4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Broken Arrow Revisited by E.L. Glenn is a pleasant mixture of both historical and science fiction. Kirk is a Cultural Anthropologist who receives the chance of a lifetime to be able to travel back in time and see one of his most heavily researched tribes with his own two eyes. Cochise and his tribe were a small but powerful aboriginal group in the 1800s. Because of his research, Kirk knows that he could either be landing right before a tragedy occurs, or after the tragedy when Cochise swears to destroy white men. Instead, he basically lands right in the thick of the event. Finding himself amongst people that he had not found in the history books, he creates more connections than he ever thought possible. He finds himself amongst many different people that had not necessarily been put into the history books, and creates more connections than he ever thought possible.
This time travel novel was well-researched and full of life from beginning to end. Every character that Kirk encounters is three-dimensional with his or her own personal character traits. Kirk worries that the tribe might blindly despise him, but even though they do not fully trust him at first, they grow to accept him and end up learning from him.
I hate science fiction that is too technical, where the main character spends pages upon pages describing every little detail of their universe, or explaining the science behind their machines. Luckily, Glenn does not spend pages droning on about the inner workings of the time-travel machine, but instead focuses on describing the people in the tribe and the people who interacted with the tribe. There was some romance in the novel, but it was not the main focus and did not take over the entire storyline. I was truly happy to see a time-travel novel with a responsible main character who didn’t try to change history.
The character development in this novel is impeccable. The main examples of it have huge spoilers, but I will simply say that if you are a person who enjoys to see characters truly learn and grow then you will not be disappointed by reading this novel. Even I was surprised at how some of the characters matured, or even regressed, by the end of the novel. Character development is not always a bad or weak character turning good or strong, and Glenn reminds readers of this.
The world-building of this novel is not lack-luster. I found myself visualizing Kirk learning how to ride a horse, running to save tribe members, and viewing each of the tribe members for the first time. This brought the story to life as it began to play in my head as I continued to read it. It is not so descriptive that it becomes boring, but it does not skimp on description where it counts.
The plot moved smoothly, as the only thing that changed the flow was how fast time was moving. Some parts of the story were of day-to-day life, whereas other parts have time skips of months or a years. This did not negatively affect my reading in any way as the story remained easy to follow. The book also seemed to be professionally edited as I did not notice any grammar or formatting errors.
I rated this novel 4 out of 4 stars. It was professionally edited with smooth writing, descriptive world-building, unique and well-developed characters, and engaging/addictive plot. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or science fiction, or to anyone who is just looking for a new adventure novel in a fresh and well-written universe.
******
Broken Arrow Revisited
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Like BriennaiJ's review? Post a comment saying so!
