Review: Major Disappointment
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 12 6, 2012
I have difficulty believing other reviewers read the same book I did.On the positive side:The spelling and grammar are impeccable.The female hero is not wimpy, nor dependent and she accomplishes great things with a lot of help from new friends.The general setting for the story was intriguing: a fantasy world where the deity puts its people to sleep every night and devours particularly wicked men, and women are considered to be generally less capable than men.On the negative side:Many characters' actions and responses didn't make sense; the incredibly powerful bad guy lets the good guys just walk in and check things out because they say/act like someone he used to know? A character views torture victims but is magically prevented from having an emotional response, then much later when the magic is removed she is nearly overwhelmed by the emotion?Many references are made to Gill's upcoming 23rd birthday as if it's significant, but the only explanation comes when she decides to follow a secret map because for her 23rd birthday she's allowed to take the year off - no reason is given as to why. The implied "Tradition" is not enough.It's difficult to keep track of the various characters because once introduced, they're referred to only by name, never by description or other hints of their significance, and some characters are given more than one name and personality. Characters remain flat with little background or depth. For example, a minor character in the beginning of the book is sought out near the end referencing only her name, no reminder is given of what happened earlier.Action is often too brief and boring because descriptions were bland and lacked colorful word choices. Then it's followed by stilted dialog to explain what happened and why. Or the dialog covers all the actions they can't take.It took me 10 days to read this novel rather than the usual 2-3, mostly because I didn't care whether or not I finished.  It's not a bad book, it's just not really worth the trouble of reading it.