Customer Reviews

Urn Burial (Plus)

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God, I read this book back in 1995, and I still remember it even to this day. So much time has passed since then and even now, I still had to get my hands on a copy of it.

Urn Burial tells the story of Ralph, a young Shepard who discovers a weird set of stones tombs left over from the days of the Romans. Upon a through inspection and some digging, he discovers the tomb of a cat like alien named "Prepoc," and something much more terrible beneath. After this discovery, Ralph then finds himself swept up in an intergalactic game of cat and mouse with two alien races determined to make sure that Ralph's discovery will stay hidden or become theirs.

Although I found all the supporting human characters to be one dimensional, the main character of Ralph I liked; And it's nice to read a book where the hero actually gets into a seriously deep mess that he himself was responsible for. The only trouble with characters I had was with the aliens.

Urn Burial I found was well written and in my mind, an under appreciated gem; but not without it's issues. The main problem I had with this book, where the aliens themselves. They're just so damn perfect. I'll tell you what I mean. It's latter revealed in this book that there is some sort of galactic federation that holds all sorts of alien race's that - I'm not making this up - managed to go from Stone age, to space age WITHOUT killing any of their own kind. They managed to evolve, master space flight, and time travel, before the human race could even get out of their caves without any sort of violent history that mankind experienced.

If I could talk to Mr Westall about his aliens, I'd paraphrase Oscar Wild here and tell him, "No chance you unreasonable DICK!" If you talk to ANYONE with at least a degree in Behavioural Science, they will tell you that with sentence, comes free will, and with free will comes both Good and Evil. The two main alien race's that are encountered in this book, the wolf like Wawaka and the cat like Fefethil, are just so damn perfect; fighting no wars among themselves no greed or ill will towards their own kind. And the fact that the evolved and sped forth in technology before mankind could even pull their pants up is just so laughable. It's because of this that humans are deemed the worse spaces in the galaxy; Although some still have hopes for humanity. Even thought that was back in '95, I can still vividly remember reading that scene and thinking "We did everything wrong, and you did everything right? BS!"

However they are still slightly flawed. They come across as supercilious, and ignorant, much like the God's of ancient Greece. This allowed me to put up with the unbelievability of them somewhat; like the Wawaka's utter contempt for humans as nothing more than talking animals and a young Fefethil girl wanting to keep Ralph as a pet. Maybe it went over my head back then, but I can't help but think if Mr. Westall was trying to make them out to be like the Gods of Ancient Greece or throwing off at High society? So damn perfect but flawed in their own little way.

Despite all that, I still managed to finish the whole book. Why? Because it's so damn fun, that's why. Talk to ANYONE who's read this book and they'll tell you that they had a great time reading it. Mr. Westall knows how to write a good book, if not believable aliens. Word of cation here, it might be a bit scary for younger readers as the big secret that both alien's are looking for leads to some rather disturbing scenes that results in the horrific death of one minor character.

If you're looking for a good Sci-Fi yarn with adventure and action, then look no further than Urn Burial. I strongly recommend that you buy this book. It'll be worth the investment.

Urn Burial is one of the best YA fantasy/SF novels I have read in over eighteen years of library work. It deserves to be a movie. The main character, a teenage boy in the Scottish Highlands, is believable and engaging. A series of increasingly bizarre events, which unfold parallel to his harsh and gritty everyday life, will capture the reader's attention immediately and keep it throughout. Your hackles will rise when the monster passes by...