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Matthew Kealoha Baker is a life long lover of stories, and has enjoyed writing them since grade school. Hawaiian born, Matt moved to Colorado with his family when he was only two years old, and has lived there ever since.
He currently lives in a very small (fewer than a thousand people) farming town in Southern Colorado where he continues to write and works as a substitute teacher on the side.
Reviewed by Sarah Scheele for Readers' Favorite
The Gathering Gods (Trip) by M.K. Baker is an imaginative epic fantasy tale filled with symbolism and cosmic themes. It begins in a remote period of history when the world is beginning again after an even earlier time. A young girl named Perl awakens with no memories and soon realizes a beautiful woman named Ohm, her mentor, has given her fruit from a special tree called the Bodhi. This has caused Perl to reawaken with a new identity—one of The Wise. Perl is ordered to take the remaining twelve fruits and give them to others, many of whom she encounters by accident. Guided benevolently by Ohm, Perl and her first six friends travel the world and continue to expand outwards until all recipients of the Bodhi fruits have been found and a civilization can be built.
The Gathering Gods (Trip) is a journey into philosophy and adventure that shows the mark of a true creative mind. With a wonderfully developed mythology all its own, this book is literature at its most pure. M.K. Baker has the originality and depth that I’ve always admired in the best books. The personalities of Perl and her friends unfold in a gently paced, realistic way as they travel and record their significant experiences, and each of them--bookish Rychis, scientist Dehmun, pert, spunky fairy Imladi, the noble water-creature Endi, and more--blend perfectly together as representations of everything in humanity. We spend the most time with the first seven partakers of the fruits, as they have meaningful encounters with those of their species who have not been “awakened,” individualized visits from Ohm, or special bonds with each other that add threads to the journey, drawing a story that is just beginning as the book ends. A beautifully told, intelligent tale, The Gathering Gods should be on your list.
