Review: Seemed Like Two Different Books In One
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 8, 2013
I promise to be brutally honest with my opinion, but it should not be taken as fact. Any reader should read it for themselves, before they decide if this book has any merit or not. Do not judge this book biased solely on my opinion. If you do, you might miss out on a great read. You never know. It could happen. My review may contain spoilers, but I really strive to be spoiler-free. I downloaded this book for free on Amazon.com. This book was not suggested nor "gifted" to me by the author. I have no affiliation with the author or his/her publisher.1. Strong Main Character/ Female Heroine: Melissa may as well have been a minor character for all the knight in shining armor stunts that Gabriel had to do to get her out of uncomfortable situations with that sleaze ball of a guy that she likes. She is not at all a strong heroine or even a heroine for that matter. She cannot even save herself. She put herself in a position to be raped and when it is attempted, she throws a weak attempt at getting away. The jerk should not have tried, but there should not have been an opportunity for him. I am not against rape victims. I believe that rape is wrong and should never happen to anyone. The way the author wrote this scene is what I am against and how she portrayed her main character. She created Melissa to be weak and have to be saved. She makes her drink, because Gabriel did not show up. Her friends let her go off with the guy and she lets herself be dragged off by a guy who tried to rape her a different time. To me, going off with a guy who tried to rape you before to "talk" is an a-hole and you are way stupid to go with him. IO do not believe that if a real woman or girl was almost raped in a car would not report it and then, go off with that guy in the woods away from people in the middle of the night. Do not blame the booze. She still seemed to be thinking straight. Melissa is an unrealistic character and Bella Swan would whoop her butt in a fight. Bella is supposed to be the image that comes to everyone's mind of a weak female heroine, but Melissa now, overshadows her. I am glad to be one of the few, who know that. Now, all my future allusions will be towards Melissa, not Bella...Sorry, Bella. 1 out of 5 stars2. Strong Main Character / Male Hero: Gabriel is probably the only character that I did somewhat like. He was strong and heroic, but he was weak when it came to his creator. He was so afraid to speak out, but I know why so it makes that a bit understanding. However, I still wished that he was a bit stronger to stand up for himself. I did not like how perfect he looked. It seemed more arrogant and I was surprised when he was not. I do not believe that Melissa and Gabriel really go together as a couple. He would go better with Daniela than with Melissa, but I guess he is attracted to the damsel in distress. He is super powerful, but do not be mistaken. He is no superhero. He cannot even stand up for himself, so how he can he save the world from Eugene? He is scared of Eugene, but a great hero would stand up to that fear at any cost. Gabriel just backed down to it, and then did whatever he wanted. It is a start, but more backstabbing and underhanded than heroic. 2 out of 5 stars3. Strong Main Character / Evil Antagonist: Eugene is a terrifying character, but much thought and development went into his character creation by the author. His chapters were maddening, but so well-crafted that I loved reading them. He was a joy to read, because the story was so smooth and he was very unpredictable like a jungle cat. Terzini is the evil mastermind, while Eugene is his minion creation. Terzini is a pure mad scientist, who believes that he can make the perfect human race, quite like Hitler during World War II. While Hitler wanted blue eyed, blonde haired, identical twins, Terzini wants a perfect human race with no emotions and perfect genes free of disease and cancer. He also wants them to be intelligent and quick witted. He is the perfect example of a scientist gone rogue. Although these two characters were more enjoyable to read about, I still could not relate to them. 4 out of 5 stars4. Strong Minor Characters: Alexandra is a goddess of a girl, who likes burb and fart contests. She also likes to swear...a lot. I guess the author was trying her spin on the new and improved tomboy, but I can honestly say that every time that girl spoke I forgot that she was supposed to be beautiful and goddess like. I saw her as ugly as the words she spoke and kind of on the plump side as well. I pictured Daniella very beautiful though. She seemed to outshine them all with her impeccable taste and choice words. She is the ideal image of the perfect woman and likes to flaunt it as well. I found her charming, but overly concerned for Melissa's welfare. Well, actually, not enough, because she let her go off with that jerk knowing full well what he tried to do to her. 2 out of 5 stars5. The Plot: The events that occurred throughout the book was a bit of a letdown and I was not intrigued by the plot. Some of the narrative was enjoyable, but for the most part, I did not believe it to be all that interesting. I am glad that I did not spend any money on this book, but now I know why it was free in the first place. What I do not understand was why it was on the top 100 free downloads on Amazon.com. I cannot believe how many people downloaded this book, but then again, I was duped too into believing that this book was going to be something very interesting. I give the authors points for creating something so unique, but I did not really enjoy it. It was too short. Too forced and too unbelievable to even consider it to be true. I could not loose myself in this book. 2 out of 5 stars6. The Setting: The environments could have been interesting, if details and descriptions were put to creative work. The settings fall flat however, because the authors glazed over important details that would have created a world that the reader could immerse themselves in. The sad part is that these places are so generic, it could have been anywhere. I do not know why the authors bothered much with any specifics on the characters' locations. When they arrived in New York, I was expected the school to be high end and the students to be rich and up to all the latest trends like most New Yorkers are. I got none of that and everything of a cold day up in Maine. Maine would have been a better place to set this story in, but don't ask me why. It is just something I feel would just click about the place and the students, if it had been set there. 1 out of 5 stars7. The Dialogue: There was nothing special about the dialogue and I feel that Melissa shared a lot too soon with Gabriel. Her history could have been dragged out more than it was. Actually, the whole story needed to be longer to have been developed more than it was. Anyways, the dialogue was nothing special. It was typical teenager speak for the most part. No complaints there, but I found it lacking in maturity and emotional appeal. There was nothing gripping about anyone's exchanges. They just talked and that was it. There was no suspense or real appeal. 2 out of 5 stars8. Engaging Surprises: The only engaging surprises was when the reader was inside Eugene's mind and reading his part of the story. I think it has to do with his animalistic properties and the fact that the author took the time to develop his character somewhat to make him more interesting to the reader, even though, the character is way evil and creepy. Otherwise, there were no surprises AT ALL. 1 out of 5 stars9. Climax: This author calls alluding to Eugene getting closer to New York a climax? There was nothing resolved and nothing that left the reader wanting to know what happened next. It made me feel: That's it? I was expecting a BOOM, when I got a: to be continued. It was a major let down, not to mention a literary/series turnoff. There was no climax, which does not make it a surprise to me that there really was no story. No climax = no story. Period. 1 out of 5 stars10. Emotional Response: What response? The only response I had was when I finished the book. I was glad to be done with it. Maybe, I had tears of frustration throughout the book, but I do not think that that was the type of emotional response that the authors were going for, at least I hope not. No reader I know what to be eternally frustrated enough to whack their head against a wall during the whole book. 1 out of 5 stars11. Ending: Meh. It was not much of an ending, but I was happy when it did end, except not for the reasons the authors would want. It did not leave me wanting more. It left a bad taste in my mouth that does not want to disappear. I do not think that I will be reading this series. 1 out of 5 stars12. The Writing: All of the characters keep the reader at a distance. The writing does not allow the reader to get close or really understand the characters at all. You can totally tell that the story was written by two different people. The writing did not flow smoothly at all. There were many noticeable bumps in the metaphorical road. The splitting off into four different characters POVs was frustrating and confusing. That is too many characters to be going from one to another. I would say that there is a three character maximum or maybe I would not mind so much if the story had been well written. That could always be a possibility. 2 out of 5 stars13. The Artwork: The design of the cover gives off a way creepier vibe than the book itself. The only real creepy parts are with Eugene from his POV; otherwise it is your average pathetic teenage romance with a scientific spin. The cover is misleading. The thought I was going into a dark story, but it was not dark enough for me. The cover gave me a different expectation of the book, which did not match up with the story itself. 2 out of 5 stars14. Genre: This a scientific romance. It has some sci-fi elements to the book, but what it boils down to is essentially a romance and a sappy one at that. The genre it is listed under can be deceiving, because a reader will assume a heavy sci-fi plot, but it is not that heavy handed. It could have been delivered with much more oomph than it had. 2 out of 5 stars15. Title: Dark Creations is a suiting title, but it does not give an inkling to the sappy romance that it will lead into a few chapters into the story. I have to say that the title is also half misleading, because the book is not as dark as the title suggests. 3 out of 5 starsOverall, I give this book 1.8 stars, so I will round it up to 2 stars. It was not that great of a book, but it had a couple of qualities that saved it from being a complete waste of my time. I will not be reading the rest of the series. I cannot even believe that I read this book.