Review: Needs a plot
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 23, 2013
The prequel to this book has a plot. It's about a man who finds a magical item while visiting Afghanistan, and finds his calling, only to come face to face with his own fallibility.  This one is very different. Up until the last couple of chapters it's just a monotonous account of a guy being tortured day after day. There isn't even the drama of wondering if he'll break because he doesn't know anything anyway. And he's in solitary, so there's no character interaction beyond the repetitive interrogation sessions. At the very end there's a little drama, but only enough to fill a short story.It was probably a marketing decision to divide the story into several books. Nothing wrong with that, but the story needs to be divided in a way that makes sense. Instead, the middle section has been pulled out, but since it has very limited plot points, it had to be padded heavily to have enough material to call it a separate book. Bad decision that left it essentially without a plot. Some grammatical issues add to the muddle. The characters are appealing but rather bland.  I liked the prequel enough to buy this one. but this one wasn't ready for market yet.