Fjords Reviews

Nature's Confession
Science Fiction Novel by J.L. Morin

Harvard Square Editions, 2015
$19.95
ISBN 978-0-9895960-7-7

J.L. Morin's Nature's Confession is a classic science fiction novel, pertinent to modern times. This epic spacetime romp has two teens—a mixed-race, fourteen-year-old, simply named "Boy", and his half-sister Kenza, along with their parents—trying to save planet Earth from oil corporations, pollution, and mindless acts against Nature.

Set in the near future, Nature's Confession paints a harrowing picture of where we're headed, but JL Morin, who graduated from Cass Technical High School in Detroit, goes above the average fictional dystopian tale of doom and spins a gorgeous tale that is surprisingly fresh in perspective. Morin splashes her epic sci-fi thriller with interesting satire, fresh neologisms, comical aphorisms, and vibrant illustrations of Nature, where it does exist (in space and on another planet). Morin weaves physics, linguistics, mythology, and spirituality into the tale. Her ordinary characters become extra-ordinary against the hive-mind, bricks-in-the-wall society members that live in fear under corporate and militant law—headed by an obese porker reminiscent of the largest of Wall-E characters.

Perhaps Nature's Confession is so vigorous and uplifting because, unlike many books that remind us of our ruinous destiny, this novel's characters create solutions and act on them. From start to end, you'll find yourself on a thrilling, page-turning adventure that may spark some nostalgia of older classic sci-fi, the kind that shaped our world. It was a pleasure to read this novel, which might help to mold a new world: one in which we will take action to protect ourselves and one in which we will honor Nature and understand her confession: that she cannot continue to sustain us unless we give up the war against her.