John Bowman's Cave

A book that demonstrates the power, perils and strength of love. It is a work of Fantasy, Science Fiction and Romance. It is imaginative, at times compelling, occasionally confusing. The main weakness from my point of view is the lack of character development. I was captivated by the story but was left wishing I had known more about the individual characters. Except for the main character, John Bowman, more information about the backstory of the secondary characters would have added to my enjoyment.

The driving force of the story is the fierce desire of Bowman to find his soulmate and wife, Caylen, who had walked out on him after they had reached a point of estrangement. During a prolonged, exhaustive and futile search he is involved in an accident that ends up mysteriously casting him into an alternate reality that most closely resembles a mixture of our middle ages and the interspecies world of Tolkien.

Bowman is now faced not only with a search for his wife but how to return to his native reality. In this strange new world he is labeled an Outlander, a dangerous designation to the natives in this reality. But he manages to fall in with a species known as the Rory who are more accepting than other groups.

He finds that, somehow, he has the ability to transport himself back to his native world - but not his original time. This is not a happy return. Bowman finds himself in the hands of a rogue police officer, Keemon, who transforms into the primary villain of the story.

The rest of the novel is a story of the contest between Keemon, looking to build himself a kingdom in this strange new reality, and Bowman, who has found Caylen who has undergone her own unique transformation and, indeed, a world he comes to love more than the one he left.

The struggle involves unbreakable loyalties, treachery, sacrifice, and battles large and small.

3.5/5

A book that glistens with reflections of Homer’s ODYSSEY, but has more of a sci-fi ambience. I was engulfed in the overall storyline where the protagonist, John, is caught between two universes after an untimely death-Animarl and his indigenous being of his former life. There are some interesting concept dispersed throughout the novel, particularly with tribalism and habitations.

Some of the key passages flowed smoothly, while others felt patchy. This affected the other developments throughout the story and stalled the overall characterization. It was still a serene adventure, meriting a marginal recommend.

This was a great suspenseful and spooky novel, it was really well written with interesting characters. I really felt that John was a great character and I enjoyed going on this journey with him. It was what I was looking for in both a horror novel and a great premise.