NOTE: A digital copy of this book was generously provided by Reedsy Discovery in exchange for an honest review. For more information about this book on Reedsy Discovery, click here.
Garth Jeffries’ debut novel is a whale-of-a-tale adventure on the rollicking high seas, blending science-fiction time travel with commentary on today’s working-ourselves-to-death society. Main character Peter Bois surfaces on a 19th century whaling ship with no recollection of how he arrived there, and spends the novel trying to return to modern-day Nantucket to redeem himself to the most important people in his life. It’s a critical mission he’s wholly unprepared for, and there’s much at stake beyond an enticing case of rum — although that will come very much in handy before he makes it back to shore.
The novel, while in need of careful editing and general refinements, supplies a fictional jump-start for a conversation about how many of us are living our daily lives. The story presents several questions some of us, like Peter, are not ready to answer. Are we truly living our most functional, beneficial lives? What choices must we make in order to secure long-lasting happiness and still provide a secure foundation for ourselves and loved ones? What do we walk away from in order to preserve the more important elements of our humanity? Peter Bois faces these questions and more throughout “Starbuck: Nantucket Redemption,” and is one of the lucky ones in finding his answers at the end of the novel.
Jeffries takes the sci-fi time travel genre through a sea portal, making good use of his main character to show that even the most seemingly irredeemable characters can turn themselves around when given the right motivation. Although some parts of the narrative suffer in terms of originality, the story is strong enough to float a much-needed issue to shore. At the end of the day, and ultimately at the end of our lives, we all benefit from changing our focus from greedy self-promotion to loving ourselves and our families in the purest way possible: by simply being there.
More reviews on the way; it’s been a busy reading season!
Always Reading,
Allison xoxo
{ pages for breakfast } 