Review: An Awkward Read - not my cup of tea
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 21, 2013
I struggled with much of this Kindle downloaded book and ended up feeling somewhat let down by the experience.The basic premise, a bi-polar militarily gifted psychopath named Bruce has created a rapacious survival commune populated by a large number of mostly anonymous human survivors. His mission: cull infected and defend the commune at all costs whilst basking in the unfettered approbation of his many natural and adopted children and associated female hangers-on. So far so good. It's a workable idea and the minor tactical operations used are very well described.But the rest of the work strains the bounds of credibility. Bruce's character and the way he exerts influence over his immediate family and women is eerily reminiscent of Charles Manson - it's disturbing and too much of a stretch to reach. I did not enjoy or relate to the central figure at any level or in any way.Major ancillary faults in this book are: unbelievable female characters who resemble nothing but bemused latter-day Squeaky Frommes ever hugging and kissing Bruce and bending to his will; excruciatingly twee character dialog - people in the real world let alone in a survival situation do not talk in ways portrayed by the author; a dire need for editorial pruning was required since far too much of the book is taken up with boringly jejune scenarios which turn out to be absolutely pointless.  For example an entire chapter is devoted to Bruce and his harem having a tickle fight in bed: like what was that all about?  I found myself clicking rapidly through this empty-caloried pap and wondered why it hadn't ended up in the recycle bin before publication.  Grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure are all simple and make for a fast read.  There is a sprinkling of spelling mistakes of even very basic words but not to a degree that they are annoying or distracting.If you enjoy gung-ho American doomsday prepping fantasy, very strange female behaviors and quaintly soft-lime sex and violence - let me tell you, this is the book for YOU.