Review: The Jericho River by David W. Tollen

Publisher: Winifred Press in Ass. w/ The Cadence Group | Genre: Historical Fiction

The Jericho River is an expertly researched historical fiction genre that fits well into the YA and adult fiction categories. We give it a 4 1/2 star rating and recommend this book to people who enjoy reading books in the following genres:

• History
• Historical Fiction
• Young Adult
• Fantasy
• Historical Reference Guides

About The Jericho River

In another great submission we received from The Cadence Group, an agency we regard highly for their support of quality literature, The Jericho River: A Novel About the History of Western Civilization comes to us as a fun, educational journey through the adventures of young Jason Gallo who traverses various worlds on a dangerous quest to rescue his estranged father. Battling minotaurs and pirates, fleeing barbarians, and stumbling upon mummy tombs,  Jason Gallo eventually finds love and betrayal during his quest. 

The Jericho River reads like a timeline, carrying the young man through historic lands  like Sumer, Babylonia, Ancient Greece, Medieval Europe, the Napoleonic Empire, chronicling and tracing the history of Western Civilization from its middle-eastern origins to the modern era. Journey with Jason through Egypt, Rome, Greece, Renaissance Italy and more locations. The Jericho River is the first novel by author David W. Tollen. 

Review of The Jericho River

The Jericho River is meaty - it features a lot of reliable information and a large effort was made to bring context and visual understanding to the reader, something not many historical fiction novels do. Separated into two parts, seventeen chapters, a prologue and epilogue, this book also includes two appendix sections - a section for maps depicting the ancient Middle East and Mediterranean from 3500 BC to present day and a section for a timeline of western civilization, well researched and cited. For this, we were impressed by the author’s need to bring the reader into the world he was about to build.

In the first page of the prologue, you're immediately thrown into the world of 16-year-old  Jason Gallo and introduced to his personality, surroundings and the mysterious woman at the end of his driveway that would jolt him into another world.  However, while intriguing because of its quick onset, the text does begin rather choppy with too many short sentences starting new thoughts on one page. But, nonetheless, the prologue is necessary to understanding the rest of the book - not usually in other books, as many readers skip the prologue, but in this book, it quickly guides you through a rough experience that lands Jason into a dreamland and a quest to locate his father to bring him back from a dream-state where Chapter One immediately starts. 

Jason is told by another character (whom we will not name to reduce spoilers) that he must first locate his father in whatever dreamland he is located in before he can save him. Because of this, Jason traverses through a timeline of history on a quest to find his father, ultimately leading the reader through an adventure laden with historical context, making it an educational experience as well. 

While reading, you’ll hear about Jason encountering strange creatures with half human/half animal bodies, entering ancient lands and meeting historical figures, all the while, he is keenly aware of being alone and thrown into this realm of confusion where he doesn’t quite know what to do to save or even locate his father. 

In our experience, this novel falls well within the genre of a young adult historical fiction book. Jason's character and his circumstances closely resemble that of well-known young adult novels that are written with close attention to keeping the reader within the mindset of a teenager in order to experience the created world through younger eyes, without the experience and resources an adult may have. A close example we can give of this is the journey Jonas takes while discovering the truth about his world in the novel The Giver. The reader is effectively experiencing the inability to comprehend the situation clearly based on experiences an adult may have that can facilitate understanding, because they are immersed into the mindset of a teenager processing the information for the very first time. 

So far, our review of the book placed this book in the realm of a learning adventure through entertaining historical fiction, which falls within the young adult genre in our opinion. If not for the expert references present in the book and the illustrations that help visualize the actual world that existed during the time frame, this book would not leave the young adult genre; however, the same illustrations are similar to those set in place to keep young readers interested. So, in all, it’s a versatile book that can be read by both readers interested in adult genres and YA genres, though we feel the falls within the latter category. This is also explored by Robert J. Littman, M.Litt., Ph. D Professor of Classics at the University of Hawaii and author of The Greek Experiment: Imperialism and Social Conflict, 800-400 B.C. , where he says that “The Jericho River is a carefully researched and very accurate journey through Western Civilization that will appeal not only to the  teenage audience but to adults as well.”

The text is lively. Descriptions are given of the battles and scenes where Jason is captured and imprisoned. The author does a very good job of giving the reader a visual feel of being helpless, but still scouring the surroundings to notice bits of actions occurring around Jason and the conversations he overhears.  The creation of strange creatures and mythical environments is extremely creative and portrays a talented David Tollen with an imagination worthy of the silver screen. The book is also fast-paced and action-packed from start to finish, as also mentioned in a review by A.A. Attanasio, author of The Radix Tetrand. The reader will travel with Jason from Sumer all the way to modern times, gracing experiences in Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Renaissance Italy, and more.  

We give this book a final review of  4 ½ stars  for it expert references, well-researched context and pinpoint audience targeting, making it a must read for history buffs everywhere who will receive great joy in coming across contextual adventures they’ll surely be familiar with.  

About the Author

David Tollen writes novels that teach history and science -- as well as works of nonfiction about technology law.

David's first novel, “The Jericho River: A Novel About the History of Western Civilization”, won first place at both the London Book Festival and the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. It also won a bronze medal in the Readers' Favorite Book Reviews and Awards Contest, among other honors. The Jericho River is a novel that uses fantasy to teach the history of Western Civilization. It's published by Winifred Press. (The book's first edition was released under the author pen-name "David Carthage." The current/second edition uses the author's actual name.)

David is also the author of “The Tech Contracts Handbook: Cloud Computing Agreements, Software Licenses, and Other IT Contracts for Lawyers and Businesspeople” (Second Edition). It's published by the American Bar Association, and it's the number-one bestseller for the Intellectual Property Law Section of the ABA. “The Tech Contracts Handbook” is a how-to guide for drafting and negotiating IT agreements, written in simple English.

David earned law degrees from Harvard Law School and Cambridge University in England, as well as a B.A. in history from U.C. Berkeley. He's the founder of Sycamore Legal P.C., a San Francisco technology and intellectual property law firm. He also provides training and expert witness services related to negotiating and drafting IT contracts.

David currently is on contract to publish his second novel “Secrets of Hominea” with Winifred Press.

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