Robert Coots

Sara's Quest

 Review

By M.N. Prather

Sara's Quest by Robert Coots

Sara's Quest, by Robert Coots, is a fine piece of young adult science/future fiction that will find fans of all ages. Although the main character, Sara Smith, is slightly younger than the heroine of the Hunger Games trilogy, fans of that work will do well to pick up Coots work, as they begin to look for a new, but similar read. Sara is a tough, resourceful, but still in many ways impressionable and vulnerable. Coots has done an excellent job of capturing the essence in any era of being a girl at a very difficult age, caught between childhood and the coming of the teenage years. After about the first ten pages, Sara ceases to become a mere character. For readers, she becomes someone they know mixed with aspects of their own lives. As readers come to know, trust and care for Sara, they will find themselves moving deeper and deeper into the world that Coots has created. Indeed, the more you read, the harder it becomes to put down, which of course, is the greatest of testaments to a well-written, engaging tale with well-crafted characters.

Sara is the main character and certainly the driving force of the tale, but Coots shines in his ability to turn a time and a place into a second, equally important character. For a science/future fiction novel to work, the author must be able to craft their world and time so carefully that the reader is able to suspend their disbelief and go with the flow of the story. Coots proves to be a master in this delicate dance between creating a future place that is yet to be, yet endowing it with enough recognizable effects of our current age to gain the reader's trust and belief. The author eases readers into his future place by focusing first on character, from there he takes small steps in revealing the future that Sara inhabits. In the end, the story's time and place are very believable. At the end of the book, readers will find themselves wishing for the next work by Coots and hoping for an adaptation to the big screen.

Product Details

Publisher:America Star Books Release date:August 15, 2011Language:English Product Dimensions:9 inches x 6 inches x 0.8 inches; 1.2 pounds Shipping Weight:1.17 pounds Number of Pages:360 pagesISBN-10:1462634001ISBN-13:978-1462634002