Review: Good Story, Awkward Writing
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 26, 2014
Lisa Miller is kidnapped from Earth along with eleven other human women to be transported to the Tornian Empire for “joining” with Tornian warriors.  The Empire suffers from an extremely low female birth rate and facing extinction of its species, has targeted women from Earth after finding out that the wife of the Emperor, also an Earth female, has successfully conceived.  Lisa, however, has daughters on Earth and is desperate to keep them with her; she agrees to join with King Grim Vasteri, who is thought to be unfit for joining due to extensive physical scarring, if he takes her back to Earth to retrieve them.  As females are highly valued on Tornia, Grim’s new female dominated household has put a target on his back.The novel focuses on the growth of Lisa and Grim’s relationship, cultural differences between Earth and the Tornian Empire, Tornian gender politics and identity, and political machinations that are occurring among the different Houses  and which threaten Grim’s status as King of Luda.The story is quite good.  Lisa and Grim’s romances progresses abnormally quickly, but the limited romantic conflict (most fights are resolved between the two easily), allows for a larger story to occur.  I liked, for instance, how the author was able to resolve the fate of the eleven women and how a characterization of the Tornian women as cold and selfish evolves by the end of the novel.  I found the balancing act between the high value placed on women by the Tornians with their alpha male tendencies interesting.  I also generally liked the characters:  Grim is basically a big softie who does his utmost to please Lisa, who is a somewhat disruptive figure in his household, as well as her two daughters.  Lisa was simultaneously likeable and strong (without being obnoxiously aggressive), and also completely unbelievable because of the ease with which she adapted to her new life on a completely different planet, her marriage to an alien male and her new status as Queen.  However, I suspended disbelief because I liked how unfussy she was as a character.The novel does contain several sex scenes, which for all intents and purposes occur within a marriage; I would characterize the sex scenes as medium steamy.  Lastly, I would characterize the sci-fi aspect of the novel as more culturally-focused ie. about the values, history, and mores of the Tornian culture rather than about technology or setting. In my estimation, the novel was accessible to even those who are not big sci-fi fans.The problem with Grim is that the writing was amateurish (I feel very bad saying this – it must be difficult to write a novel, but this is my impression as the reader).  As other reviewers have mentioned, the use of present tense was awkward and sometimes confusing.  There are other stylistic and grammatical errors as well – in particular, the transitions to characters’ thoughts was jarring and not well-integrated in the narrative.  Because I enjoyed the sample, I decided to go ahead and purchase it despite my reservations.  I basically ignored the writing as I read and focused on the engaging story and characters.  The writing, however, did detract from my enjoyment.  However, I can’t give this the low rating that the writing merits because of the actual thought and depth given to the story by the author – I’ve read many well-written novels that are boring or have dumb plots so I don’t think plot can be underestimated to the overall experience of reading.  However, I do feel that Grim will continue to receive some low rankings until this novel is re-written.  I hope the author does choose to do another draft because the interesting story deserves a better narrative.I would ultimately recommend downloading the sample before purchasing so that you can decide whether the writing style will overwhelm your enjoyment or whether you  will be able to ignore it in favor of a great story.