7.24.2011 | 11:05

Binary: A Review

After discovering this awesome website from Eon's Books Read tab a couple of months ago, I have been chipper. I always had something to look forward to while my other phone is not so teemed with text messages or calls.

With a double-digit range of genre, I picked out Science Fiction. The pull came out of my boredom of romance and homophillic potions. The first e-book that I downloaded is entitled Binary by Jay Caselberg.

If you have a portable e-book reader, like a smartphone or Kindle, I suggest that you try downloading all the formats first to personally know the difference in character print and paging: which one works best and which one screws on the device. On my iPhone, the format .epub works best in the application called Stanza.

Binary is all about the effects of natural disasters to the human behavior and politics of a nation. The setting brings us to an unfamiliar planet, somewhere in the outer space where two suns rise at the same time and the seasons are governed by the intensity of each sun's brightness. In a sort of prologue, the setting starts at Clear Season, where the Major Twin is brighter than the Lesser Twin.

Of all the major characters, I liked Sandon Yl Aris the best. He was a victim of the bitter situation of having been banished from the camp of Principal Leannis Men Darnak, the man he served for almost all his life. Principal Men Darnak was not in a good state of mind when he sent out Yl Aris, his very loyal secretary and confidante. Working out his way back to the Principal's camp, he became a spy of all sorts to gather more information on the political instability that have been going on in the Guilds, proving his loyalty to the half-sane Principal.

We are confronted by the effects of religion and superstitious beliefs in this novel. The belief is, the Lesser Twin's dominance, the Storm Season, is a curse to humankind. People born on the Storm Season are stereotyped to suffer with cataclysm in the inner self. For this reason, the Principal's son, Tarlain, had become the most unpopular Men Darnak in their country. He too, was banished, after the Principal learned that he was doing something which sounded like a threat to the security of the Guilds. Tarlain used the Kallathik mines as a refuge after his father expelled and disinherited him at a wrong time --  the Return -- which is the start of the rude Storm Season.

Storm Season is indeed, a very nasty threat to life and security. Earthquakes of great intensity, biting cold, fog coupled rain -- these are a few of its tolls. It is a hindrance to good communication, and it is a test to the human spirit.

Several villains had the plan of ousting the current Principal and gaining control on the nation. With control, the natural resources are at stake.

The plot, the flow and the twist, all are hooking. Catharsis, however, received a little attention, for the author might have seen a little need for it. The supervening neglect of humans to nature is, to me, the major concern. 

I was reminded of a book I wrote several years ago (April of 2007) which is eerily similar to the twist in this book. Too bad, after reading this I thought of not giving my book an end. I was stuck at chapter seven. I know, when I have found myself a better interpretation. Binary is all it could have ever been.

20 comments:

  1. hmmmmp... i wanna read your book first green! hihi!!!

    I have a book naman Fermat's Last Theorem. Then it became so sci-fi that aliens are attacking us because a boy answered it! kaler!!!

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  2. Wil: Really? Hmm. It is written in cursive, and I got some paragraphs in pencil, even I can't read it na.

    Ikaw din pala may book. haha. naks sci-fi. pero sakin di naman sci-fi talaga. about politics nga yun eh.

    I wrote a massacre even before the Maguidanao bloodbath happened. Ganun ang story.

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  3. @joe: oh, creepy yun.. --- "i wrote a massacre even before the Maguindanao bloodbath happened."

    ako, ewan ko kung tatapusin ko pa yung sinulat ko na, a year after, eh nag air ang encantadia.. :|

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  5. My already long list of "to read" books is getting longer.

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  6. well written review, I think though you missed the Atavists and the Kallathik. I liked the 'love story' which fell short. I like this book ever aince you introduced it to me.

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  7. naks, special mention... lol, glad you found manybooks.net through me. i love it when people are reading, makes the world less lonely. :)

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  8. ay gusto ko yan!!! patayan!!! i love it!!! Naku hindi ako author nung book ng The Last Theorem. I bought it sa NBS. Dun sa sale.

    May sinulat akong books. Supplements, para sa Algebra at Physics 1. wihihi!! Mageeduc units muna ako bago ipaprint. Para naman mas qualified ako! whahahha!

    uhmmm... is that james there... uhmmm... ur james?

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  9. scan mu nga pla yung manuscript. Gawa nlng ako ng program para to filter yung pencil lines at nang mabasa naten! hihi!!!

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  10. Nate: Actually, I just intensified the political killings in our country to make that kind of story. I didn't know (and expect) that it could become real!

    Ay, Nate! May fiction din ako. Pero yeah, somehow similar sa Encantadia so na-deject na rin ako, like you.


    Xall: Mine, too! But this book is short. Really, for a slow reader like me, it took me a week to finish this. With long breaks in between, of course.


    James: Oh, how could I've missed the whole Sandon-Alise connection! It was a blow, what Sandon learned about Alise. Their pseudo loveteam hooked me, too.

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  11. Eon: Hello! Wow, nakarating ka sa page ko. Hehe. Special mention, kasi sobrang natuwa lang din ako sayo kasi ang dami dami mo nang nabasang books. Tsaka, sayo ko lang talaga nalaman ang manybooks.net.


    Wil: Ahaha! Akala ko ikaw. lol.

    Teka, supplementary write-ups? That is good, really, I think mas magaling magturo ng math ang mga engineers kaysa sa teacher, hindi naman sa pagmamaliit, pero kasi may applications tayo at mas malawak ang use natin sa Mathematics.

    Si James ko nga yun. hihih

    Uhm, scan? Teh, medyo maraming pages. Nakakatamad. LOL

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  12. joe,

    you were asking about the only painting sold by van Gogh in his lifetime - Red Vineyard at Arles. it is now in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.

    he sold it in 1890 for 400 francs (equal to about $1000 to $1050 today) to his friend Anna Boch, a Belgian impressionist. [most info from wiki. lol]

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  13. yeah eons list. sadly i've read only a few.


    so kumusta naman ang honeymoon sa tagaytay? nabirgen ka or nabirgen si James? seryoso

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  14. @joe: really?? may Encantadia-themed fiction ka din?? coolness!! hays.. ok lang yan.. sulat nalang ng iba.. :) i'll try blogging something fiction.. sana may magbasa... :)

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  15. wow. up for this post. :) thanks for sharing, this is interesting and nice review. :)

    Btw, I am your new follower, hope you will visit my page and follow too :)

    jewelclicks.blogspot.com

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  16. Ay trulalou! Mas magaling talaga magturo ang engineers kesa mga teachers! Hindi kasi ma-ishare nung mga Math teachers yung value nung Math techniques kasi hindi nila alam yung applications.

    Physics 1 at si Voltes V yung working title nung supp about Physics. Tapos, Si Al, si Geb, at Si Rah yung about algebra. It's about friends na mahilig magdota. yung examples kasi puro tungkol sa DotA. Wihi!

    Ayyy!!! He went to my blog!!! kakakilig talaga kayong dalawa! wihi!!!

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  17. Travis: Ahh. I see. I thought he sold it to Cohan. LOL


    Bien: Ay, natakot naman daw ako dahil seryoso ang tanong. haha. versatile actor si koya at top naman ako, whatcha think?


    Nate: Isulat mo na lang at nang mahusgahan. lol joke lang. Basta, sulat lang. Gusto ko nga dito na lang sa blog ipublish yung book na yun eh. eight chapters with the Prologue..

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  18. Jewel: Thanks for dropping by. I will follow you, too. :P


    Wil: Ahahaha! Ikaw na ang kinikilig talaga.

    Ui mukhang maganda yang supplements mo. Ipagpatuloy mo lang yan. Hehe

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  19. Just get me hook to this book. And whoa, most of the reader has list. I should do that!

    Thanks for the visit.. How are you Green?

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  20. kakakilig pa din! wihihi!

    tutuloy ko talaga to! bigyan ko kayo ng free copy pag napapublish ko nah hihi!

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so... what's your take on it?

Unquote Joe

Albeit greatness speaks of an effort-filled voyage, the shortest trail en route is the way down.

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