Review: Great Fun! Gotta read this!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 3, 2013
Book Review: The Ghost Pirate's Treasure by Barbara Ivie GreenReviewed by J Bryden LloydWriting Style - 4.5/5.0 (Excellent)There was a nice flow to this and a lot of the humour was typically tongue-in-cheek. The dialogue was good and fitted well with the descriptive style of the piece.The pace at the start feels very quick. Nothing is really given time to become established as we get quickly into the key plot. Initially, it is almost considered a sub-plot, but as soon as the story begins to open up, the construction takes the reader cleverly into the main plot line.Character Development - 4.0/5.0 (Very Good)Characters are introduced very quickly. Even the dog is thrown into the mix with little preamble. But despite the mish-mash of different characters and the variety of different issues they introduce to our main character, it actually brings a semblance of order from the chaos.All the characters are very likeable, and all develop nicely throughout the story... with the possible exception of the dog, but even he gets his ending.Descriptive - 3.5/5.0 (Good)There is some nice, well constructed descriptive to be enjoyed here. For me though, I felt it could have done with a little more, generally.Having read this author before, I am familiar with the way she utilises the plot to enhance the descriptive, and how she interlinks the narrative and dialogue in support. She does this again here, and to good effect, but I still felt there were occasions where the atmosphere and locations needed a little extra.Language & Grammar - 4.0/5.0 (Very Good)I liked the use of language, and the way the humour was rolled into the narrative and the dialogue was seamless. Despite the adult feel of the work, this is likely suitable for older teens (16+), and would undoubtedly appeal to their more modern, dry levels of amusement.From a grammar and edit stand-point, I found the odd unnecessary comma, and the good old American desire to have a series of uber-short sentences, was occasionally infuriating, but not a deal-breaker.Plot - 4.5/5.0 (Excellent) - MINOR SPOILERSThis struck me as something akin to a romantic adventure with some serious complications. In fairness, the story followed the nice, comfy principals: Girl meets ghost, girl likes ghost, ghost likes girl... now what the hell do we do?Thankfully there were ways and means to make sure we had the happy ending... but then it all goes... umm... No. Find out yourself.General - 4.0/5.0 (Very Good)As an honest, hands-up appraisal; I wouldn't have liked this without the laughs. For me, it needed either the humour, or a lot more thrill and tension (which there really wasn't until the very end).That said, I don't hesitate to recommend this to romance readers who want something gentler and with a bit of a giggle thrown in.The `Indiana Jones' style conclusion is very well drawn out, and ties up a lot of loose ends. Admittedly I had one or two questions at the end, but I'm good like that.Four very deserved stars... Next, Mrs Green!