Book Review: Children of Na by A. L. Burgess Jr.

In case you were wondering, Na is a universe from far, far away and a long, long time ago. Silas is an i-Na, which means "created for the Na".

Now, that's out of the way. Let me tell you what I think about this book.

When I started reading this book, I had low expectations. The previous self-published book that I reviewed wasn't good and I didn't enjoy it so I psyched myself to not expect too much from this one. And so I was surprised when I got to the first few chapters. Man, it's good. Really good.

Children of Na is a combination of fantasy, science and historical fiction, spanning the Civil War era in Georgia and World War II times in Russia and Germany. It was like watching 12 Years a Slave and Enemy at the Gates at the same time. Which is great. I love World War II films. Civil War-themed movies, not so much because it upsets me. But having two of these themes in the book makes it exciting, gripping (really gripping, I tell you), awe-inducing, and well, depressing.

When you combine two very different genres into one book or one movie, it seldom succeeds. Most of the time, it doesn't blend well. The amazing thing is, this is one of the few times that it does. I didn't have a problem with the alternating voices of Silas and Yakob or the fact that a Negro slave can invent a space and time traveling machine. Burgess just makes it believable. He makes it fun to read, to discover how these two characters were going meet and save each other.

There were parts of the book that I skimmed a little -- the parts where Silas was making the machine which he used to teleport through time/space. I couldn't picture it in my mind because it's so bizarre and freaking high technology. But that's just me. Anyone who enjoys science fiction or is a chemistry/physics/biology nerd will highly enjoy this book.

But Children of Na not only excites or amazes. It can also be heartwarming. I love Yakob's friendship with the German doctor, Wernher von Braun. It's unlikely for a Russian and a German to struck a friendship during World War II but being both men of science, they found common ground. Von Braun was sympathetic and condones slave labor and the whole idea of Aryans being the supreme race. And having read a few history books and watching Valkyrie, I know that men like Von Braun existed. (Found out from my boyfriend that Von Braun actually existed in real life and he's credited as the Father of Rocket Science. So, Burgess actually included a few true-to-life details here and there.)

Of course, Children of Na is also a sad story. A Negro slave's life can never be fun, right? But Silas's life, it's even more depressing. I won't tell you how his story ends though. You have to read it and I think you'll enjoy it.

For a debut novel, Children of Na was really a surprise. A. L. Burgess did a great job. I hope he continues to write great, unconventional stories like this.

Check this out to see how you can get your own copy of Children of Na.

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