Review: Potential, but poorly packaged
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 29, 2011
Let's get this out of the way: I have nothing at all against indie/self-published writers. In fact, I praise them, and say "Go for it!"However, when one decides to self-publish, one needs to understand that she is responsible for everything. Sadly, while the story here was solid (though not fantastic, in my opinion), the formatting and editing left much to be desired. It took me almost three weeks to read this, when a book of similar length is good for two or three days. The reason it took so long was I could only take so much of the poor grammar and spelling or funky formatting before I had to put it down again.If, however, you can avoid judging a book by its cover (or editing, as is the case--I actually like the cover art!), then you will meet with a decent fairytale that has all the appeal of a classic Victorian/Edwardian fantasy. The romance between Him and Merry seemed to spring far too quickly, but the author does a good job of conveying Merry's complete sense of bewilderment with her surroundings. There is a nice little quest motif holding this together as well, and the progression from one event to another was logical, if not always as well-paced as it might have been.There is a great deal of wonderful description here, with resonant, evocative language, but this was sadly interrupted all too often by poor editing, so that it felt like a real roller-coaster ride from delight to frustration and back again. If you are more forgiving than I about formatting and editing, then I would definitely say pick this up. Be forewarned, though.