Review: Almost a 3-Star Except...
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 11 28, 2012
There are a few issues I have with this book, and a few questions too.First, after reading the synopsis I thought the idea of the story interesting enough to give it a go. The $0.00 price was a help in making that decision too. I've had a run of bad luck with some of the self-published books on amazon as far as their depth, intelligence, and attention to grammar and punctuation, so being free was a big Plus.In the first chapter, actually within the first few pages, some of the most intentionally unintelligent comments are made by the main character that made me instantly close-out of my Kindle for PC and go hunting for a different book to read. The part where the protag does something that no human should be able to do, but then attributes this strange ability to a weird "coincidental gift from the universe", or something just completely crushed any hope I had for the story. And then shortly after, when seeing something mysterious in a place she is not supposed to be and that poses great danger to her, she chases after it, I had to take deep calming breaths. Where's the underline in here? She CHASES it.But after a fruitless and halfhearted search for a different book, I returned to this one, determined to give its author the benefit of the doubt. I'm not about to go into further detail because it would only make me look like I was unhappy with how the story unfolded, and that's not the case at all. There were just so many inconsistencies and random acts of emotion and awkward mannerisms and social interactions it was frustrating at every turn.I found there to be multiple places throughout the story where the characters would say or do something totally alien to the set mood, or completely confusing to me. Reading this story was like looking into the mind of a mood swinging ADD spaz with wings and super powers. Her attention seemed to jump from one thing to the next so fast and sometimes seemingly so random I wanted to tell the character to sit still and be quiet for a minute. There's no continuous focus of one thing at a time, there's no consistency to the moods or attitudes of the characters, and above all- the action scenes were down right confusing. I'm not an accomplished writer, and no, I have not published anything I've written, but I do know a good fight scene, or action scene when I read one, and those in this story had me more confused than before the scene happened.Also, the dynamics between characters was hard to follow. Each time Breandan and Devlin were in the scene, all I kept thinking was "WHY is he leaving her with Devlin when we all KNOW Devlin has bad intentions for Rae???" or "WHY did he just turn his back on an enemy after a supposedly vicious sword fight?" There were so many "Why?!" thoughts after each scene containing the three characters I had to take breaks just to calm myself down from the frustration I was experiencing over it.The concept of the story is fascinating, and the characters individually are interesting and (evil personalities aside) are likable. But the conflicts of what the characters say versus what they actually do, and sometimes the mood swings they express are just confounding. There's no other way I can describe it without going into a full rant. I really wished this story were better because I think the world the writer had created is fun and it definitely sets my imagination whirling but the incongruity of the characters just ruined it for me.