their ship and ends up being a formidable friend to have.  I would've liked to have shared more of Adina's wonder in her new surroundings, considering where she was from, everything shouldn't have been as simple as it was for her.

I also had a hard time feeling conviction for the plot, I truly understood where Haon was coming from and I am not sure why more people don't agree with him, taking a stand against the powers that be that forced his hand.  It was a real toss of my emotions to choose a side to believe in and seriously, I was truly attuned to Haon and his thoughts and conjectures and though his actions were drastic, I understood why and secretly routed him on.  Everyone had been living without animals for this long, why would it be such a bother to continue without them, I mean, everything happens for a reason and the animals died off.  I also believe the humans on Venus should have a better chance at survival then some animals that had already died off.

I would give Noah Zarc a four out of five stars.  I loved how the time leaping was explained; the Hawkings theory of time travel was shared in a new light, making it very easy to understand for anyone.  I couldn't feel for the plot, as I previously mentioned, I was torn between the antagonists and the protagonists.  I also found, during certain dialogues or thoughts, that the story read like you were missing something, like there was a book before this one, even though this one clearly states book one, I kept looking to see if I was missing something.  Like some of their past experiences were mentioned to the reader as if the reader had already journeyed there with them before.  It was a tad frustrating but not at all a hindrance to the read.  I truly look forward to reading the next book in the series!

** Disclosure: I did not accept any compensation from the sponsors other than review copies, my views are my own, reviewed by me..as I see it~!! **