Alexes Razevich
Author of Khe
Series
Works by Alexes Razevich
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Education
- California State University, San Francisco (Creative writing)
- Occupations
- Marketing Director
editor - Short biography
- Alexes Razevich was born in New York and grew up in Orange County, California. She attended California State University San Francisco where she earned a degree in Creative Writing. After a successful career on the fringe of the electronics industry, including stints as Director of Marketing for a major trade show management company and as an editor for Electronic Engineering Times, she returned to her first love--fiction. She lives in Southern California with her husband. When she isn't writing, she enjoys playing hockey and travel. [from Amazon.com 9/14/2013]
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Orange County, California, USA
Southern California, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
It took me months to finish this book because I felt too busy to read, not because I wasn't engaged with the story.
Excellent combination of familiar fantasy and sci-fi elements, worked into a very different-feeling world. Khe and her people are an alien species with no clear Earth analogue, but they have similarities with humans and their roles and emotions are very relatable. As a point of interest, the vast majority of characters are female, and they're a varied bunch who fill many roles. show more The genders live separately in Khe's society and she rarely even sees a male of her own kind. The story starts with a seemingly out-of-place flash forward to an action scene, then begins slowly in Khe's pastoral home colony. But about halfway through, Khe has gathered enough information to know that her society has some huge secrets, and from there the story ramps up into action and suspense. It's a take-down-the-heartless-overlords plot, but it's definitely a distinctive take on the concept.
This is not a book for readers scared of unfamiliar words. Khe's world is revealed by context and there are many unusual terms to learn and remember. Most of the explicit explanation is saved for colour/emotion pairs, which are a strong cultural element for Khe's kind. But although I felt like I had to work to keep the worldbuilding straight in my head, I appreciated that the story didn't condescend to explain itself. It played out confidently whether I kept up or not, so the world and its people seemed believable as a working whole. Like I say, it's not for everyone. But if you appreciate stories that give an honest look into a non-human world, this is a good one. show less
Excellent combination of familiar fantasy and sci-fi elements, worked into a very different-feeling world. Khe and her people are an alien species with no clear Earth analogue, but they have similarities with humans and their roles and emotions are very relatable. As a point of interest, the vast majority of characters are female, and they're a varied bunch who fill many roles. show more The genders live separately in Khe's society and she rarely even sees a male of her own kind. The story starts with a seemingly out-of-place flash forward to an action scene, then begins slowly in Khe's pastoral home colony. But about halfway through, Khe has gathered enough information to know that her society has some huge secrets, and from there the story ramps up into action and suspense. It's a take-down-the-heartless-overlords plot, but it's definitely a distinctive take on the concept.
This is not a book for readers scared of unfamiliar words. Khe's world is revealed by context and there are many unusual terms to learn and remember. Most of the explicit explanation is saved for colour/emotion pairs, which are a strong cultural element for Khe's kind. But although I felt like I had to work to keep the worldbuilding straight in my head, I appreciated that the story didn't condescend to explain itself. It played out confidently whether I kept up or not, so the world and its people seemed believable as a working whole. Like I say, it's not for everyone. But if you appreciate stories that give an honest look into a non-human world, this is a good one. show less
Science fiction, for all its great successes over the decades, has at times earned a reputation for producing too many works that are cookie-cutter or derivative. That’s why it’s refreshing to see a book like Khe which, while taking the form in interesting new directions, still nails the basics—a sympathetic main character, exciting adventure, and world building that unfolds gradually and leaves room for surprises at the end.
The book opens with Khe, a female humanoid alien on a distant show more planet, living as a laborer in one of many agricultural “communes” (actually, it opens with a prologue which consists of a tense scene from the middle of the book, but the story proper begins at the commune). Khe’s species differs in a few ways from humans—the most notable being the mating ritual known as Resonance, where fertile females are guided to their mates by colors that appear to them in the sky. Khe’s life is turned upside down when, despite being of age, she fails to experience the Resonance, leaving her “broken.” An operation intended to allow her to mate appears successful, until she realizes its side effects: a mysterious power over plant life, and seemingly accelerated aging. Facing premature death, she sets out across the Wilderness towards the city of Chimbalay in search of help.
Aside from the detailed world, what I enjoyed most about Khe were the unconventional themes. Topics such as the meaning of fertility, acceptance in one’s community and self-sacrifice are rarely touched on in science fiction, and may resonate (sorry) with female readers. However, I found myself wishing at times that some of them were explored more fully, or some situations or characters fleshed out before Khe moves on to other parts of her journey. The ending in particular resolves very quickly, and doesn’t leave much room for closure on some of the topics explored in the narrative.
Also, Khe contains a set of illustrations interspersed throughout the pages, and while I thought they were generally well-drawn and helpful for visualizing the story, the last one sort of gives away the ending of the book. Reader be warned.
Still, I would recommend Khe to any fan of science fiction or science/fantasy adventure, especially those bored of the typical “man on a spaceship” archetype. I look forward to what Ms. Razevich’s wild imagination produces next.
Rating: Four Resonance sacs out of five. show less
The book opens with Khe, a female humanoid alien on a distant show more planet, living as a laborer in one of many agricultural “communes” (actually, it opens with a prologue which consists of a tense scene from the middle of the book, but the story proper begins at the commune). Khe’s species differs in a few ways from humans—the most notable being the mating ritual known as Resonance, where fertile females are guided to their mates by colors that appear to them in the sky. Khe’s life is turned upside down when, despite being of age, she fails to experience the Resonance, leaving her “broken.” An operation intended to allow her to mate appears successful, until she realizes its side effects: a mysterious power over plant life, and seemingly accelerated aging. Facing premature death, she sets out across the Wilderness towards the city of Chimbalay in search of help.
Aside from the detailed world, what I enjoyed most about Khe were the unconventional themes. Topics such as the meaning of fertility, acceptance in one’s community and self-sacrifice are rarely touched on in science fiction, and may resonate (sorry) with female readers. However, I found myself wishing at times that some of them were explored more fully, or some situations or characters fleshed out before Khe moves on to other parts of her journey. The ending in particular resolves very quickly, and doesn’t leave much room for closure on some of the topics explored in the narrative.
Also, Khe contains a set of illustrations interspersed throughout the pages, and while I thought they were generally well-drawn and helpful for visualizing the story, the last one sort of gives away the ending of the book. Reader be warned.
Still, I would recommend Khe to any fan of science fiction or science/fantasy adventure, especially those bored of the typical “man on a spaceship” archetype. I look forward to what Ms. Razevich’s wild imagination produces next.
Rating: Four Resonance sacs out of five. show less
3.5/5
Overall, I really liked this book. It's a fast paced adventure that takes place in a world not like our own but the author takes great care to detail it (at least in first two thirds of the book). This is definitely one of the more original sci-fi stories I've read in a long time and at just over 200 pages it's an easy read (important if you're busy like me and just want some light reading before bed!)
I thought the first half was solid, the second half was okay but introduced too many show more characters too late that would become central to the climax of the story. Khe's concern for her new "sisters" seems to come a little fast, and the whole metaphysical explanation of who the Powers are and how they're destroyed is a bit bungled, but other than that, it's a good book. There is a sequel coming out soon apparently and I look forward to reading it!
The one thing I think the author should improve upon (other than creating a stronger SciFi explanations) is the formatting of the kindle book - it was a bit off in the second half of the book (text italicized when it shouldn't be, and normal when it should be italicized) show less
Overall, I really liked this book. It's a fast paced adventure that takes place in a world not like our own but the author takes great care to detail it (at least in first two thirds of the book). This is definitely one of the more original sci-fi stories I've read in a long time and at just over 200 pages it's an easy read (important if you're busy like me and just want some light reading before bed!)
I thought the first half was solid, the second half was okay but introduced too many show more characters too late that would become central to the climax of the story. Khe's concern for her new "sisters" seems to come a little fast, and the whole metaphysical explanation of who the Powers are and how they're destroyed is a bit bungled, but other than that, it's a good book. There is a sequel coming out soon apparently and I look forward to reading it!
The one thing I think the author should improve upon (other than creating a stronger SciFi explanations) is the formatting of the kindle book - it was a bit off in the second half of the book (text italicized when it shouldn't be, and normal when it should be italicized) show less
Very entertaining story, the author creates a very interesting world, populated with a race where the males and females live separately and once per year they reunite to mate. But that happens as an impulse that you cannot control, and our heroine misses this impulse and is sent for treatment. Initially the treatment seems to work, but then some side effects start to happen and the whole story develops from there. While seeking for a cure to her problem outside her village, she finds others show more affected by similar problem and she ended up finding the answer for a much more high level question, who are those entities that came to their world and caused the society to behave as they do nowadays. Very well written, characters full developed and environment well described. Nice cover. It took me around 10 hours to read the whole book.
I recommend this book to the permanent library of all readers that enjoy a very well written science-fiction book. I bought this book from Amazon.com and I was not requested to provide a positive review. Opinion expressed here is my own. show less
I recommend this book to the permanent library of all readers that enjoy a very well written science-fiction book. I bought this book from Amazon.com and I was not requested to provide a positive review. Opinion expressed here is my own. show less
Statistics
- Works
- 13
- Members
- 142
- Popularity
- #144,864
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 7
- ISBNs
- 6
