Here is the latest professional review of The Owners, Volume I : Alone


Book Review:
Fast paced and gripping, while vastly divergent from my normal fare, this story held my interest and kept me reading. The ambitious storyline tackled world-building and characters with equal success, providing references that were easy to relate to even as the plot seeks to carry you to places unknown.
For a debut novel, this book provided several high points: Capuano is a good storyteller with the ability to present her characters in a manner that instantly provides empathy or scorn. I’m still undecided if the alien language used, and depicted phonetically worked for me or simply made those passages more difficult to read. While it was cleverly presented, I’m not a huge fan, and much of my understanding of conversations was directly derived from the other context of the story.
There were a few moments where the underlying moral dilemmas presented by the action felt a bit heavy-handed, but the scope for further thought about the underlying question of what it means to be human, or have humanity are threaded into the tapestry of the plot, providing plenty of options for questions without the author’s overreach to provide simple one-dimensional answers. To her credit, Capuano manages to bring questions that young and old have pondered for ages, and provide enough information that everyone will draw their own conclusions in the many shades of grey within a moral choice.
This is a really good start to a series: enjoyable because of the dimensional layering of subtext and lack of reliance on more traditional fantasy / sci-fi tropes.
I received an eBook from the author for purpose of honest review for inclusion in children read week at I am Indeed. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

http://iam-indeed.com/2013/06/07/alone-the-owners-volume-1-by-carmen-capuano/