• Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Tahlia Newland

Editor, Author & Artist

  • Editing Services
  • Me & My Creative Life
    • My Books
      • Metaphysical Fiction
    • My Poetry
    • My Masks
    • My Hats
    • Permaculture, Forest & Garden
    • Performing Arts
  • Blog
  • Contact

Acid tripping metaphysical fiction: ‘Season of the Serpent’ by David Nova

November 15, 2013 by Tahlia Newland

Season of the Serpent (Book One)

Season of the Serpent is pretty much an acid trip. It starts reasonably normal and quite slowly as the author builds up Paul’s character. He’s just an ordinary guy going off to college, meeting another guy called Eric who turns out to be the Serpent and who tempts him into drugs. The story takes place during the cold war and details Paul’s transformation from naive freshman to someone with a vastly different view of the universe. The marijuana expands his perception and awakens latent abilities nurtured by forgotten extra-terrestrial visitations throughout his life. These otherworld beings have plans for him.

The story is written from the point of view of an omniscient narrator, and between the chapters of Paul’s exploits the narrator explains the truth about flying saucers, the politics behind the cold war and outlays a vision of a multi-universe. These sections are interesting if you’re interested in the subject matter, but if you aren’t, they may not hold your attention.

As the story progresses, we come to realise that in Paul’s world – supposedly our own – there are far deeper layers of existence than what we perceive. About half way through, the setting flips and Paul finds himself in a decadent realm of extra-terrestrials where he discovers that the earth is merely a simulation, a kind of game for the alien/gods. They are engaged in their own war, one that mirrors the two sides of the Cold War, and ultimately the battle between order and chaos.

This is metaphysical fiction, and the metaphysics were thought-provoking and, when Paul travels into mental worlds, visually interesting, especially at the end. The vision is of a hierarchical multiverse where a nuclear explosion on earth would also irreparably damage the other less physical realms, so everyone has a vested interest in stopping the bomb. Synchronicity is a reoccurring theme and the story links events in the extraterrestrial realm to events in the history of the time in our world.

There’s a lot of interesting ideas in this book, including one way of viewing the Christian story of Adam and Eve and the tree of knowledge, as well as some parallels with Alice in Wonderland. Even if you can’t quite follow the details you get a sense of a reality much vaster and more complex than we presently perceive, and as in all good metaphysical fiction, the ideas are integral to the story’s structure.

I felt that the long prologue was unnecessary, and quite likely off-putting for some due to it’s telling style of writing. It would also have limited appeal to anyone not familiar with Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. I think it would have been better as an appendix, a kind of optional extra.

Though it has some lovely phrases and the author clearly has great potential, the prose, though more immediate in the second half of the book, would be much more engaging had the author shown the story rather than told it.  In general, the ideas were well expressed—mind you, I am used to such concepts—but I feel the plot became somewhat confused and a little repetitive after Paul arrived in the extraterrestrial realm and before his ‘testing’. I suspect that this is largely because I found the strange names hard to remember and differentiate. The end is unexpected. It leaves me wanting to read the next installment. I am interested to see where the author could go from there.

I recommend it for old hippies interested in physics or metaphysics, particularly those pertaining to the nature of the universe. I particularly liked this description of the physical universe: “a perpetual unfolding, multidimensional manifestation of living consciousness.”

I really like the cover too.

4 stars.

PS. One of the other Awesome Indies reviewers thought  there was way too much  telling  rather than showing in this and gave it 2 stars. I, however, thought this a stylistic choice rather than poor form and gave it 4 stars. The prose could certainly have been more engaging, particularly in the first half of the book, but for me, the good aspects outweighed the bad.

This book breaks some rules and it works for me, but clearly not for others. One thing that is clear is that it’s for metaphysical fiction lovers.  I suspect that if you aren’t into metaphysics, you simply may not get this book at all.  Some love it and some hate it; those who love it understand the beauty and depth of the ideas, and these are not made up ideas, as with all true metaphysical fiction there’s a complete system of thought at its core.

I’m pretty sure that those who will most appreciate this book will either have been born before 1960 or had parents who played Pink Floyd and talked about what it was like to live during the cold war. For anyone else it could simply be nonsense, but you could take a risk because the metaphysics are interesting and it’s only 99c. If you read it, come back and leave a comment. Let me know what you think.

Buy now. It’s FREE until Nov 18th

Kindle US

Kindle UK 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: metaphysical fiction, Reviews, Science Fiction Tagged With: Book Review, metaphysical fiction

« Moving & thought-provoking women’s fiction: ‘The Widows To Do List’ by Stephanie Zia
A charming autobiographical travel story: ‘Rupee Millionaires’ by Frank Kusy »

Comments

  1. Terri Bruce says

    November 16, 2013 at 2:15 pm

    You had me at “Dark Side of the Moon” 🙂 This book sounds very interesting (despite the fact that I am not a 1960s hippie). I’m adding it to my TBR pile! 🙂

    • Tahlia Newland says

      November 16, 2013 at 2:54 pm

      I just got feedback from two more Awesome Indies reviewers to say that is it definitely not for the Awesome Indies site, but it’s free, so if you can’t get past the ‘telling’ you can just stop reading.

Trackbacks

  1. Extraordinary: Season of the Serpent Book 2 by David Nova. | Tahlia Newland says:
    December 28, 2013 at 10:35 am

    […] just follow it in sense of time, it complements it in terms of ideas. Book one (see my review here) focused on the realm of Chaos; this one introduces us to the realm of Order, and it is as twisted […]

  2. A Vast Vision With Well Thought Out Metaphysics: A Review of 'Season of the Serpent - Book Two' by David Nova - Awesome Indies says:
    January 4, 2014 at 5:31 am

    […] just follow it in sense of time, it complements it in terms of ideas. Book one (see my review here) focused on the realm of Chaos; this one introduces us to the realm of Order, and it is as twisted […]

Search

Recent Posts

  • Fantasy Book Review: The High Priestess by Val Tobin
  • Book Genres – What you Need to Know.
  • How to See Edits in Word Documents
  • Finding an Editor You Can Trust
  • Review of ‘The Guild Codex Spellbound Series’ by Annette Marie

View Posts by Category

Writing a novel? Feeling overwhelmed? Get new insight and inspiration with my FREE Novel Revision Checklist. 

DOWNLOAD  NOW

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Free Book Download  
Get Lethal Inheritance free when you sign up to my new release email list.  I won’t share your details and you can unsubscribe at any time.

My Latest Books

  • Fallout: Recovering from Abuse in Tibetan Buddhism
  • The Elements of Active Prose: Writing Tips to Make Your Prose Shine
  • The Locksmith's Secret
    Rated 5.00 out of 5

Alliance of Independent Authors

Alliance of Independent Authors

Click HERE to see all my books.

Books
Reviews, Writing, Cats & Contemplation
Editing

Click HERE to subscribe to my newsletter and get my fantasy novel Lethal Inheritance FREE. 

How to Meditate – the crucial points

See more

Hi I’m Tahlia Newland

I can help you express yourself and share your story with the world.

 

Do you want to write a really good story and have it professionally polished and published?

As an editor, I help you be the best writer you can possibly be. I strengthen your voice, support your vision and can assist you all the way to publication.

On my blog you’ll find book reviews, writer’s tips, contemplative articles on meditation and working with your mind, and occaisonally pictures of my Burmese cats.

If you’re interested mostly in my contemplative articles then  Sign up to the Living in Peace & Clarity Newsletter to get those articles delivered by email. And check out the resources on my Living in Peace and Clarity Page.

I do a lot of community work involving blogging and general support for Buddhist students processing revelations of abuse in their spiritual communities.  Please consider supporting me to continue this work.

Occiasonally, when inspired and not too busy with community work, I make masks.

All my books are

Visit my Mask & Steampunk Accessories Shop

2015-03-19 15.46.12
Blue Burmese
Like cats in stories? Check out my books. And click the photo to read the cat colomn.

Click Here for More Articles in This Series

Book reviews – sci fi, fantasy, literary fiction, Buddhist fiction and related non-fiction

Fantasy Book Review: The High Priestess by Val Tobin

Fantasy Book Review: The High Priestess by Val Tobin

The High Priestess: Persephone’s Return is the third book in Val Tobin’s Tales from the Unmasqued World Series, and in it she deepens and expands the stories from the previous two book. The book has two central story arcs based around characters we’ve met before. One arc follows Kelsey (a human) who is with Josh […]

More Posts from this Category

My gorgeous Burmese cats

Renovated Website & Cute Cat Series

Renovated Website & Cute Cat Series

Yesterday I did a photoshoot for my renovated website. Take a look around, particulary at the home page (Click on my name at the top to go there). It’s designed for editing clients with my books secondary because I need to focus on the part of this publishing business that actually earns me more than […]

More Posts from this Category

Seven of my novels have an Awesome Indies Seal of Excellence

Four of my books earned BRAG Medallions

I abide by the ethical author code

I'm an Ethical Author
Alliance of Independent Authors

Copyright

All material on this website is under copyright to Tahlia Newland and cannot be shared without written permission.

  • Editing Services
  • About Me
  • My Books
  • My Masks
  • Blog
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 · Amoré Theme by Oh, Hello Designs on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

FREE Novel Revision Checklist

Written a book? Need some help reviewing and revising it? Download my Novel Revision Checklist for step by step guidance.  

DOWNLOAD NOW

no thanks

{"cookieName":"wBounce","isAggressive":false,"isSitewide":true,"hesitation":"120","openAnimation":false,"exitAnimation":false,"timer":"","sensitivity":"","cookieExpire":"7","cookieDomain":"","autoFire":"","isAnalyticsEnabled":false}

Please note: I am closed for holidays from Christmas day until Jan 30th 2023. Dismiss