Review: Great Start to a Series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 2, 2009
Plot/Storyline: 4 3/4 StarsMost scenes forward the storyline quite nicely.Some of the scenes involving The Dream were a bit drawn out. It just seemed as though a few of them were a bit redundant and unnecessary.There is some political intrigue in this novel. However, I enjoyed the fact that the author did not harp on it or go into too much detail. That the author chose to focus on the human aspect of it was a refreshing surprise.While it moved a bit slowly at times, overall, this was a fascinating novel of huge scope. The universe created in the pages of this novel is vast and immensely interesting.The ending is edge-of-your seat action. I love the way the author tied up all of the loose ends. It was a very satisfying conclusion.Character Development: 5 StarsThe characters in this novel are extremely well imagined and written. The powerful young man, Senjal, is depicted as a flawed, emotional, gullible teenager. You love him and wish him well, but at the same time you feel that he needs a good spanking (or some discipline, for the anti-corporal punishment crowd).Kendi, another major character, evokes similar feelings in that he needs to become more mature. For a different twist, he is in love with another man who recently rebuffed him.Writing Style: 4 3/4 StarsThe writing style of this author is terrific. The sentences are well structured with no choppiness. The dialogue is interesting and realistic. He speaks well in the voices of many types of characters from female to male to child.The descriptions are somewhat overdone in unnecessary places. The action, however, is portrayed succinctly, something I especially enjoy.Editing/Formatting: 2 StarsThere were many editing type errors throughout this work. Mostly they were typographical type things, such as missing words. Having a verb missing from a sentence can be a bit distracting. One error that really stood out was a misspelling of the word `kidnapping'. This word appeared quite frequently throughout the novel, but was spelled `kidnaping' every time.The Kindle formatting was also a big issue. At odd moments, a capital letter would replace a space and another letter. The letter `J' was the most common and it replaced 'space a' often.Rating: R for some language, violence, and prostitution references