Author: Robert Eggleton
Series: -
Genres: Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Dog Horn Publishing
Source: Kindle Edition
Pages: 335
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SYNOPSIS: 'Lacy Dawn's father relives the Gulf War, her mother has lost her teeth, and her best friend is killed by her own father. Life in The Hollow in West Virginia isn't great. But Lacy Dawn has one advantage—she's been befrended by a semi-organic semi-robot (DotCom, alias Buddy) who works with her to 'cure' her parents. Buddy wants something in exchange, though. It's up to Lacy Dawn to save the universe.' —Books for a Buck
'Imagine Wizard of Oz and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy smashed together and taking place in a hollow in the hills of West Virginia.' —Adicus Ryan Garton, Editor, AtomJack
'quirky, profane, disturbing.' —Missouri Review
The author provided me with an ebook of this book in exchange for an honest review.
THE WORLD: Technically most of the story is set up in The Hollow, West Virginia (USA) but we are also dealing with a spaceship and aliens so it's a bit intergalactic.
CHARACTERS: The main character is Lacy Dawn. The story starts when she's only 12 years old and we get introduced to her family environment via conversations she has with her best friend Faith. I have to say that they have very dysfunctional families, we're dealing with abusers here. Her dad is a veteran but he deals with it poorly because he's always drunk or stoned and he's suffering from PTSD I would say. He beats Lacy and her mom all the time with a switch! wtf? how the f? what? You cannot call that monster a dad... anyway Faith's father is actually worse because she... well, ends up dying after being beaten and turns into a ghost. Lacy can see ghosts though, she can talk to Faith and to the trees (must be a magical forest or something). She is also friends with an alien robot called DotCom who promises Lacy to "fix" her family, which he does by hacking her parents brains, and he teaches her more than she can learn in school. DotCom's mission is to secure Lacy's future employment for the future, to save the world. But because he's so nice Lacy sees him as her boyfriend and plans to marry him in the future... incredible. This book is very weird.
LOVE: Apart from Lacy and her "boyfriend" DotCom, there is no love whatsoever.
LOVE: Apart from Lacy and her "boyfriend" DotCom, there is no love whatsoever.
PLUS: Despite the weirdness of the whole story and the awful parenting examples, I did enjoy the book. It is definitely not my style but it didn't feel like a waist of time. I liked Lacy's character and her character growth and I liked the author's writing. I also enjoyed the its-and-bits of psychological issues that were presented every now and then.
MINUS: I think I didn't get the story's point... it sure was entertaining but it felt empty. I didn't really connect with any of the characters, Lacy was the closest to a connection but not even her could really drag me into the book. It was just too weird and disturbing for my mind.
OVERALL: 3 stars. Not for me but maybe it could be a better fit for some other adults who are more into weirdness and can deal with issues such as child abuse and inappropriate language. I want to mention that the author is a child therapist and of course he has probably heard even stranger stories so maybe I'm just missing the whole point.
*Author proceeds of the books get donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children's Home Society of West Virginia. Link: http://www.childhswv.org/.
MINUS: I think I didn't get the story's point... it sure was entertaining but it felt empty. I didn't really connect with any of the characters, Lacy was the closest to a connection but not even her could really drag me into the book. It was just too weird and disturbing for my mind.
OVERALL: 3 stars. Not for me but maybe it could be a better fit for some other adults who are more into weirdness and can deal with issues such as child abuse and inappropriate language. I want to mention that the author is a child therapist and of course he has probably heard even stranger stories so maybe I'm just missing the whole point.
*Author proceeds of the books get donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children's Home Society of West Virginia. Link: http://www.childhswv.org/.
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