Review: ol' Joe's back and better than never...
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 02 28, 2014
First, I bought the book out of curiosity (I am, however, returning it, seeing as I don't want the author to have my money). My curiosity was not as much about what happens to the characters, as I don't care for them. The first book was mindless, boring drivel. No. I bought the book to see if the whole experience has taught ol' Joe something, anything. The answer? No. His main character is continuously shamed and ridiculed (painting her purple, twice, really?) and she forgives everyone. Because, if there is one thing ol' Joe likes writing about it's the humiliation of lesbian characters until they become willing doormats for their "love" interests. Speaks tons for the character of the man, I think.Aside from that, on a purely story level, the book is bad, and not even the so bad it's funny/good way. It's boring. It's predictable. It recycles things from the previous installment. The characters are bland and uninteresting. There are so many Amazons, it's impossible to keep track of who is whom. And, frankly, I didn't want to keep track because they are two-dimensional and vastly recyclable.Looking at the main characters more closely, Maya, the, for the lack of a better term, protagonist, is Michaela sans the were fox park. Exactly. The two are identical down to the fact that both have stupid puns for a surname. Malora is Lara. Again, exactly. The companions are Angle, Scarlet, and whatever those other faceless werewolves are named. This shouldn't, of course, come as a surprise to anyone who has read more that two of ol' Joe's books, as the guy can write two characters semi-competently, and continuously reuses them.Finally, if ol' Joe wishes to continue writing, he should really invest some time and effort into learning something, anything, about world building. Two books in, and I know more about the stock image he used for the cover of the book than I do about the internal structure and mechanics of the world where the story takes place.