Review: Good first book with reservations (potential spoilers)
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 08 29, 2013
Good concept, average execution.I really tried to enjoy this story but had a few issues with it mainly in regards to the story line. I get the feeling that most of the reading prior to publishing was done by friends or relatives. Had it been read by a more impartial group it may have avoided the issues I had with it.Part of my problem was the setting. As no particular place is mentioned I was trying to get a feel for the locale. At first I thought it was set in Australia but later settled for "some city in the US". I did question the author (he's a Kiwi) on this and he explained his rationale which I accept but once you decide a setting you need to pay attention to language used especially slang. I found myself questioning certain language used due to this. Overall this is a minor issue but still put me off a little as I like to immerse myself in a story.About 1/4 into the book I hit a time line issue. A central opponent was in a wheelchair having just been thrown through a 2nd storey window and lost his whole paramilitary team. He states to his boss that's he's going to be out of action fro sometime. Lo and behold a couple of chapters later (hours in story terms) he has a whole new team and is going toe to toe with a monster. He then has a piece of a building dropped on him but manages to get away with a limp. A 10-minute rewrite could have fixed this if it had been identified.Which leads to one of my major issues with the story - emotion. There's very little. As an example, evil bad guy from above leads team into a hospital and proceeds to slaughter evryone in it, in effect. The main protagonist and his two friends, one a woman,  come upon the scene and barely bat an eyelid in fact it is hardly mentioned. There is a lot of slaughter for the sake of it with no real emotional impact on anyone. Even a kidnapping results in very little emotion.The main oppositions motive is simply not believable either. I won't reveal any more plot but the rationale behind the whole storyline makes very little sense once this is revealed.Disappointing that I have to give it this rating as I like to support self-published authors but I have to be honest.