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Friday, September 21, 2018

[Mrs. Y Reviews]The Unfortunate Expiration of Mr. David Sparks by William F. Aicher

Book Cover via Amazon.com
 (Note 3/15/19) I updated this review on my blog only. Initially, the review was written before my final scoring system, so I hope you all enjoy the updates to the text.

Full disclosure guys, Bill sent me all of his books both in the mail and in my email.
See? <-----
I consider this an amazing early birthday gift because he also signed them and he never had to do any of this. No author has taken the time to be so kind to me as Bill was. But I let you guys know this because I want you to understand how much I appreciate the books, and how much I enjoyed reading them. 
Thus, if you think this may be biased, well you may be right. I got spoiled, and I am a fan. But that said, I’m going to do my utmost to keep this the most honest review ever. 

Opinion
Firstly, I hate snakes, I hate things in my eyes, I dislike the idea of eyeballs watching me everywhere, and I’m no fan of having something grab me from under the bed. William F. Aicher managed to hit every one of my triggers and creep me out in every possible way he could. (Gee, thanks Bill.)

Before I go into what this book is, please let me say with all the love in my heart, what this book is not. It is not taking the reader as being unintelligent. While there are weird encounters in this book, do not get me wrong. From the Chainsaw wielding anti-hero to the oddly specific way, the doctors know what they are doing, to the fact that nerds in the future are the sexiest things alive. But those encounters never are spoon fed info-dumping opportunities for exposition potatoes to come.

I love when a writer does not treat the readers as though they were too stupid to figure out what is going on in their book. That sometimes happens in mystery stories, sci-fi, hell even in YA you see it. It's as though the Author feels the very complex elements of the book have to be spoon fed because a reader could not be intelligent enough to understand the concepts.

William Aicher is not one of those authors; he is someone who treats the reader concerning problem-solving while they enjoy the narrative. The best part about revealing the puzzle pieces to the story is that the flow of it runs smoother in my opinion.

"David Sparks" has a lot to say on population control, the future, chemical warfare, fair wages to farmers and politics. The exposition of the story goes more in-depth on the divisions between technology and farming. And it is done with the deft brushstrokes of dystopian and futuristic settings. William Aicher’s “The Unfortunate Expiration of Mr. David S. Sparks” sings the importance balance of tech and food when it comes to our global political systems. It also goes into a deep dive on trust issues, and why you should or should you not have them. Without food, everything goes, and without farmers, well there you go. It doesn’t matter how cool your phone is or the new gadgets, if you cannot eat, things are wrong.

Let's go into the story progression. While it comes in fever dreams among writing, the book takes the reader on a dangerous journey. I LOVE how the chapters work out. Every chapter has its complete thought, and that should be commended.

The other thing I found refreshing was the pacing. There was no slow speed on this book, and I was enjoying it as I read. I found myself sucked into the world very quickly, and the descriptions lead me along. The pieces where I got the most stuck, where the ones that stay in my memory. (Thanks worms in the sinus!) Some things cannot be unseen, and in this case, it was in a good way. I promise you; it will be a very long time before I swim in a lake again. This is a very complicated book. This has a lot of intense and detailed world building nuggets all through it. If this were a Dairy Queen Blizzard, this would be the one that has the M&M's, the pecan pieces, some brownie bits, and some Oreo cookies, but still taste amazing and not like an assault to my pallet. There would be no texture issues or too much sweetness in this kind of ice cream treat if it were anything like this book.

The other praise for “The Unfortunate Expiration of Mr. David S. Sparks” comes in the end. To know this book is to love it to the VERY last page. This is not one of those books that have some cheap and thrown away ending. Every page has meaning, every word choice was deliberate, and everything goes in a specific order. I never felt once that there was wasted space in the book, If anything, the end of the book is the culmination of so many things that are right with this book, and rewards the reader to get to that part.

Score
I truly loved this book, and “The Unfortunate Expiration of Mr. David S. Sparks” I feel deserves a 99/100. I know there are some out there who are not going to love this book and may disagree, and that is fine. To anyone on the fence, I say, read it and make that decision up yourself and give it a fair and honest read. It reads well, and I loved it.