Assessment:
Plot/Idea: While The Things We Bring To The Table has an impressively ambitious plot, involving both realist elements and fantasy sections related to the multiverse, these two aspects of the narrative could converge more clearly for readers. The ultimate speculative ending also feels a bit easy, considering the complexity of the preceding story.
Prose: Palmer's prose positively lends a frenetic energy to a fast-paced novel where a lot happens, but the way the story relies on dialogue for exposition can read awkwardly and often occurs too quickly, making the plot confusing to follow at times. Necessary information also comes in information dumps outside of scenes, which unfortunately pulls the reader out of the narrative flow.
Originality: The way that The Things We Bring To The Table attempts to reconcile a plot about multiple worlds with a Christian element involving an angelic figure is original among titles discussing the multiverse. The novel could benefit from this element of the plot being further fleshed out and explored with more nuance.
Character Development/Execution: Palmer's characterizations are a mixed bag, with some characters developing into well-rounded figures, while others could be developed more. Cree comes off like a rich caricature, but she transforms into a figure with complex emotional depth. Nathaniel, on the other hand, could benefit from deeper characterization, as he currently reads like an angel-like device to forward the plot.
Date Submitted: April 05, 2022
“This is such an original story, with vivid characters, and a plot that had me staying up late to finish it.
The writing style is distinctive and has some moments of stunning description. The characters really grew on me, and the split-narrative is done very cleverly… an original and vibrant voice…”
Five Stars!
Rod Palmer's The Things We Bring To The Table is an amazing story full of drama and action. Palmer uses touches of sci-fi with multiple dimensions, combined with witty writing, to create unique and interesting characters, which makes for enthralling reading. The characters have an array of personalities - some you will love and some you may hate. Palmer's writing demonstrates how our choices can have different outcomes. Cree and Lulu were the same person but made different choices and led different lives. This is a story that takes you on emotional highs and lows but keeps you reading until the very end.
