Customer Reviews

The Starfish People

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Plot/Storyline: 4 Stars

This is one of those novels hard to pin down to a specific genre. It is almost science fiction, almost fantasy, and almost drama. The story is told from three different viewpoints: Lissa, the `previous self', Willie, a homeless man in the past, and Sera, the woman living in 2205.

The science involved is the big weakness in this work. The explanations given for various portions are scientifically so weak as to suggest no research was done at all. At the end, the science is bent even further to achieve the author's goals. As much as I don't like a lot of scientific detail, I do like to have it at least make some sense.

The storyline flowed very well. The switching of viewpoints was nicely done with appropriate people telling the relevant portions of the story. The author keeps the reader interested throughout, never resorting to contrived foreshadowing.

I also enjoyed the way the new technology in 2205 was introduced. The reader is shown new devices through the storyline without being lectured. The future is very believable, with the exception of the time travel device itself.

Character Development: 5 Stars

The three main characters were wonderfully drawn. Lissa was an unlikable person, yet still interesting. Sera was fun to read about in the future because of the world she lived in and in the past because of her reactions to things. Willie was a heavily sympathetic character while still being completely realistic.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

This portion is where the author excels. Her story telling style is almost a 'stream of conscience' type event in portions. It took me a page or two to get used to it the first time the story switched to Lissa, as it felt a bit rushed after reading from Sera's viewpoint. However, it definitely fit the character.

The narrative voices of each character were wonderfully distinct. The dialogue was realistic. The descriptions were precise and vivid.

Editing/Formatting: 4 1/2 Stars

The editing was of commercially published quality. The formatting did have one issue where lines would break off to the next line in the middle. This only occurred rarely throughout most of the novel. However, there was a portion toward the end where it occurred through almost an entire chapter.

Rating: PG-12 for Adult Situations and Violence

After years of being haunted by a recurring nightmare where she is drowning, Sera Muir's life is an empty shell. The nightmare is unrelenting and repeated therapy has proven to be unsuccessful. Sera moves through life without meaning, unable to hold anything more than a menial job. Her one promising relationship for love and happiness is doomed due to her water phobia caused by her all consuming dream.

Sera is convinced by Dr. Moore, her therapist, that perhaps her dream is not a dream but rather a memory - a memory of a drowning in a previous life. In the year 2202, science has advanced such that one has the ability to trace their life energy signature back in time.

However, for her journey to be successful, Sera must be extremely careful to only observe events of the past and not interfere with them or the result may be catastrophic. Desperate for finding meaning and searching for a way forward, Sera agrees. Ironically, after traveling back to 1973, for perhaps the first time in her life, Sera is anything but an observer.

The Starfish People by Leann Marshall is a beautifully written novel. The characters are marvelously developed and lovingly conveyed to the reader as if paying tribute to their tragic lives. I was moved by each of them and haunted by the bittersweet ending. Marshall's insights into the human condition are thoughtfully written. One of my favorite quotes comes from Willie:

"Maybe you understand why somebody is the way they is, and maybe you don't understand them at all. But folks all got their own ways about them - good and bad. And that's all there is to it in this life, you know. We all just trying to find our way."

It is only through her past, that Sera finds her way.

Not only did I enjoy reading this novel, but I found myself frequently thinking about it's characters, themes, and what might have been, making it clear to me why this novel was awarded a 2008 IPPY Silver Medal. This is an extremely good debut novel and Marshall proves she is a very capable author.

Leann Marshall's "The Starfish People" is such a wonderful writing, (recognized for excellence as the Independent Publisher Books Awards' Silver Medal Winner); one must ask just what it was that could have possibly won the gold? A truly compelling read leaving behind an "energy signature" all its own. Enjoy *****__John E. Cashwell

While it isn't unusual to experience recurring dreams over intervals of time, it is unusual for them to nightly--from a point back as far as can be remembered--shake us awake from a wet and inky darkness gasping for air. Theories abound concerning such persistent dreams and most of them point to unresolved matters in our conscious and subconscious mind (past and present) that are trying to get our attention. But what about back in time farther than is comfortable to fathom, much less reach?
Enter Sera, the protagonist in first person, nearly 200 years into the future. She's an exhausted, withdrawn, under-achiever frazzled from lack of sleep and ready to pull the plug on years of therapy with her trusted doctor who is trying to help her understand and stop the nightmare cycle.
In The Starfish People, Leann Marshall places us into an evolved world where food is primarily a diet from the sea, clothing and adornment is a sprayed-on light show, and shelter remotely resembles a gigantic and more-complex London Eye. There are light cars, biometrics, energy signatures, and time travel. Then again, there are the constants of family, friends, and relationships not fully realized or expressed.
When her forward-thinking doctor recommends a last, radical experiment with a narrow window of time that may transport her patient to the actual origin of her nightmare, Sera makes ready to step into the past.
In a small North Carolina town on the Atlantic shore she seeks to encounter her former self and accomplish what she must. A cast of characters present themselves a chapter at a time taking the reader deeper and deeper into the person of Sera and her world. Time and people lap and overlap as naturally as waves on the shore, revealing a well-thought out plot with plenty of drama, tension, and surprises.
Leann Marshall has a lively imagination with good attention to detail and a knack for the interesting and unexpected. The Starfish People captured my attention and held it for nearly nine hours as I flew across its setting--the inky dark Atlantic.

I found this time travel fantasy story to be refreshingly creative and an especially engaging read. Set in the future, the young main character, Sera suffers from constant and horrible nightmares of drowning. Her therapist tells her that she is reliving a real death experience in a past life. Wanting her to confront this time and hopefully end the nightmares the therapist convinces Sera to travel back into time to witness the actual death of the entity she used to be.

The future as described in the book and the character development are what I found to be most clever and entralling. I became engrossed in the characters and their stories as they related to Sera in her time travel-they seemed so real as did the whole story! I found that I cared for and had emotions for these characters! I read the book in one sitting and was captured from the first chapter to the last line. The author, Leann Marshall, is a master at taking the reader from his/her time and space to hers!

Leann Marshall has crafted a fascinating story of life, death, and time travel with her novel, "The Starfish People." Follow Sera as she travels back in time to find the reason for the horrific dreams that continually haunt her. Marshall's conversational writing style effortlessly brings her characters to life, allowing the reader to experience the world - past and future - through the eyes of these characters. You won't want to put this science fiction thriller down!

I grew up reading many of the nebula/award winning short stories from the 60's to the present. The writing itself was of high quality and ideas new and absorbing. I keep returning to the images. E.g. ...am so happy sea kelp is not in my life!

The beginning of the story was fascinating and a glimpse into a vision of a very different future. The details were sharp (if not always scientifically valid) and I could vividly picture the kelp-filled meals and holiday entertainment.

Then the main character (Sera) was transported back in time to attempt to resolve her recurring dream of drowning and I lost all interest in this book (though I did read it to the end). The only mildly interesting character was the hobo, but I felt no attachment to Sera's previous incarnation (Lissa) or the family. The characters were one-dimensional and I felt a complete lack of empathy with both Sera and Lissa. The conversations often felt stilted and the language felt awkward. To close it all up, the ending time travel science was hollow and gimmicky, like the author made a last minute change regarding how the "essence" detection worked.

I feel like I'm missing some great element of this book based on the other reviews, but I can't bring myself to read it again...

I definitely regret this purchase and would not recommend it to others.

Certainly one of the best short novels I have ever read. It defies classification, and is a gripping and engaging read with depths of character and plot twists normally found in a much longer book. The ending is an emotionally wringing combination of agony and joy. If they don't make a movie out of this, the film-making community is truly missing an incredible opportunity.

I've read this book a few times and each time I read something new. Some of the visuals I get while reading the book come back into my thoughts days later. I LOVE time travel books and science fiction; this book really satisfied both of those loves for me. Plus it has really interesting characters. I really liked this book.