Review 104: Exaltations by Richard Garfinkle

Exaltations
by Richard Garfinkle
Lulu.com
Copyright: © 2009
$40.80 Hardcover
270 Pages
ISBN: 9780578023625

I was excited to receive a hard copy of Richard Garfinkle’s Exaltations in the mail to read and review because it is the first hard cover book I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing produced from Lulu.  The physical quality of this book is outstanding so I’d like to share a few of my own photos of it for other authors who might be considering a hardcover edition of their own work.

The cover art itself is some of the best I’ve seen for a self-published work: a current century man in the company of some historical characters that seem to be coming to life out of a mosaic.  The book’s dust jacket is a fine glossy stock despite that infamous white line at the bottom that I myself had trouble with last year, and the lack of use of space on the book’s spine.  The author and book name on the spine are tiny.  But the inside flaps are flawless and include a color photo of the author along with the publisher’s imprint and a few illustrations. Removing the jacket reveals a nicely bound black book with the author’s name and the book title embossed in gold on the spine. Such detail and quality must come with a price tag though.  The book is listed at $40.80!

The story itself follows Peter Refton who is a “hunter of human lives.”  But Peter is not a killer.  He’s a biographer and somewhat of a time traveler as he journeys to different worlds in history and literally collects the life stories of several lesser known people who might have been responsible for shaping our history books.  There’s the brave knight of reformed Charlemagne’s army, a wise man who was responsible for China’s expansion and control, a lovely sorceress, and twin warriors.

The storyline is a maddening twist of Stephen King’s The Drawing of the Three and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.  When the tables are turned and it’s Peter’s life story that becomes the huntee, he uses his character collection to help him defeat what is known as the “Quest.” Although I’m not a big fan of reading fantasy, Garfinkle shapes a plot that is definitely worthy of the handiwork that went into putting such a beautiful book together.  He doesn’t clutter the story itself with too many minor details that end up making many stories of this genre top 500 pages.  His words are very tight and precise and push the story to its limits almost as fast as his main character moves through time…

The Story had promised them all knowledge, but he did not have all knowledge to give. The lies of the story echoed throughout the far-flung group Quest had tried to snare. They all head and knew that a voice was speaking deception to them. They would hear it and know it as a faithless spirit.

Although the book suffers from the same mistakes that haunt many self published books such as spelling, spacing, and phrasing, there is one detail to the body of text that I found distracting.  The book is divided into traditional chapters but then the chapters are also divided into various passages.  Several passages throughout the whole book are introduced with headings like [ACCEPTANCE] or [REJECTION] or [ACCEPTANCE AND REJECTION].  To me, they made me think I was actually reading a biography manuscript and that these were editor’s notes.  They served no real purpose to the story itself for me and only took up space.

With a good polish and tightening the body of the book, I think Richard Garfinkle would have a real winner with Exaltations.  Of course, there is also that heavy price tag to consider which is why I’m giving one lucky reader out there the chance to get a free copy.  If you’d like my hardcover edition of of this book, post a comment on this review.  One lucky person will be picked at random.  The winner will be announced August 31st.  U.S. Residents only.

Read the first chapter of Exaltations here!