BETWEEN THE STARS AND THE SKY | David James | @djamesauthor
Between the Stars and Sky by David James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Words.
Good authors know how to use them. Great authors wield them with striking ease. You can spot it when you read a written work; the writing reveals the caliber of its author when the arrangement of words generates powerful images in your mind’s eye. They show you what happens, rather than just telling you what happens.
News stories usually use simple words in often poorly constructed sentences. Magazine articles improve on this, and some indie blogs betray a fine writer behind the scenes. And then we arrive at the book—amazing devices that tell stories and transform your imagination into someone else’s playground. When I picked up Between the Stars and the Sky by David James and started reading, I became aware of a different kind of writer. An artist will tell you that, technically speaking, their art form is the delicate arrangement of a medium that produces something that can be appreciated by many.
An author will tell you that words are their medium. The art of carefully crafting a fine sentence is tricky and rewarding for both author and reader. David James is well, I repeat, is well on his way to mastering the art form of words.
Between the Stars and the Sky is a very different style of book for David; he admits this in his author’s notes. It’s taken me a few days to process fully the story that I’ve read because of how well it is written. It’s one of the first book that I actually feel the need to read again because I’m sure that I missed things because I was more interested in the sentence structures and word-wielding that I may have overlooked plot points.
David James, Author
I might suspect that David is a romantic by nature because of how freely and (I hate to repeat but) easily the words run. I can imagine him painstakingly – or skillfully – making sure each word was followed by the perfect next word. I have never read a book that flowed with such powerful emotion that captivated me, since I’m not particularly included to this story form. But David did it, and I truly appreciate his writing style. I look forward to reading the next book, regardless if it maintains this form, about Miles and Sean.
I need not summarize the book here, as the story’s summary on goodreads.com is perfect. So if you are looking for a story that will fill your imagination with great visuals, strong characters, and powerful images, Between the Stars and the Sky is your next book.
