The New Book Review

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Author Reviews Dr. Bob Rich's Ascending Spiral

Book Title:  Ascending Spiral: Humanity’s Last Chance.
Author: Dr Bob Rich
Website: http://bobswriting.com
Where to Buy Book: http://bobswriting.com/ascending.html
Genre: Metaphysical fiction
ISBN: 978-1-61599-187-7
Publisher: Marvelous Spirit Press

Reviewed by Megan Williams


Ascending Spiral began, for me, as a boy’s own adventure but quickly morphed into a story about a man fighting a just war against invaders. Then followed human damage, downfall and retribution. I was hooked.



For readers who like action there is plenty, though some rather violent, but all realistically representing human nature. I found it a disturbing but profoundly compelling distillation of the potential for good and evil to exist in all of us. But Bob also introduces hope and the possibility of forgiveness for oneself and others without excusing evil deeds.

From the prologue, and you should read it, Bob sets the style by writing as if everything is happening in the present even though the action zig zags across time and space through history. This gives the story its immediacy and brightness and allowed me to remain engaged when it took on fantastical elements that are not my preferred reading matter.

Bob manages to get under the skin of both the male and female characters and is not afraid to cover many distasteful but all to real aspects of human frailty and cruelty. The vehicle for telling the story through the character’s reincarnation is the greatest strength of the book for me. However, I don’t have to believe in reincarnation to be thoroughly engaged in the existential questions posed. Who am I? What is the meaning of suffering and what can I do to lessen it both  for myself and others?
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

1 comment:

Dr Bob Rich said...

This is a terrific book. I know, having written it myself. :) :)
Thank you for the review, Megan, and to you, Carolyn, for posting it.