Review: Conflicted about this book
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 16, 2013
So this will be a longer review than I usually write sorry about that but this book kind of requires it. First lets talk about the gorilla in a the room this book is heavily Christian and involves a lot of proselytism this in and of itself is not a bad thing I actually find it kind a wonderul thing when someone cannot separate there belief from the hobbies. That being said if you have issues with having heavy doses of Christian points of view you will want to pass. Some of the issues covered are "homosexual, war, clones, sex, belief," I will say it may be better if this was labeled as Christian Fiction. Now lets take number 2 from the reviews we do have a few female partners but the character does not sleep with everyone and it is far less sex then a Keri Arthur book or Anita Blake so as long as you don't mind a healthy dose of sex you will be fine it is not in every chapter or even every other chapter but the book does contain graphic sex. Now number 3 we have the main character is a male who loves boobs I can identify and his inner dialogue some of the best writing in this book.  Now that we get those out of the way lets actually look at the book.Good1: The book is real funny and the dialogue is spot and just a lot of fun to read. The author has talent and his way with words is astonishingly good.2: The characters are multifaceted and do have back stories and motivations a lot is left in the wings for future books but in reading the back stories you can see that they all will be developed in the future.3: The overall premise for the book is fun and original.4: Main character comes from a good family that in and of itself is original.Bad1: I am not Christian but I have no issues with Christianity that being said it is laid on very very thick and it was a struggle to get through a lot of that. Some comments made I found offensive.2: Although I like the characters the development felt rushed and incomplete I just felt more time should of been pored into those scenes or make it so that they slowly open up to the main character.3: There are 2 major breaks in the immersion of the story so SPOILER AT THIS POINT. Cloning I would of been very upset if that was done to me without my knowledge and yet he gets over it in a sentence or to. Breaking Top Secret info to his sister on like his second day. Both these are so obviously an author saying I need them to act this way for the story even if it bears no resemblance to reality. I hated both those scenes and really I think the author is better than that and it was cop out to write them that way.4: Forgiveness is fine and dandy but you can take it to absurd amount. Forgiving someone for torturing you is beyond what I think most if any would be able to do and I would even say should be able to do. As for forgiving betrayal that did kill one person and almost killed you so that a person could live one week longer was far fetched as well "even if the person goes to heaven lol". I understand the message but this was very heavy handed and again breaks immersion.OverallThis was a hard book to read for me I swung between loving it to thinking that I was going to stop reading it. I would say that the author is a gifted writer and needs to decide what he is going for a strong message in which case up the Christian by 20 percent or a less blatant message and more fun in which case tone down the Christian by 20 to 30 percent. The next books seems to be going to be written with a different main character voice. Don't do this I can't recall one show besides Star Trek that has gotten away with it and NO books that have. If you are going to keep the same characters keep the same point of view or change it so that you switch POV. Would I recommend this book to a friend? Yes if they are Christian, no if they are not strongly aligned to it. Will I read the next in the series? If it is toned down a little and stays the same MC then yes I probably would. But at the same time I am not the author and this is his story I do wish him the best and although I do not share his faith, I find the expression of his faith through this book to be beautiful and wonderful and wish him good luck as I do think he is very gifted with words.