Customer Reviews

Zohra: The Planet of Truth and Knowledge

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

 

 

I've never read such a horrible novel in my life. Not only is it published by 1st Books, a vanity publisher, but it's chock full of grammatical errors. Obviously, this book wasn't cleaned by a copy editor (or any editor for that matter). The plot is nonsensical, cliché and just plain eye rolling. What's the crappiest science fiction plot you could envision? That's right, alien abduction! And guess what the big climax is...

(...)

You may have noticed that there are several high star reviews on this book. Surprise, surprise, that when you check out the reviewers, you find that this book is the only book they ever reviewed. They are obviously fake reviews set up by the author himself.

Shame on you Palazzo.

Your book could have been 100 times better if it were written by a monkey. a blind monkey, on crack.

The theme of this delightful novel is how technology is a subordinate to the notion of power. Zohrans, a species loosely based on the ants, have roamed the galaxy with their hyper-transport to seek exotic items in order to seduce the only female of their species, which makes her an all powerful Queen. The question raised in this novel is what happens when the humans come into contact with such a powerful technology. Palazzo offers different scenarios in Zohra: the Planet of Truth and Knowledge. The young Simon Lee buries the black box in a wooded area because he fears its potency. Adam Brook when in its possession uses it to secure his financial future and builds an international reputation with his fountain-of-youth concoction. An older Simon Lee is tempted again by the power of the black box but succumbs to it only temporarily. And when he renounces that power, he echoes a familiar voice with his cry of `he could have been somebody'. Palazzo only flirts with the idea of power and religion with Helen who resorts to prayers as a means to give herself hope and courage in her attempt to escape from her abduction. This is the most unsatisfying part of the novel. On the whole the novel would have benefited had it gone thorough a clean editing from a major publishing company. But this is a worthwhile attempt from a thinker who has shown a grasp of what the notion of power is all about. See the author's page on string of ideas.

Zohra: The Planet of Truth and knowledge is a well woven novel made up of four parts, each a tribute to a different style of writing that are often encountered in the genre literature. In part I, we are introduced to four high school students on a journey in which they will be tested as to their courage and bravery, with elements of the popular coming-of-age stories, avoiding the often predictable, by-the-numbers tearjerker. In part II, the story unfolds as fragments of a dazzling puzzle that jumps back and forth, which centers around two brothers and two themes, Jason's obsession of a power outage that occurs every year on June 23rd and his brother Adam's secrecy, which he has dubbed `The project of the Century'. Part III was written in the traditional suspense-mystery of a whodunit and why. The beautiful Helen has been abducted, while the world around Adam, who has turned himself into the famous Doctor-of-Youth, is coming apart at the seams. Part IV will rejoice the traditional fans of space opera whereby the reader is `hyper-transported' to the planet Zohra, an exotic planet that is ruled by a single powerful Queen and drones who seek out her sexual favours by bringing technologies from the four corners of the galaxy. The quest is to seek out from the Queen the release of the abducted Helen.

When Mark Julian asks Adam Brook, "Quit stalling, where's Helen?" the roof is about to fall on the famous health spa wizard. Besieged by an unexplained break-in, a missing needle, his old-time flame Vanessa, now a renown professor of biochemistry, a rich lawyer ready to buy him out with an outrageous offer, a brother to whom he has lied to for decades, and an alien Zaybu from Planet Zohra who doesn't seem to know where the `merchandise' is, Joseph Palazzo, in this tale of intrigue and of so many twists, brings the reader into the world of the mysterious and famous Doctor-of-Youth. Soon after, Mark and his best friend, the artist and karate expert Simon Lee, are `hyper-transported' to planet Zohra, where the Alien Zarrack, the minister of Truth and knowledge, is performing mind-probing experiments on the abducted Helen about a black box lost on Earth twenty-five years ago. This page turner is worthwhile of your time and money.

-"Imagine traveling anywhere you would want to by the simple flick of a button on a box the size of a TV remote (control)," writes author Joseph Palazzo. He turns this sci-fi prospect into reality in his new riveting novel, Zohra: The Planet of Truth and Knowledge (now available through 1stBooks).
In this fast-paced novel, Palazzo explores how a small, simple instrument could change the world. This magic box would eliminate the need for transportation, such as airplanes, cars and boats, and could eradicate thousands of jobs. It could destroy the world's security systems, making banks, government institutions and even private homes vulnerable to innumerable calamities.
When four young students find this magic box, left behind by aliens, they realize its power and potential for danger and bury it in nearby woods. Years later, the space portal falls into the hands of a biochemist, who strikes a deal with the aliens. He uses the box as leverage for a "fountain of youth" potion, and his health-spa business flourishes. However, one of the students accidentally learns of the incident.
The girl is kidnapped by the aliens and taken to the planet Zohra. Her friends rush to rescue her. What they discover is a fascinating planet of drones, organized like ants around one powerful queen.