Review: Orphans Assassins & the Existential Eggplant

We know, we've been promising a review on Orphans, Assassins and the Existential Eggplant for months now. Here it is, and we will explain exactly why it has taken so long to review this book. When we received the book, we were in between restructuring and going through a plethora of submissions in our backlog; initially this was supposed to be a review conducted much the same way as we do all of the others, but from the moment I laid eyes on the description of this book, I personally had to add it to my collection and took the time to read this book in its entirety, twice. This book was also on our Chapter by Chapter review selection. 

About Orphans, Assassins and the Existential Eggplant

Orphans Assassins and the Existential Eggplant is a novel by J.T. Gillett;  it's a historical fiction novel that takes the reader on a wild journey with a female alchemist from the 13th century that fashions a shrunken and dried eggplant pendant around her neck that is very much alive, but can only be heard by its wearer. The protagonist, Layla, is in search of The Lost Stone of Eden and encounters a young boy, Aaron, and they traverse Europe and the Mediterranean with a Children's Crusade, hijack a caravan in the Sahara Desert, live amongst other assassins and barricade themselves in a mountain fortress and rediscover paradise on the island of Bahrain. As farfetched as it sounds, this book literally sets the pace for a full-fledged silver screen movie adaptation of its content. 

Review of Orphans, Assassins and the Existential Eggplant

Personally, the creativity of this story comes from the mind of someone who needs to be discovered. Although the book requires a bit more technical editing, its overall plot, character building and scene descriptions set it up in competition with books like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the Narnia Chronicles where their authors have built complete worlds submerged in imagination and clearly detailed aspects. The only difference between this book and those, is that this world build by J.T. Gillett is a little more feasible than those created by authors like J.K. Rowling, but nonetheless just as exciting and immersive. 

If you enjoy historical fiction, if you enjoy just a bit of sci-fi that doesn't take it completely out of the realm of historical truth, this is a book I recommend you try. This is a book that is going to stay in my personal library forever. 

The life that the author breathes into the existential eggplant is consistent with that of real life human beings, especially when he talks about the eggplant needing to switch between owners when it feels that it is no longer needed or has done all it can possibly do for the person wearing it. The eggplant finds  itself in a bit of a jealous but appreciative mood when Layla comes across Aaron, and he feels that the boy will eventually replace him.

As Layla begins to adopt Aaron, she teaches him the ways of alchemy, and they both set out on a journey that will take them around the world and throw the reader into a page-turning visual experience. The author takes us through scenes like that of the mighty king with many wives in the Middle East who captures the women from the villages and empires he conquers, bringing them into his harem. Each tale, and each experience is backed by such accurately descriptive narrative, that it's almost impossible to read through this book without delving into your inner nerd to find similar descriptions your mind holds from previous documentaries, books and movies that help implement the idea. 

There is quite a bit of dialogue in this book, and all of it is written to make the reader feel like they're standing right in front of person who speaking. Descriptions of scenes, as I mentioned before, are vibrant. Here are some examples of the book’s dialogue and text from The Orphan’s Crusade chapter:

-For Aaron her voice sounded like it had long, curved wings made from Immaculate clouds.- 

-“I'm offering to assist you and your sister in this crusade. I can help you with these kids. Most of them look too young to care for themselves. It might not be easy to get them all the way across France. It's almost 500 miles from Paris to Marseille.”-

-On the third day in Vendome, when Stephen considered breaking camp and leaving for Marseille, a huge surge of young Crusaders swept into the city. There were at least 300, waving their makeshift crosses high as they came over distant hills. Not long after, another band of child recruits rolled in, and another and another. As they approached, their songs could be heard clearer and louder. They arrived from different provinces, with different dialects and flags. Some had banners with religious symbols like crosses and halos, others were adorned with names of a farms and local taverns, but most consisted of nothing more than colored rags on a stick.-

These types of descriptions make you want to read further into the story of find out what's going to happen with these orphans, where the story is going to take you next, and how Aaron and Layla are going to play out this entire epic.

What was mostly rewarding is the personality the author gives to the existential eggplant. He is a hilarious character, full of sarcasm and borderline a*******-like behavior.  He has no quarrels with with speaking his mind, or with criticizing scenes with irresistible humor. He also serves as a historical reference for Layla, as he knows much of the history surrounding Kings and characters from the time before Layla; On page 68, the eggplant identifies a man, who by his recollection, should be over 200-years-old as Layla crouches in the shadows watching the man disguised as an old woman. He often delves into insults, like on page 73 where he blurts out, “Stephen is a scoundrel”.  His objectivity is both very obvious and unrelentingly unforgiving, which makes for an entertaining story. 

There were a few editing and technical mistakes in this book. But that is the only thing I found wrong with this book. On one occasion, as one of the characters is observing a king, the author describes the king is looking like a “clown”, something that is meant to be representative of the other character’s perception of him.  However, during the time that the book takes place, clowns were not in existence, therefore, couldn't have been something the character could identify with.  However, this is a historical fiction novel, and the entire world technically is built at the discretion of the author. 

Usually when I find editing mistakes, I have to give the book less than 5 stars, even if I like it to high heavens. In this case, I'm willing to completely overlooked them and give this book 5 stars.  I've had almost every member of my team also read chapters of this book to get them acquainted with the type of standards CJLeger.com looks for in historical fiction novels. 

My Final Thoughts:

Purchase this book, Orphans, Assassins and the Existential Eggplant retails for $0.99-$14.88 on Amazon and is available in kindle and paperback formats. Read it in a quiet place, when you're ready to curl up in bed, and just enjoy the journey.  I know I did, and at the expense of being able to bring this review to our readers earlier. We give it 5 stars 

About J.T. Gillett

J.T. Gillett holds degrees in philosophy and journalism from the University of Oregon and studied at Naropa Institute's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.

His accomplishments include meditating with Allen Ginsberg, chanting inside the Great Pyramid, climbing Mt. Shasta, marrying the woman of his dreams and raising two children who turned into amazing adults.

By day, he works as a writer and editor for a leading Global 2000 writing agency based in Ashland, Oregon and hikes the beautiful mountain trails on weekends. At night, he creates stories that combine reality with fantastic, peculiar characters and events--and sometimes he writes them down.

His stories and poems have appeared in a variety of Literary Journals since 1978, including City Lights Review 6 (1994), edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

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