This little-known novel from the author of such renowned works as Call of the Wild and White Fang surprised me, probably because this book seems so much more worthy of the pedestal that his more well-known works inhabit. I feel it's subject matter and philosophy are far more powerful than these other works, and is more easily translatable to our current general morality and philosophy. Also the fact that this is the first time (at least in english literature) a novel delved into not only the themes of reincarnation, but the implications therein, at least that I'm aware of. But I digress; I suppose hindsight is 20/20.

I've struggled a bit with how to review this novel. I am split between what I believe the cumulative experience of this book was - that is, its thematic points and philosophical questions it asks - and its basics: the writing, pacing, and plot. I guess you could say I am at war between the philosophical and the technical aspects of this novel, and I'm not quite sure which won me out.

There is no denying Jack London is a great writer, and his use of language is neither abundantly prosaic or bare-boned and lacking; it has just the right amount of meat on it for this kind of story. As I read the first pages of this novel, the writing breathed into me and sent shivers down my spine. The idea of reincarnation has always been something I've been privy to, whether or not I put full stock in it. Nevertheless, those first pages spoke to something deep and intrinsic within me. Here's a good excerpt to give an idea of what I mean:

"...during the ages of three and four and five, I was not yet I. I was merely becoming as I took in the mold of my body, and all the mighty, indestructible past wrought in the mixture of me to determine what the form of that becoming would be. It was not my voice that cried out in the night in fear of things known, which I, forsooth, did not and could not know. Other voices screamed through my voice, the voices of men and women aforetime, of all shadowy hosts of progenitors. And the snarl of my anger was blended with the snarls of beasts more ancient than the mountains, and the vocal madness of my child hysteria, with all the red of its wrath, was chorded with the insensate, stupid cries of beasts pre-Adamic and pregeologic in time." pg.3

I got shivers reading the first chapter. I was sucked in, and I was ready to delve into this story which so intrigued me. And yet, here is where my first issue came in; after such a phenomenal start to the novel, I felt the power that had built during the first chapter was not used in a timely fashion. I am ashamed to admit that, around a fourth of the way through the book and seeing no return to that which captivated me so in the first few pages, I grew weary and set it aside to pursue greener pastures. I felt disappointed in the execution (no pun intended) of the storyline, which seemed to focus more on areas I didn't particularly care for than those I did. For example, our protagonist Darrell Standing has a significant amount of time devoted to developing his character and plight. While this is a good and necessary thing to do, it felt rather tedious. This wasn't helped by the fact that Darrell Standing comes off as having an obnoxiously big ego, viewing himself superior to others around him (more on that later). Furthermore, the first couple of "star-roving" excursions did not really hold my interest as much as I had hoped. By the time the book did begin to pick up pace, some of that excitement and energy within me had been dampened, which I think seriously affected my overall perceptions of the book.

When I finally did return to this book, I found I had stopped only a little before things really picked up, which I am glad of. About halfway through Jesse's storyline was when I finally started to see where the story was going and began to fall into pace and enjoy it. The low point of the book very easily could have just been me, or my mood when reading it so many months ago, or a number of other variables, so I don't know how trustworthy my opinion is in that respect. But hey, this is my review, and I'll be damned if I'm told I'm incorrect for my subjective opinion. [[finish review later - gone to class!]]