Review: "Reversion"... a decent plot, but I struggled with this book... 2 1/2 Stars
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 08 19, 2013
"Reversion: The Inevitable Horror" is the first book in 'The Portal Arcane Series' by author J. Thorn. This Kindle e-book was approximately 195 printed pages and sold for $0.99 at the time of writing this review.Please Note: the author provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.SpoilersOur hero, Samuel, finds himself in the wilds after attempting to hang himself in a prison cell. Confused and disorientated, his initial joy of still being alive is soon dispersed by series of horrific events. This then is Sam's tale.End SpoilersSome Pros and Concerns...The Pros...1.) an intriguing opening sequence that was the deciding factor to make me read the rest of the book.2.) had several intense and engaging encounters that were well done.3.) some good character development (see concerns below)The Concerns...1.) after the good beginning I found the story just seemed to lose some impetus. Hard to put a finger on an exact reason, but I lost interest in this tale very quickly.2.a) there were frequent, increasingly long segments where Sam would slip into a prolonged dream-like state. All of these 'episodes' seemed to be leading to an eventual explanation as to why Sam was where he was. However these diversions were dragged out to the point of slowing the main tale down to a crawl.2.b) and similarly, one of the main factors that dampened my enthusiasm was the slowness with which the plot seemed to develop especially when it came to revealing important details as to why Sam and his companions were trapped in this nightmare like scenario.2.c) in addition, the deadly storm (mentioned for what seemed like umpteen times) that was encroaching upon the area moved with a relentless, but molasses-like speed.3.) the time spent with the characters and their development came at the expense of reducing the action portions of the book. And this maybe the books most serious drawback.4.) for a 'horror' book, some of the horrors were not as gruesome as you might expect.Impressions:A story that seemed to have potential and had a decent beginning, but it was never able to maintain that momentum I experienced in the opening section. It seemed I kept waiting for something to happen... and a few things did... just not enough or at least quickly enough. As a result, I really struggled to maintain my interest and it got to the point were I had to force myself to return to read this book in an attempt to try to get through to the finish.This, I believe, was a decent story, but the author needed to be a little more succinct in his story-telling. To be successful a book has to be entertaining... and it was, but only to a limited degree. All the building blocks seemed to be there, it just needed a different path to get to the needed result.As it is... 2 1/2  Stars.Ray Nicholsonraynicholsonsreviews@hotmail.com@ralannicholson