Customer Reviews

Transubstantiate

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thomas's plot is very unique and his distinctive voice blends gritty and choppy language with crisp exposition. He jumps through a fragmented time line as well as numerous narrators with ease. What I didn't care for was this book left so much to be explained. And if not explained, at least hinted at. By the end of the book there was a mountain of questions posed in the story that could not have possibly been answered with the few remaining left. I don't need to be spoon fed everything but I needed more than what I got. Without spoiling the book, a few questions I had were things such as, if the island so was well protected (as shown when Jacob tried running the fortified wall) how did Jimmy escape? And when he was trying to get back to the island, why not just reverse his steps? What trapped X on the island? Who were the women who collected a... uhhh... DNA sample from Gordon? What was Jacob's purpose? He was labeled as 'chosen' but by the end his contributions were fairly negligible. I also would have liked a bit more on X's sister. There was a lot of fertile ground for the teleporters. Overall I will be looking forward to Thomas's next book.

The bottom line is that Richard Thomas has got the goods.

For a debut, he goes balls out on this one: sizeable cast, jumpy timeline, complex story, but Thomas pulls this off seamlessly without it ever feeling disjointed or convoluted. He doesn't spoon-feed the reader. TRANSUBSTANTIATE will make you think, question, and come up with your own theories about what's happening/going to happen, and I loved that aspect of it.

Regarding the actual writing, this has a Stephen King feel, and that might have to do with the size of the cast and the syntax that Thomas has. Make no mistake, it's reminiscent of King, but Thomas has a voice all his own that is sure to stand out in neo-noir genre he is taking on. The thing that Thomas does very well in direct comparison to King is the economy aspect of storytelling. Thomas doesn't waste a word and doesn't sacrifice any of the on-the-body description or gritty scenery. He paces what could've been a slow and confusing novel in such a way that's easy to swallow and effective. Readers should eat this up.

Thomas has been pitching this book as something akin to "Lost." I agree with that wholeheartedly. Not just because we're on an island with a large cast, but also because Thomas seems to pose great questions in his narrative that just have to be answered by us, the reader, and so we keep pouring through to find those answers. Every character is polished and worth watching. Everyone is connected somehow.

I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of "Lost" or looking to try a different flavor of novel. Great debut. Thomas is definitely a guy to keep an eye on.

-Brandon Tietz

For me, and a few other writers who know Richard, Transubstantiate seems like the novel been around almost as long as we've known Richard. That's not to say it was written a long time ago, quite the contrary. No, it's through his enthusiasm and passion, energy and love for this novel, that Richard has ingrained Transubstantiate into my psyche forever.

By far one of the most uncompromising and determined writers around, Richard is gifted at prose as he is sincerely gracious. It's sickening, if the truth be told. With a very envious publishing career where he was the winner of the ChiZine Publications 2009 "Enter the World of Filaria" contest, and his short story "Maker of Flight" was chosen by Filaria author Brent Hayward and Bram Stoker Award-Winning editor Brett Alexander Savory, not to mention having a story published in Cemetery Dance, I can't help but feel inspired.

It'd be wise to see Transubstantiate as more the hors d'oeuvre before the main banquet, an appetizer of such allure it will make your mouth and stomach ache. It is the first of many, and the one that marks the beginning of a publishing career that will outlive most of us.

To whet your appetite, here is the official synopsis:

A neo-noir transgressive thriller about a man who has taken himself off the grid and punishes those that the law has overlooked or failed to prosecute. Altered and breaking apart, he follows orders while questioning the reality and motivation of those people that are in his life. A dark past filled with tragedy looms over him while he tries to embrace the ghost of Holly, his only female connection, under orders from Vlad, while taking care of his bedraggled cat, Luscious. At what point does he just end it all? Or does he stay in his role as judge, jury and executioner for the rest of his life?

Six people find themselves in a lone struggle against an alien (computer-generated?) entity known only as "Assigned" who has masterminded the almost complete elimination of human life in order to run God-like experiments on the survivors. Combining elements of neo-noir, science fiction, thrillers and social commentary, TRANSUBSTANTIATE confounds the reader's expectations through a story that is impossible to put down. I took extended lunches and stayed up way too late because of this book. If you're looking for a fresh and exciting voice in contemporary literature, look no further than Richard Thomas's debut novel. You will not be disappointed.

Richard Thomas knocks it out of the park with his debut neo-noir thriller. Seven characters roam a post-apocalyptic island in this one-of-a-kind ride, searching for absolution, redemption, or just plain survival.

Part Bradbury, part Cormac McCarthy, part Lost, TRANSUBSTANTIATE takes the reader on a careening, zig-zagging trek to a dizzying conclusion, and Thomas takes us inside the head of each character with unique first-person narratives from the viewpoint of all seven. Vivid imagery, violence, fear, and lust--TRANSUBSTANTIATE has it all.

When I finished, I could picture Thomas with a wicked grin and a glint in his eye, waiting to unleash another story on his readers. Big things are in store for Richard Thomas.

There's a lot to think on when it comes to this debut. It's bold, ambitious, and intimate all at the same time. Seven characters sending the narrative forward or backwards, giving you a glimpse at a world you can only hope doesn't come to pass. Each character can act as a sort of archetype but is entirely themselves, free from expectations. Nothing is easy, there are no simple answers, but at the same time, you'll enjoy the trip down the rabbit hole. I enjoyed every page, every character. There were no easy choices, no cliches, but every page felt fresh and well-worn at the same time. I tore through this book in no time, wishing I could forget what I'd just read so I could enjoy the experience all over again There are great things coming still from this author.

MILD SPOILERS *** READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!


Casual brutality, sex, and disorder: the heroes of noir have never been terribly endearing to the heart, but the seven nihilistic souls of Richard Thomas' Transubstantiate seem like they were born ruined, and are likely to die that way. The story draws heavily on all the beloved accouterments of the neo-noir tradition-- fractured narratives; cynicism; disorientation; ruthless beatings-- but the story branches out into other areas, exploring themes of mysticism and the unknowable, even broaching the peripheral terrors of Lovecraftian horror.

We follow our seven characters over the course of events in both real time and in flashbacks as they struggle for survival in the throes of exponentially-worsening disasters. If it's bad, it likely gets worse. Most of these people started off as convicted murderers; those were the good old days. There's the man who poisoned his cheating wife (Jacob); the woman whose sexuality seems to lead to someone's death just as often as gratification (Marcy); the ex-cop who carries out murders he considers "just" (Gordon). It all catches up to them, and soon our incarcerated antiheroes are thrown together and given what appears to be a second chance when they are chosen for a rehabilitation program on a remote island--except, it's not a rehabilitation program. It's a shadowy experiment. And how often do those turn out well?

Soon, a virus has swept over the planet, killing off most of humanity. That's not quite the bad news. With the world now in ruins, no one is at the wheel and society has run amok: bloodthirsty tribes and mad dogs roam the cities, and those not wishing to be killed (or worse) are forced to seek out safety underground. Meanwhile, back on the island, the situation is no less hopeless. Our characters, who have been forced at gunpoint by their captors to run a mock society and play pretend for the benefit of island newcomers, have but two options. Neither is terribly appealing: A) Escape to the mainland, the barbaric state of which they do not fully comprehend, or B) Remain on the island- a paradise, except that it is essentially an elaborate prison camp (hey, at least you can steal a view of the beach-- though do so at your own risk), and that the experiment in which they are trapped seems to have become a headless nightmare.

What is happening? The virus, the experiment, the charade on the island; is someone watching it all transpire, pulling the strings? That may be the character known as Assigned. The chief antagonist, Assigned's narrative thread is largely represented by nothing but a chilling readout of computer language and script logs; an abandoned program grown sentient, or something worse. Assigned is watching every move that's made on island, but who (or what) is it? A program gone haywire, or the tangible shard of some alien consciousness? Was mankind in collusion with dark forces? The character known as X seems to have an idea. In fact, he may even have been one such force; a manipulative mystic, spiritually (but not morally) enlightened, possibly inhuman, and acting as something of a psychic warden at the behest of those running the experiment. Willingly, of course. X is furthering his own agenda; this makes him somewhat detached from the plight of mankind, despite that he's probably the best shot it now has for survival. His powers are shamanistic in nature-- mental projection, healing, divination. His true motives are unclear. Is X an agent for humanity's evolution, or the harbinger of its collapse?

Though the plot is a veritable straitjacket of mysteries, the telling is lean, even spare: this book is brisk, wicked, and blood-soaked. In fact, the story reads much like a 200-page climax- Thomas' writing is always on the move, always frantic, surging forward essentially without pause, all while maintaining an intricate weave of narrative threads with deceptive ease. Our heroes may play to a familiar type- they are selfish avengers, benumbed by blood and tragedy into a final, jagged archetype of skewed morality that goes unchallenged by even the most earthshaking developments- but the backdrop of sci-fi pulp keeps everything fresh and unpredictable: otherworldly shock troops materialize out of thin air. Teleportation devices lie hidden in caves. Microchip implants. Ancient relics. Anthropomorphic animals. There is, in fact, a sense that the plot machinery of Transubstantiate runs deep, and has likely ground up many lost souls before these. In a way, this validates its corrosive noir cynicism. The story's true depth and scope are likely known only to X, and he's not exactly the sharing type. And so the cause of it all lies largely outside the reach of the unenlightened.

Still, the theme of biological evolution appears more than once during the course of the story. It's suggested that human potential has not been reached, and it's implied that the powerful X may be using the island and its inhabitants to engineer his own Eden- a vision of the future of humanity, of what it could become. If that's the case- if these survivors are destined to evolve- let's hope they learn to control their ids a bit. As it stands, it seems like one X per planet may be enough.

Richard Thomas has written a rich, multi-character, time shifting, post-apocalyptic mystery that kept me guessing until the very end. Very Strong debut. I look forward to more from him.

Michael Sonbert, author of The Never Enders

There's a lot to love about this book.

Mysterious experiment on a strange island? Check.

Multiple characters with distinctive, equally engaging stories? Check.

One non-human character that speaks in computer language that still manages to creep me out? Oh yeah.

The characters in Transubstantiate all want the same thing. They want out. What they want to escape from differs from character to character, from the mischevious nympho protecting her son to the man whose struggle seems be his own supernatural capabilities. And even though they are ultimately looking out for their own best interests, they may have more in common than they think. Each character is part of their own compelling story, but each story also manages to build upon the larger mystery that threads through the novel.

Thomas writes in beautiful, noir-ish prose that simultaneously brings scenes to life with visceral clarity while also establishing character and theme. If you love sentences, you'll definitely love Transubstantiate.

I will be reading it again soon, just because it's one of those books that compels you to come back.

I have a great deal of respect for fiction where the author essentially plants a foot on your ass and shoves you out the door without explanation. Things will happen, exciting things by in large, and you must adapt and figure it out as you go. It's takes a certain kind of guts to even try this, let alone pull it off successfully.

Transubstantiate is chocked full of risk. It's told from multiple, very different perspectives, one of them not even human. It sits at an odd intersection between multiple genres. It doesn't hold your hand through any of it either.

And I read it very fast, because it was all so vivid and exciting. Many parts are almost breathtakingly odd.

You should read this book. It's so hard to summarize that the best description I can think of is, "It's the opposite of boring."