One of the finalists for the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, Alan Averill’s The Beautiful Land is a fast-paced fantasy romance about two people who are desperately in love. Tak O’Leary and Samira Moheb are in love, but they seem unable to admit this to one another. Fortunately, there’s a time machine buried in the desert…
At heart, The Beautiful Land is a good old-fashioned love story, just with time machines and mysterious corporations thrown into the mix. Tak and Samira are engaging and somewhat unlikely protagonists, helping to make this a memorable novel that stays on the right side of the line dividing quirky from annoying. As they struggle to find the ‘beautiful land’ of the book’s title, they discover that powerful forces stand in their way.
The Beautiful Land could have easily spiralled out of control into an over-complicated mess, but thankfully Averill holds it together and keeps the pace up while never forgetting to bring a sense of humour to the narrative. This is ultimately a touching and powerful tale of memory, redemption and love, and a rare chance to read a new take on that old tale of boy meets girl.
Star rating for The Beautiful Land: 4 stars.
> Available from Amazon.
> Rating system: 5 stars (excellent); 4 stars (very good); 3 stars (good); 2 stars (fairly good); 1 star (bad); 0 stars (awful).
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