Author: Scott Marcano

ISBN: 0-7414-2730-3

The following review was contributed by: Kathryn Atwood: Click Here To View More Of Kathryn's   Reviews

"The People of the Sea," a face-paced novel by screenwriter Scott Marcano,
is the story of "the people," inhabitants of an archipelago of floating,
man-made islands.   They are a peaceful and culture-loving race that were
driven from their earth-bound, ancestral homeland by the "Chuiiloro" ("the
war dogs") three generations previous to the book's opening.

They are experiencing a fairly uneventful, if homesick existence, but new
rumors abound that the Mapuches, a darker and fiercer neighboring race,
have been gearing up for war.  Are they planning to fight their peaceful
neighbors, or is there something else going on?

There's a lot going on actually, involving a plethora of unusual
characters, the prophecy of an Armageddon-like battle and a Utopian land
which is not just for the deserving but for anyone who can get there first.
 Who will gain paradise, the good guys or the bad?

Marcano's book is well paced, the tension never flags and the characters
are interesting and well-delineated.  The only major problem is an
over-reliance on adjectives and similies.  Tumarak, one of the book's main
players, had a complexion "rich like stained sea wood" and "skin as smooth
as a baby seal's."  He was orphaned and raised by a "kindly local merchant"
who had "a chipper wife" and "seven affable children."

Marcano is sometimes also guilty of "telling" a little too much.  Tumarak's
girlfriend, Ursa, is quite an athlete, and while being attacked by a shark
that snaps at her "with its mammoth, all consuming jaws," Ursa contorts her
"incredibly flexible body" to avoid becoming lunch.  "Incredibly flexible"?
 I probably would have envisioned her gymnastic prowess without Marcano
telling me.   While reading this book, my brain was constantly tripping
over excessive descriptions while it tried to form mental pictures; a few
less adjectives would have been more serviceable in this regard.

All in all, though, "The People" is a cool yarn that will have you rooting
for the good guys all the way.