Review: Formatting goes a long way towards clarity
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 19, 2014
The story is interesting, if you can make sense of it despite the formatting. The story has multiple characters and we jump between their point of views. We also jump back in time before the apocalypse. Not normally a big deal - except that there is nothing to separate these sections.You're reading a section with Harris and in the next paragraph, you're with Nero. There's nothing to separate the change of venue. Normally, an author uses chapters to switch characters, a line or an extra paragraph space. Not in this book - not my copy, anyway. And the time change.. what a mess - extremely confusing. There was a part where Harris goes back in his memories. It took me a few sentences to realize what happened. And then when we're brought back to the present - again, no separator. This lack of formatting removes any smoothness in the reading.. it's like driving on a bumpy road.There is a lot of military description - weaponry, tactics. If you aren't interested in it, you can skim it. The story itself, the world it's in is interesting on its own, as are the characters. The battle at the end captured my imagination - by then, I was used to the character changing lack of format and adapted a little better.