BOOK REVIEW: THE BOY WHO SPOKE TO STARS BY BEN MILES.

‘Forget everything you’ve ever learned about the stars and they’ll once more be
transformed into angels, or into children, or into whatever you want to believe
at that moment. It won’t make you more stupid – after all, it’s only a game.’
– Paulo Coelho

This book commences with this wondrous and thought-provoking quote, of another well-known author; Paulo Coelho.

If taken heed, this quote is more than a quote – it not only is functioning as a piece of quotation, but as an advice. A stupendous advice to carry on – carry on with your life and your mind – whatever happens. Imagination, perception, stars, humans, life, universe, freedom, peace, angels – these words continually erupt  in the memetic brain of a homo sapien like me, when I try to rack my brain to decipher its intention or meaning.

Coming further to this book that I am going to touch upon in a nutshell, here are the awesome details:

BOOK: The Boy Who Spoke to Stars

AUTHOR: BEN MILES 

EDITION: © 2014 (FIRST EDITION)

PAGES: 267

HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO READ: 2 DAYS

PLOT SUMMARY:

This book unfolds a very tantalizing, wondrous, and a  magical tale  that revolves around a family – especially between two kids; a 13-year-old Kasper and a 14-year-old Loki. Both are cousins. Their lives were going normal until Kasper’s elder brother Edmund dies in a very tragic accident, and then their lives take over a new leaf – where they glean a lot of things. Kasper is a very innocent and a normal boy until after 4 years of his elder brother’s death, he incessantly blames himself and constantly encounters nightmares in his slumber. Those nightmares haunt him, but who knew they’ll become real one day?  Loki fell asleep almost instantly; her body willing her to rest, to escape … whatever was needed. Kasper could hear her slow breathing in the darkness. He wondered how they’d ended up deep inside the cliff, running from whatever that thing outside was … and as he lay there, waiting for slumber to come to him, three words kept repeating in his head … arrested, abducted, murdered … the list of their vanished parents. All gone in separate ways.

Somewhere in the dark the truth was waiting. And the stars were watching.

The Boy Who Spoke to Stars is the first book in a trilogy. It is about death, secrets and forgiveness. The story follows kasper and Loki as they learn a shocking truth about their parents and uncover an ancient war…

CHARACTERS: While this tale revolves around two main characters dubbed as Kasper and Loki, both are cousins and their bond is more powerful than anything one can ever imagine. Their stars are connected, their lives are connected. Then, there are Kasper’s parents Rose and Solomon, both geniuses of their own departments. Rose is an astrophysicist, something we get to know about later in while devouring the book – and Solomon is seen as an engineer – but let me tell you, they both aren’t normal people preoccupied with their fields, but they have hidden an ancient secret in their hearts that is found later by their kid, Kasper. We are also introduced briefly to Kasper’s elder brother Edmund, who seems a very friendly, responsible and a sensible young fellow – someone Kasper admired too much and then blames himself for Edmund’s tragic death. Loki’s parents are Gus and Pippa – Gus being a well-known Psychiatrist. The tale takes a bad turn during the days when Kasper is continuously haunted by some strange nightmares, and a psychological tendency in him to continuously hear an inner voice blaming him for his brother’s tragic demise 4 years ago – and then one day when the eclipse arrives, Kasper’s dad suddenly vanishes; leaving Kasper in one of his 2nd fear and he treks upon a new path. The story goes on and on, people get murdered on his path, while he and Loki team up and befriend a new stranger called Tenro, who strangely knows everything about the kids’ and their parents’ lives and discloses a few of the ancient secrets and their parents’ guilt of past that leads both of them into different circumstances, and they experience often threatening and often spiritual moments. Then we meet some other characters, that I also truly grew fond of.  And who can forget the unknown, unseen monster called The Gloaming? He protects the stars and lives of humans, too. In this book, we are also confronted with sacrificial aspects of life. This incredible tale is worth reading and gripping! The other things are for the readers to discover!

WHAT I LIKED: I loved almost everything! This book contains its own unique beauty in its texts. 🙂

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: Nothing at all! 🙂

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

The story beautifully portrays the pulchritude of nature, of stars and of our universe as a whole.  The author has left no stone unturned for us to not wonder, with our tongue sticking out slightly from the side of our mouth – as we delve deep into the truth of life, of fantasy – mingled with science-fiction. This is the first ever novel of Ben Miles, and a written proof to his breathtaking imagination, mingled with spicy scientific vocabulary and reflects his love for nature. I must congratulate Ben Miles for winning my heart over this magnificent work. It leaves the reader speechless, and persuades in a lovely manner to flip the pages again and again, in a desperate attempt to unlock the upcoming hidden happenings.

Another best thing about this book is that it is a young adult novel, with a huge touch of realism, psychology, beauty, astronomy, ancient mythical aspects – and the way it induces those subtle elements of life into a reader’s own imagination. The use of imagery in this book is first rate! It made the story and its characters alive in front of me, as if I can hear their screams, their hidden thoughts and powers. It is a multitude of tales, two paralleling worlds embrace us – and for once, we are lost in a deep ocean of wonder and awe. It also unravels a truth hidden in ourselves – about death, of life, of triumph, bliss and dystopic and spiritual awakenings. While there for a moment I used to froze and giggle at the thought of being inside a stodgy guard’s body and inside some animal’s body – the ending chapter, of wreckage of a building made me cry onto my pillow.  Indeed, I always held the belief that we all are made of stardust. 

THIS BOOK SHOULD BECOME AN EPIC BESTSELLER AND A MOVIE!  CANNOT WAIT FOR ITS NEXT PARTS!!

I won’t unleash much about what occurs in this brilliant piece of literature – as that should be left for the dear readers to unlock. 🙂

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION FOR EVERYONE!!!!! THIS BOOK IS EVEN MORE PRECIOUS THAN TIME ITSELF! IT IS TIMELESS, AND ABSOLUTELY WORTH THE READ! 🙂