Review of "5 Weeks of Saturn" by Mike J. Kizman

Score: 93+/100 (9.3+ out of 10)

Saturn O. Syres, the winner of our most recent Best Character Award, returns in this warm, topsy-turvy Christian romance!

5 Weeks of Saturn continues the story of Saturn O. Syres as she navigates her hectic life, advertising career, love, and Christian faith.

The narrative of this book is somewhere between an episodic slice-of-life contemporary novel and a slow-burn romantic drama. There are times when it feels like—rather than running toward a particular objective or finish line—we're just spending time with Saturn, a remarkable, inspirational, creative, and compelling person. With that said, there are times when this book does seem a bit monotonous, mundane, and meandering. It's over 600 pages long, albeit very small pages. However, it does feel drawn out and aimless at times.

Now, that's not to say that Saturn doesn't have goals. Believe it or not, she does. She wants to support her sister through her new pregnancy. She wants to help her client(s), impress her employers, and prove how phenomenal she is at her work. It's clearly something she finds fulfilling. To top it off, she clearly wants to be with Janus, her main love interest throughout the novel. That alone is enough to fill a book.

The biggest issue with this book is the precedence that the previous book set, particularly with the relationship dynamic between the two sisters, Saturn and Venus.

Venus was such a complicated and compelling character in 14 Hours of Saturn. There were times when she was arguably the main villain/antagonist of the novel. There were times when she was an antihero. You could really tell how heavily Venus overshadowed and weighed on Saturn. Her lingering influence was like a ball and chain around Saturn's leg.

Venus was a character that the reader felt even when she wasn't on the page. She was impactful and fascinating.

Venus is a shell of her former self in this book. She is almost unrecognizable as a character, for better or for worse. She's completely reformed—a happily married woman who lives on a farm and is expecting a baby. She's often self-sacrificing, generous, loving, and kind. Yes, Saturn occasionally notes how much Venus has changed (like when she sees the planet Venus in the telescope in a thinly-veiled metaphorical scene), but it seems to be missing weight—that unmistakable oomph she packed in book one. Venus just isn't Venus anymore. She's like a season 1 villain who has been neutered, nerfed and turned into a jobber by season 3. On one hand, it is encouraging to see a character like Venus grow and change. On the other hand, the cost of that growth is that she no longer feels like the chaotic, unpredictable force that dominated the first book.

That's unfortunate. Shouldn't she still be battling demons and the shadows of her past? Where did this wholesome little angel come from?

In contrast, Saturn still wrestles with guilt, shame, and self-doubt all the time. Outside of advertising (in which she's almost always the smartest person in the room) Saturn is constantly second-guessing her other decisions in life.

Perhaps the struggle we noticed the most when it comes to Saturn is her conscience and faith warring with her sexual urges and attraction. Saturn isn't young anymore. She's a grown, sexual, and sexually-active being now. And it seems to weigh on her quite a bit. We noticed that her prayers tend to mention her sexual temptations and romantic relationship(s). This series is a bit more steamy than traditional Christian romances.

This book isn't afraid to explore human nature in its entirety. And being sexual doesn't make Saturn a bad person or a bad Christian, it makes her human.

Now, there was an aspect of Saturn & Janus's relationship that bothered us a little and might bother other traditional Christians: Saturn & Janus repeatedly say they're not exclusive. In other words, they're knowingly dating around while technically dating each other.

While this might annoy purists who believe that when you love someone, they should be the only one you have eyes for, it does create some compelling dynamics including a bit of a love triangle/cube with Venus, Janus, Sunny, and Blake. You can throw Eliott, Chip Flanders, and Bruce in there as well. Also, where's Ted? Didn't they become friends again and have a nice reunion at the end of the previous book?

Anyway, people are constantly flirting with Saturn, and she occasionally flirts back.

So is life.

Speaking of life, there's a particularly mundane scene that actually held a lot of meaning for us. It was when Saturn saw two guys fishing together on TV, looking happy and content as can be. It plays right up against her dancing with and even kissing Eliott, who had fished with her (on to of all the pseudo-romantic things they did).

However, this little spot on TV (with the two fishermen) says a lot more about Saturn and her feelings. Saturn has achieved a lot in her life, especially when it comes to art, advertising, and reconciling with her sister, but there's still a longing in her heart.

That resonated with us.

Saturn continuing to be a cat owner (of Muffin) also resonated with us. Yes, the cat stuff is mundane like a lot of this book, but it also helps to ground Saturn and make her seem more realistic.

Perhaps her most human moment in the previous book was just the weird yet relatable way she eats certain things. In this book, her most human moments are just trying to get some R & R with a feline in the house.

She also keeps confiding in Chloe Summers, her college roommate and best friend from Ball State. This somewhat bugged us. Maybe it's a pet peeve, but... we never cared about Chloe. She has a whole section in this book in which she "arrives" and we received that with the enthusiasm of your in-laws moving in.

Chloe comes across as this uber modest conservative Christian, which is probably a safe friend to have in real life, but she's just so... bland.

Chloe does serve a purpose, however. Saturn's conversations with her do reveal how emotionally and spiritually torn she is about things like her jealousy over Sunny and Janus.

You know who she reminded us of? She reminded us of the wife from Driving for Freedom, the one who keeps getting phone calls about feelings and issues the main character is having (as if we hadn't already noticed them). In that book, the main character could stub their toe, then call his wife like, "Wife, I stubbed my toe. It hurts." It's pretty clear what Saturn is wrestling with without Chloe having to intermediate.

Anyway, we talked about Sunny, and she's a pretty major character in this.

And by the way, can we just point out that these names are getting a bit comedic and unbelievable? We've got Janus Rings in here (you know, like the rings of Saturn?) and Sunny Knight (you know, like an oxymoronic sunny night?)

Anyway, back to Sunny... Sunny Knight is almost the anti Chloe. Where Chloe is modest, quiet, and spiritually safe, Sunny is bright, bubbly, and just a little bit dangerous to Saturn's peace of mind. She is a fellow deacon at Oakfield Second Christian Church, and she clearly has history with Janus. Sunny is always there, always smiling, always sliding a little closer to him at meetings, touching his arm or shoulder, or hiding behind bylaws to keep Saturn in her place as a "non member." She is not a full blown villain, but she is a constant, nagging thorn in Saturn's side.

Some of the most entertaining scenes in the book come from this tension. We see Sunny subtly try to push Saturn out of the Independence Day fair planning, only for Saturn's marketing and advertising expertise to win everyone over. Sunny tries to use church rules to silence her; Saturn ends up designing the whole promotional strategy for the event. Scenes like that let Saturn shine in her field while also keeping the relational drama simmering in the background.

On the other side of the love geometry, we have Blake Boyd, the persistent almost boyfriend from Jack's Coffee and Pastry. Blake is a bit of a walking red flag in a flannel shirt. After a couple of dates and one kiss, he behaves as if they had some deep, committed relationship. He corners Saturn at the coffee shop, ignores her clear "no," and generally will not take a hint until the new owner finally bans him from the premises. Blake is annoying, but he is also oddly useful for the story, because his clinginess throws Saturn's more cautious, prayerful attitude into sharper relief.

These two arguably serve as two of the major antagonists in the novel. Not in the moustache twirling villain sense, but in the everyday, relational sense. Sunny gets under Saturn’s skin by hovering around Janus and weaponizing church bylaws to keep her on the sidelines, while Blake chips away at Saturn’s peace of mind by refusing to respect her boundaries or take no for an answer. Together, they keep Saturn off balance, jealous, and constantly second guessing herself, which drives a surprising amount of the tension in a book that is otherwise pretty cozy and mundane on the surface.

It's just... they're not as compelling as Venus was in the previous book as an antagonistic force. Sunny reminded us of the long-legged, bangs-having model from Confessions of a Shopaholic. Obscure reference, we know, but it's true.

Ok, so there are a few more things we actually liked about this book. Arguably the highlight of this entire book is when Saturn gets to let loose and do her thing as an advertiser. She's spectacular!

Having her on your advertising team is like having Nick Saban on your sideline. Saturn sees and notices things that no one else does. She sees and notices opportunities and angles that no one else does. She's a genius!

And it's so cool to see her be so resourceful and show off her creativity and ingenuity. For one thing, her voice-over talent is able to bring the cats and human characters of various ages to life in her commercials. She can do it all!

And yet... outside of advertising, she's this really vulnerable and bewildered person.

Check it out on Amazon!