science fiction

The Piaculum - Richard Gray Book Review

Enter a review
of your own!
Other books by
author Richard Gray

"The Piaculum"
Message Board
Richard Gray Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR: Harriet Klausner

SCHOLARS:
Richard Gray  
Would you like to be a scholar and make five dollars per review? Click here to submit a review!
Review Summaries
" iUniverse, 2003, 14.95, 207 pp. ISBN: 0595303013 In a cave, two men find the remnants of a long dead civilization that left behind three “holy” books. One of them interpreted the message as God sent his son to save the human race. The other person insisted that the Words meant that the second coming of the Son needed saviors to sacrifice to atone for sins. Several millenniums after their hallowed excavation, mankind has evolved into two predominant cultures, of which both share in common beliefs in the Words of God stated in the book of testaments. While the Mone share the sacred words amongst all members of their society, the Kathe insist only priests are capable of understanding the Words. The Kathe seek those born with the white-mark so that the males can be converted into Piaculums and the females sacrificed during “The Week of Blood” as a means to ascend to heaven. The Kathe abduct Mone farmer Cearl because he has the white-mark. He offers little resistance hoping to keep his son protected from the grotesque alteration. Harriet Klausner "
Harriet Klausner, Resident Richard Gray Scholar

"Set in the distant future, the story takes place on a desert landscape where a group of Christians called the Mone and a blood worshiping cult known as the Kathe are ensnared in religious tension. The Kathe believe that salvation can only be achieved by drinking blood from men born with a rare skin condition known as the white-mark. The novel follows the life of Cearl, a man with the white-mark born to a group of poor Mone farmers. Cearl has a good life with a wife and two children he deeply loves, but he finds himself consumed by memories of being tortured by the Kathe as a child, as well as an overwhelming feeling that his god wants something from him. When a group of Kathe come to Cearl's village looking for human sacrifices, Cearl comes face to face with his childhood memories and makes choices that could destroy his life."
Richard Gray, Resident Richard Gray Scholar


Click above for the new Obama Girl Parody video!

Overall Review
Our unique search engine breaks down books and movies into
dozens of literary elements, all of which are searchable.
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 35%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 15%




Tone of book - sensitive (sigh....) - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Religious overtones? Yes
Cultural problems, alien culture Yes
Culture clash- - one culture tries to impose its culture on another group - one human from different culture of other humans
Intense exploration of society's culture? Yes

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - farmer
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male - society
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - religious figure
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount - an average amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
Terrain - Desert
Earth setting: - during "Tolkien" (fairytime) times - distant future
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment - explicit references to torture
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books by Gordonator ranking
The Ring Of Five Dragons by Eric Van Lustbader
Medalon by Jennifer Fallon
The Lion of Senet by Jennifer Fallon
Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
The Elder Gods by David and Leigh Eddings





Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
Try our new Star Wars & Star Trek puzzle pictures! Click here

Advertise with us
Feedback
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith plot spoilers
Hobbits
The politics game
The lawyer game

3 Movie search options!
1) Simple lookup
(title or author)

or
2) Detailed movie search
(click here)
or

3) One-click plot searches! Simply click on a plot below!

Animal Story

Clones

Coming of age

Cultural problems, alien culture

Explore/1st contact/ enviro story

Family relations

GIANT monster(s)

Horror story?

Inner Struggle

Lifeform altered?

Mental/magical powers focus

Parody

Political power play

Religious overtones?

Repressive society story

Robots, Computers, VR

Romance

Spying & Investigations

Tech./$$$/Info hunt

Time Travel story?

Training/Apprent.

War or Invasion


Games:
Trivia Masters!

Rescue your favorite
scifi characters from
slavery!


Talk to your favorite
scifi characters!


Eating New Yorkers
Computer Game


Pomeranians

Most recent TV & Movie discussions:

Charmed: Is Piper really a Halliwell? 11/13/2009 11:30:45 AM

Lord of the Rings: Why would Aragorn choose pig lips Arwen Evenstar over Eowyn? 11/12/2009 6:40:39 PM

Xena: 37 reasons why Xena and Gabrielle are... you know.... 11/12/2009 7:23:13 AM

A Boy and His Dog: A Boy and His Dog 11/11/2009 11:48:16 PM

Battlestar Galactica: Was Battlestar Galactica politically conservative? 11/1/2009 9:51:45 AM

Battlestar Galactica: Why were the Cylons so slow and thinking impaired? 10/31/2009 8:36:52 PM

Blade Runner: Blade Runner 10/22/2009 2:43:11 AM

Star Trek Enterprise: Jolene Blalock on T'Pol and Star Trek Enterprise 10/19/2009 2:48:46 PM

Charmed: If Piper Halliwell gets pregnant, can Leo give her an abortion? 10/3/2009 12:29:33 PM

Star Wars: Why did stormtroopers wear armor that didn't work against blasters? 9/30/2009 9:48:47 PM


Newest slaves:
Oola 10:46:26 PM
Princess Leia 10:42:57 PM
Queen Amidala/Padme (Natalie Portman) 10:41:44 PM
Typical Hollywood Actor (Waiter) 10:22:38 PM
Adam Sandler 10:22:15 PM
James Earl Jones 10:21:19 PM
Dan Aykroyd (Elwood Blues Brothers) 10:21:01 PM
Jimmy Stewart 10:19:14 PM
Kevin Bacon 10:16:36 PM
Burt Reynolds 10:16:12 PM
All slaves
(click here)


Celebrity interviews:
President George W. Bush 6:32:00 PM
Jan-Michael Vincent 2:16:51 PM
Captain Kathryn Janeway 3:47:46 PM
Jack ONeill (Richard Dean Anderson) 1:39:22 PM
Jennifer Aniston (Friends) 5:01:07 PM
All celebrities
(click here)