Review: Feels like a good TV series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 19, 2012
I enjoyed reading House of Grey part I after I got past the prologue. From chapter one, the interest is high. Overall, the book has the feeling of evolving through self-contained episodes like a good TV series. Material is held back that would logically be revealed earlier. On TV, this is done because of time constraints that don't exist in conventional fiction. These constraints clearly affected the original podcasts as well.With all this said, let me assess the specifics. Protagonist Monson Grey is genuinely mysterious to us as readers -- even he himself does not know his history or his powers. This creates a lot of suspense and drama, with constant interesting revelations. He's immediately given two sidekicks, Casey and Artorius, who are also quite intriguing and able to sustain quite complicated subplots. Also, Monson's school is filled with gorgeous rich girls, who, as we know, always have storyline potential. One of them is an unbeatable fencer, by the way.As part I wraps up, Monson and friends are engaged in a sequence of advanced martial-arts training that moves the book's feel from Twilight to anime. This shift is distinctive enough to make the world feel huge and the story seem wonderfully complex. If you are considering whether to invest in this series, I'd say, absolutely. As soon as I finished part I, I immediately started part II. As soon as I finished part II, I wanted to go on to part III (although I am now waiting for more parts to come out so I can read them all in sequence).Highly recommended.Disclosure:  After learning of his series, I introduced myself to Collin Earle and offered to interview him on my website, and that interview will appear fairly soon.