The Ancient Ones

"The Ancient Ones is a splendid dive into a world weaved with adventure, ancient earth, and otherworldly encounters. C.B. Strul takes you on a 100,000-year-old journey alongside a brave teenage girl, Blue Flower, whose saga of survival is as touching as it is thrilling. Turns at every corner!Get lost in a world of suspense and intrigue with our collection of mystery books. From cozy mysteries to hard-boiled thrillers, we have something for every mystery lover."

"Such a good read! Love a good world building and rich, complex characters, I was immersed in the story till the very end.
Highly recommend."

"uplifting emotional storyline that merges positive community messaging with the supernatural. fantasy novel that read smoothly that will resonate with anyone looking for action packed stories that will engage your teen without any negative messaging or for anyone looking for a good "beach read" or to take with you on a vacation."

"It's very innovative and inventive. My only suggestion is to add more "voice" to the characters. The chosen style prioritized narration over dialog, and that worked well due to the descriptive, vivid, and excellent articulation, making it a real page-turner. Giving unique personality to the occasional dialog would have helped increase the reader's connection to the characters. Still, I really enjoyed the book, and it was hard to put it down."

"I read this book in a few days, and really enjoyed the writing and how easy it was to get immersed in the story - that at times, I was so much in Blue Flower’s world that I forgot I was even reading! Highly recommend this one!"

"The Ancient Ones is a captivating and imaginative tale of two unlikely friends who are determined to find Blue Flower's captured tribe. It is a heart-warming story with a unique twist on science fiction. The characters are realistic and relatable, and the imagery of the desert landscape is truly breathtaking. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Ancient Ones and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a science fiction adventure."

"A must keep copy. Enjoyed it."

"It's very innovative and inventive. My only suggestion is to add more "voice" to the characters. The chosen style prioritized narration over dialog, and that worked well due to the descriptive, vivid, and excellent articulation, making it a real page-turner. Giving unique personality to the occasional dialog would have helped increase the reader's connection to the characters. Still, I really enjoyed the book, and it was hard to put it down."

"Sci-fi is a hard genre to nail. It requires a plethora of skills that can (and will) go beyond the regular scope of a story. 

Authors who write contemporary have the world already built (what a terrible pun, I’m sorry). Historical writers need to do a lot of research and mind accuracy/speech; romance writers tend to focus on character development, and so on. 

Sci-fi and fantasy authors, however, have it worse since they also have to build up the entire setting. Well, worse or better, I guess. It really depends on personal preferences. When I write, to me worldbuilding is the most enticing part. When I read, it’s what I pay the most attention to.

Strul, with The Ancient One, does a marvelous job in this aspect. The world we see Blue Flower move in is rich and complex, multilayered, something that’s worth four stars alone. I’m seeing both a developmental and an editor credited in the notes, meaning this story has been given time and space to grow - hat tip, everyone. 

The cast of characters is well-crafted, but Blue Flower is the one who has been developed better. While not uncommon for a main character and something I’m guilty of myself, too, I would have liked to see more complexity there as well. 

Grammar, syntaxis, punctuation, story arc: all impeccable. I didn’t see any typos or stray comma, the structure is solid and thought out. A round of clapping here too. Bravo!

Flaws, um. Small potatoes, easily fixable. This book is prose-heavy, something that doesn’t help much with the flow. It has a good rhythm, mind, but the flow suffers a bit since there aren’t a lot of dialogues to carry it forward. Despite the size - a respectable 300+ pages - some parts read a bit too much tell vs show. Again: a story can’t be all show and no tell or viceversa, else we’d end up with doorstoppers with an ego complex or ten pages novels. A balance is needed, and I acknowledge that it’s really hard to maintain it for a whole book. 

All in all, an enjoyable read! 

4 stars on GR

I actually met the author and his fiancée (now wife) while I was working at a restaurant in Nevada. We had a great conversation and when I found out he was a science fiction author, I had to check out his book. I ordered it and then life got busy, as it does, and it sat on my shelf for the better part of a year. I'm a lifelong sci-fi fan, and I’m SO glad I finally picked it back up.

Set in the distant past, the story follows a young woman, Blue Flower, and her musical alien companion through a vividly described desert world. It’s one of those books that makes you forget you're reading. Some authors just have that gift for building images in your mind, and C. B. Strul is one of them.

I’m looking forward to reading his sophomore release, Connectivity, and will be keeping an eye out for his next novel in August 2025.

Buy the book. Thank me later