Review: B- rating.....
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 22, 2013
My Review:This book and I simply did not mesh well. I'm not sure what it was, but throughout most of the dialogue, I just felt like I was missing the joke. Things, actions, and reactions didn't work for me especially when there were large groups of people. I really had a hard time keeping track of who was saying what and definitely didn't catch the fanfic comic references, so I kept missing things and important points. You know it's like when you are at a party in a big group and someone makes a joke where everyone laughs and you have no idea why...that was me and this book. Awkward.BUT with that being said, there were things about the book that I loved...mainly Trip...at least in the first 75% of the story. I loved the whole story line with him being a comic book artist and his creation, Scratch. As a writer, watching him develop that comic was inspirational and I loved it. I also really loved Silas's reaction and support of him and his idea. Silas pushes him to pursue this art that he loves and that is awesome! They are both artistic and that creates such a fabulous story line for this book. I loved the insights into their jobs, their creative process, and the various cons and public events. It made for some great scenes and settings.It was interesting that both characters had the same basic relationship with their bosses, who are both easily jerks...although Silas's boss turned a bit better toward the end. For all that they are completely different in personality, these guys professionally were VERY similar...both work as artists for egocentric jerks. And both of them are surrounded by girl friends who advise them. What I did love was the twist at the end and the way that everything worked out. That was an interesting twist, although my heart broke the whole story through for Ziggy.I found myself fascinated by the comic Trip creates, Scratch. I loved the premise of that and realized after the book was finished that there actually is a book with that story line, HornGate. I'm intrigued...maybe even enough to give this author another try even though this one was a bit rough for me.A mild warning: the guys discuss sex and cocks at length throughout the book and every time, it seemed like they used different terminology. While, at times, they were really creative, a lot of the time, it was fairly crude. Personal taste, I could have easily done without that aspect of it....but it was creative. Who knew there were so many ways you could phrase those things?While the book didn't necessarily work for me, I feel that's a deficiency in my comic book fan trivia knowledge, not a sign of weakness in the book. I'll admit, I read and only read...well, I write too. But anyway, references to TV and cult fiction stuff just fly over my head because I am just not exposed to it. I have a feeling that's not the case for most readers and if you are a comic book fan, I think this one will be a true winner for you!I received a complimentary copy of this book in return for an honest review.