Hegira


Fiction - Science Fiction
291 Pages
Reviewed on 02/18/2016
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

I worked for thirty five years as a middle school science teacher, but am now semi-retired, working part-time as an educator/performer at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I have been married for thirty seven years to the love of my life, Diane. Together, we raised two incredible sons, and now have a beautiful granddaughter to spoil rotten.
I was born in Kansas City, Missouri and lived in Arlington, Virginia before moving to Denver where I attended High School and eventually college at Colorado State University, graduating with a degree in Zoology and a teacher certification. I currently live near Denver in the small town of Parker.
While I have always enjoyed reading science fiction stories, actually writing one never seemed possible. Just ask any of my former Language Arts co-teachers. They will confirm my complete mystification by the English language. However, on a lark, and at the urging of my brother, I labored to learn to write. It only took three years of editing, rewriting, and regular rejections to finally produce this book. It has proved to be a fascinating and incredible journey.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Renee Taylor for Readers' Favorite

Hegira by Jim Cronin is a very interesting and in-depth science fiction and time travel story that takes you deep into a new realm of danger. When Karm’s species becomes extinct, Karm thinks everything is lost. But he is cloned and given a new mission: go back in time to create the most powerful empire ever. His team includes Dr. Rocker, a geneticist whose cloning expertise is vital to Karm’s plan, and Maripa, a strong and menacing bodyguard who doesn’t completely trust Karm. And rightly so, because Karm can’t tell his team all of the details of this plan, because their knowledge could upset the new timeline. Now that Karm is back, a dangerous brother duo of Brach and Pareth combine to try to stop him. Pareth is the leader of a religiously fanatical group called The Faith, who don’t believe in cloning. The Faith will stop at nothing to put an end to Dr. Rocker and his cloning efforts, and ruin Karm’s plans forever.

Hegira is a very well-written story that combines so many complex layers that I was thinking about it for days after I finished reading it. I loved the concept of the time travel, especially how Karm couldn’t share all of his knowledge with his friends. This led to a connection between Dr. Rocker and Maripa, and a division between the two of them and Karm. I thought that relationship and subsequent division was brilliantly written by Cronin, who made his characters realistic and complex by making them have real emotions like confusion, jealousy, and envy. It made the reading experience that much better for me and I really appreciated these detailed and interesting characters.

Janelle Fila

Hegira by Jim Cronin is a science fiction story about time travel and the desire to save an entire race. After Karm is rescued and cloned, he learns he can go back in time to save his now extinct species. The task itself is difficult enough, but even more challenging is the fact that he must not tell anyone of the nature of their quest. His team includes Dr. Jontar Rocker, a geneticist with controversial cloning theories that are vital to Karm’s plan. His niece, who is also his secretary, and personal bodyguard, Maripa, is chosen to accompany Karm. Maripa’s budding romance with Dr. Rocker is sweet and innocent among all of the secrets and mysteries surrounding their journey. But they must all join together and learn to trust one another if they are going to be able to save the Brin.

Hegira starts with an interesting premise that DNA found on a spaceship could stop an entire extinction by using time travel. I find time travel stories fascinating and believe Jim Cronin did a nice job of making this story believable. The plot unfolds a little at a time, as Karm is keeping many secrets from his travel mates. So the reader is often intentionally left in the dark. This helps build suspense as the characters fight to overcome tyranny and ultimately come out on top. Cronin uses plenty of intrigue and the ending has a interesting twist that fits well within the story.

JJ Phillips

Jim Cronin’s Hegira is a science fiction and time travel story. Karm and his travel mates, cloning expert Dr. Rocker and bodyguard Maripa, are on a quest through time to save the Brin. First they have to defeat Brach, an obsessed monarch who wants to control Karm's vast industrial empire. Brach teams up with his brother Pareth, who leads a conservative religious group called The Faith. The Faith are determined to stop Dr. Rocker’s cloning efforts. If this journey wasn’t dangerous enough, Karm’s companions are often left without key knowledge of their quest, because the slightest knowledge could upset the sensitive time line and throw the entire past or future into chaos. Even without all of the key information, they must band together and defeat the obsessed king determined to stop Dr. Rocker’s cloning efforts.

Hegira is an incredible scientific world that Jim Cronin wrote eloquently. It is full of danger and adventure, as well as suspense and scientific discoveries that will blow your mind. I liked the fact that Karm kept secrets from his companions, because that meant the author kept secrets from the reader, too. I was learning what was going on at the same time as Dr. Rocker or Maripa, and that made the story very realistic to me. I also enjoyed the idea of traveling back in time, especially to save a race that is already extinct. Time travel stories are fascinating when they are written well, and this is a good example of a well-written one.