1 out of 4 stars
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Strange ships are heading towards Earth and an alien invasion is on the horizon. For the first time, the nations of the world have decided to unite and stop this silent intrusion on its tracks. A line is drawn in space and a clear message is sent out to the oncoming invaders: "Travel within the orbit of the asteroid belt and nuclear warheads would be launched." The aliens, officially termed the Zernoplat, ignore the warning and after their first fleet is blown up, a second fleet descends soon after.
Despite Earth’s best efforts, the Zernoplat’s ships finally land, one in the Gambia and another on the moon. The ships release a gas that completely dissolves any human it lands on. It turns out that the Zernoplat are amphibious blobs that can neither hear nor speak. So, have they really come to destroy the Earth? Or is this just one big misunderstanding?
Invasion of the Zernoplat is the debut futuristic science fiction novel by Major Roxbrough. Excuse my slang but this book “issa lot.” First off, it is 482 pages long. If you are looking for a quick read, look elsewhere.
The book is written in the third person and switches between different characters’ perspectives. Due to the many points of departure, I couldn’t figure out what the main storyline was. There was a huge build-up to the Zernoplat’s invasion. Soon after the invasion happens the attention shifts to a different set of aliens, the Tealon, who call themselves People and come from a planet called World. In the mix is a new breed of beings who are part human and part Zernoplat called the Zernovian. These were “zernoformed” in order to be able to telepathically communicate with the Zernoplat. Then there is the Sisterhood, a type of cult led by Righteous Robby, out to put a stop to the Zernoplat’s plans to acquire more of Earth’s land. When the Sisterhood’s attempt fails, another group called the Mission comes into the spotlight. On top of that, subplots are squeezed into the book as well, causing the story to move at a snail's pace.
A typical consequence of too much plot is an overabundance of characters. This is not to say that a book with a lot of characters can never succeed. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has 40 named characters, while a whopping 600 characters are named in War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. If you are going to do it, do it right. For Invasion of the Zernoplat, keeping track of the characters and their roles in the plot was a complete nightmare. In the span of eight chapters (Chapters 11 to 18), 59 different characters are named. That’s an average of 7 characters introduced per chapter!
But that is not the worst thing. For one, the characters’ names have odd spellings. For example, Llanfihangel yn Nhowhyn, Sclavvu(m) and Vaggu[m]. There is little consistency in the way the characters are named in general, making it impossible to keep note of who is who. In some instances, names used to refer to the same character have more than one spelling. ‘Khune’ is sometimes spelled as ‘Kune.’ The Zernoplat’s second major’s name is Hwarw at first but suddenly changes to Hnarn. To make matters worse, some characters have more than one name. Fritz, Brandt, and Schultz all refer to one character. Some characters even have sets of numbers for names. As if that’s not enough, a lot of the names are terribly similar. For example, Macbride, Maccallum, and Macintyre. It is not just character names you will have to grapple with. There is a place in the book called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllatysiliogogogoch. No, seriously. If, like me, you are bad with names, steer clear of this one.
The book is also littered with errors of all kinds. The apostrophe is incorrectly used a couple of times and in some instances, the wrong tense is used. There were also technical errors that I found irritating. In Chapter 4, Hakt, one of the main characters, runs through a list of countries in his head and goes, “Africa (or part of it), Angola, Algeria… .” This does not make sense since Africa is a continent and Angola and Algeria are both in it.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to sensitive readers as it is not politically correct and is, in my opinion, stereotypical and borderline racist. Asians are referred to as Orientals, blacks as Negroes, and whites as Saxonian and Angloid. The use of derogatory terms is considered normal in the book: “If a white man called a black man darky or coloured, it was now perfectly acceptable - if rude. The reason for this was that so many words had become taboo under the old regime, that it became impossible to address certain groups.” The characters in the book also make gross generalisations about entire races of people. Examples include: "...what Negro had not ever dreamed of being white?" and "Like all other Australians that Farquaharson had ever met, Kelly was a loud-mouth boor." The book also contains mature scenes that are not appropriate for young readers.
Even though the book is set in the future, mankind seems to have taken several steps backward because the races are once again segregated. The only difference is that segregation is now considered normal and is encouraged. I rate Invasion of the Zernoplat 1 out of 4 stars. I was confused most of the time and had to force myself to keep reading. The errors were distracting and very few of the characters were sufficiently developed. The book has potential, and with some work, it could turn out to be a decent novel. However, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone in its current state.
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Invasion of the Zernoplat
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Thanks for dropping by!
The author definitely should have gotten a second opinion - in fact, a couple of them. Thanks for dropping by!
