Snowflake River, by Ben-Ami Eliahu | Dedicated Review

Review sponsored by Ben-Ami Eliahu
The Children’s Book Review | August 31, 2016

Snowflake River

Written by Ben-Ami Eliahu

Paperback Book: 276 pages

Age Range: Teens

Publisher: Createspace

ISBN: 9781523237722

What to expect: Adventure, friendship, spirituality

Omer is not doing well at school. It’s not that he isn’t smart – he can remember all sorts of interesting things. Just not the things that matter on tests. So when his teacher forces him to work on a group project with pretty and clever Noa, he is both excited and nervous. Worse still, in his nervous state, he picks a project topic that may be a little closer to home than he’d like – the mysterious phenomenon of body cooling. It’s been secretly happening to him, and other young people around the world. But he hasn’t told anyone, and perhaps this project will help him find the reason behind it.

He and Noa set off to find the answers to this worldwide epidemic. With the help of their teacher, Joel, and old Professor Peretz, Omer and Noa go on an adventure to find the mystical origins of a secret symbol and how it relates to the body cooling epidemic.

Ben-Ami Eliahu is a talented writer with a wide breadth of knowledge that gives the book depth and provides readers with salient information that can lead to further exploration. There are interesting facts sprinkled throughout the book. For example, he makes reference to Noctiluca scintillans, which are tiny glowing sea organisms and are a fascinating and appropriate metaphor in the story. Sumai tangiee is another interesting reference and historical tidbit. It’s a high table that South Indian farmers would use to set down their loads and rest.

The book is set up in alternating perspectives between the protagonists and other secondary characters, which provides a multi-faceted approach to plot development. While some of the plot development choices may perplex individual readers, the multiple story tellers and the complex plot make for an intricate tale that will challenge readers as they seek to solve the mystery.

Overall, the writing was fast paced, detailed and complex. The spiritual and mysterious elements will intrigue readers. The fast plot is written like an adult thriller, constantly humming along at breakneck speed. Snowflake River occupies an interesting seat between commercial thriller and literary fiction.

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 About Ben-Ami Eliahu

Ben Ami Eliahu enjoys a life that was both hard earned and well deserved. The path that brought him here, well, it was an interesting one to say the least.

Born to parents of Indian origin, Ben Ami grew to be an intelligent child and attended schools for gifted children. However, like many smart young adults, his intelligence was perhaps better suited outside of a schoolhouse and during his 10th grade year he made the decision to drop out of highschool. He served his 3 years of compulsory service in the Israeli military and before leaving to explore the world.

Over the course of 4 years, Ben Ami worked and travelled his way across Jordan, Egypt, Japan, India, Holland, Canada, the U.S. and many other countries. He eventually returned home but left for the great city of Tel-Aviv shortly thereafter. It was here that he really began to invest his time and energy in his writing, inspiration coming from what he observed during his daily life.

Eventually, Ben Ami became a programmer, a job that changed his life. And not because he was great at what he did. In fact, he was a terrible programmer. But it did lead him to discover that he was an excellent manager and so he began his climb up the corporate ladder. A few years and some promotions later, Ben Ami found himself suffocated and unhappy with the office life.

What’d he do? What anyone else would do! He packed up and moved to a forest cabin in India. It was here in this cabin that Snowflake River: A Voyage Into the Great Spirit was brought to life.

Ben Ami Eliahu has since returned home to run his family’s vineyard. When he’s not adoring his wife (his self proclaimed key to a happy marriage), or spending time with his two daughters and cowardly dog, you can usually find him up before the sun, writing and working on the next story.