Review: "The Unknown Man"... The Pros and Cons... 2 1/2 Stars
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 10, 2014
"The Unknown Man" is the first book in 'The Keepers of the Orbs' series by author J.G. Gatewood. This Kindle e-book was approximately 496 printed pages and sold for $3.00 at the time of writing this review.Please Note: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.General theme <spoilers>Our hero, in a state of unconsciousness, is found along the side of the road by two ne'er do well goblins. When he finally comes to, he finds he's wearing special armor and has in his possession, what appears to be a magical sword. But most concerning and maybe more importantly, he can't remember who he is or how he got there. Thus begins the tale of 'the unknown man'.Some thoughts on "The Unknown Man"...The Pros:1.) the story had an interesting premise for a fantasy/adventure.2.) an intriguing beginning that had all the markings of a great tale to follow.3.) the author displayed a fine sense of descriptive powers when it came to describing settings, landscapes etc..4.) there were several intense and graphically described encounters.The Cons:1.) very flat, two dimensional characters. Characters that reacted the very same way time after time, regardless of the circumstances.2.a) stiff, forced dialogue that in essence, severely hindered character growth.2.b) characters that were having a conversation frequently referred to each other by their proper name. It just didn't seem a natural or spontaneous way of talking to someone you knew very well. It resulted in some dialogues sounding very 'formal'.3.) repetitive words or phrasing... e.g. rolling the eyes; grinding/clenching of the teeth; characters (mostly women) that 'giggled'. These repetitions, because they were somewhat unusual descriptions became easily noticeable. Even when repeated the limited number of times they were, they tended to diminish the development of the character who preformed these gestures, by making them appear shallow and lacking in depth.I think my pet peeve in this work was women who giggled... imagine the heiress to the land, who just happens to be a skilled fighter... 'giggling'. Somehow giggling on one of several occasions just doesn't sound very regal or fearsome to me.4.) some chapter titles acted as spoilers for the next part of the story.Wish List... a map. This was a tale of extensive travel. It needed a map to give the reader a sense of distance, direction and topography.Impressions:The question remains... were these concerns mentioned above intentional, because if so, they gave this tale a decidedly Young Adult (YA)  feel. If on the other hand, they were simply the result of an author that struggles with character development and conversations, then some fantasy adventure writing skills may need some improving. I suspect the latter, as I see nothing on the Amazon product page that indicates this was intended for a YA audience.The bottom line... a great tale cannot succeed on its own if you don't have real characters that can bring the story to life.As it is... 2 1/2 Stars.Ray Nicholsonraynicholsonsreviews@hotmail.com@ralannicholson