Title: Earth Gets Even – Fourth Book of the Shonak Series
Author: Dennis Patrick Treece
Publisher: Elk Press
ISBN: 978-1989942130
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 234
Reviewed by: Nicole Olson
Pacific Book Review
Earth Gets Even – Fourth Book of the Shonak Series finally allows Earth to combat the intense privacy violations committed by the Shonak people. In Dennis Patrick Treece’s Shonak Series – an alternate Earth inhabited by Shonakians watch Earthers’ daily lives, while Earthers are completely unaware that they are being watched by Shonakians bots. Benjamin Post is a curious and bright teenager without much of a social life. He spends all of his free time tinkering on little projects many of which do not come to fruition. One day he invents a device that reads energy surrounding people and animals. He finds that some people glow pink while the rest glow green.
He is not aware that he built a bot detecting device until he is approached by two professors from Arizona State Mega University. His awkward relations with these professors add comic relief to the serious nature of the issues Treece discusses in the Shonak Series. Each book in the series has a distinct story telling style, Book Four is a coming of age story where Benjamin Post is the hero. It follows his saga as a young scientist turned global relationist and entrepreneur. The book ends with his meeting a World President and formulating a plan to monetize the Shonak’s invasion of Earther Privacy. Though this ending is quite shocking especially due to Benjamin’s humble start, it definitely shows how Benjamin has grown and changed over the course of the novel. Whether he made the right decision is up for the reader to decide.
This book is a fun sci-fi read for mature audiences. Though Benjamin Post is a bit naive and awkward, he is 100% teenager and the narrator reveals this to us throughout the book. Taking place in the far away future – the book features many other fun elements of science fiction such as autonomous taxis and secret spy communication with invisible heat-reactive ink. Though it takes place in the far distant future, this book examines human nature. Treece’s entire series takes a closer look at the human condition and how people react to power and fortune.
Treece’s series is wildly imaginative yet realistic. The author uses believable characters and situations decorated with elements of the future and the foreign. He shows a tense relationship with “the other” which is such a prevalent topic in the world today. Not only did Treece invent a completely alternate world belonging to an alternate universe, he also designed the future of our planet. While we hear dismal messages about our future, his sci-fi story paints a picture of hope.
