Review: Not so much for me... [RATING DOWNGRADED]
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 06 24, 2013
UPDATE 10-Jul-2013:  Rating downgraded from 3 stars to 1 star due to highly unusual and suspicious activity since this review posted on Amazon.  Wouldn't normally care about such excessive downvoting if not for an incident that occurred on a different review prior to my review even being written.Not sure if I'm caught in the middle of something unrelated to me or if someone is trying--very unsubtly--to send a message, but I have a strict "zero tolerance" policy re: such BS antics.  Furthermore, I'm not superficial enough re: my stats to delete my Amazon review so to offload the negative votes.  Instead, I'll leave my review up as a potential warning to others:  read and review this book/authors at your own risk._______________________________________*** Review copy provided by the author ***★★ (rounded up to account for my personal quirks)THE SHORT:  DNF @ 24%.  Tried twice and on the second attempt, set a goal for 25% or 100 bookmarks, whichever came first (final tally = 127 bookmarks).  Unfortunately, INESCAPABLE failed to capture and maintain my interest.  I found myself focusing more on the haphazard/inconsistent worldbuilding and characterizations, as well as flaws in the writing, technically and creatively.THE LONG:  I love mythology-based PNR so the blurb convinced me to try INESCAPABLE by NTM authors, Natalie G. Owens and Zee Monodee.  The cover also caught my attention because unlike that for so many PNR, it depicted two females, thereby giving me the impression that the story would focus primarily on the two female MCs.NB:  Although I could give numerous examples from the 24% read, most of the specific ones below are limited to Chapter 1, which I've been told is not considered "spoiler-ish".(1)  WORLD-BUILDING ISSUES:  Whenever I read a genre other than contemporary, early world-building is critical.  I need the story's unique parameters to be established fairly quickly so that I have a basic foundation from which to absorb the rest of the storyline.  But by the time of my DNF, I had more questions than answers, mainly due to certain inconsistencies. For example:Right at the beginning, the reader learns that Sera was part phoenix/part gypsy until turned into a vampyre.  But just before this revelation, there is mention of "the racing of her pulse" and "the faster beat of her heart".  Now, in most PNR, vamps don't have pulses or heartbeats so are the vamps in INESCAPABLE somehow different?  IDK; it's never explained.  Sera is later stated as being 124 years old but, per Adri, is stuck in a "moody teenage mentality".  Yes, Adri is biased as foster mum, but instead of making me empathise with the mother-daughter tension, a tiny alarm went off in my head that INESCAPABLE may have an NA bent.Then, without any further backstory or development re: Sera, the scene shifts to Adri as she arrives at a charity function.  The daughter of Dionysos and a maenad, Adri is a demi-goddess with certain powers, one of which is compulsion.  But while she can compel a crowd to behave in a specific way and even alter the collective perception, she can't control a single individual.  (Why?  IDK; the illogic is not explained away.)  And yet, Adri is unable to prevent the men attending the event from staring lustfully at her. (Which then makes me wonder how many are required to constitute a "crowd".)As to the story's setting, the reader is told that it's April--specifically, the anniversary of the Titanic's sinking--and the MCs are in NYC.  However, they must return to their home in Shadow Bridge (which is where?) soon so to "seal the fabric between the dimensions" caused by the spring equinox and to protect the portal.  That's great, except what's happening while "the veil between the worlds" is lifted?  Are supernatural creatures free to roam about and travel back and forth?  Which creatures reside where?  Obviously, the portal is significant but what's the danger if not protected? (IDK because again, no further details are provided when first mentioned, requiring me to tuck that query off to the side.)(2)  STORYLINE ISSUES:  Too many inherent and factual contradictions preclude my ability to suspend disbelief and erode my reading enjoyment until I finally give up in frustration.  (I also agree with another reviewer that there is a definite NA vibe to INESCAPABLE.)RE: Adri... She angered Zeus and thus, was banished to the mortal plane either "over two thousand years" ago or "close to three millennia"--that's quite a difference in time.  She also has a habit of thinking and cursing in French, which would be fine except that it's incongruous with her Greek background and assumed persona of a Greek heiress.  There's nothing, even in passing, to indicate how or why she preferred French over her native Greek.  Also, as a superficial aside, I think that her designer shoes should be referred to as "Louboutin Pigalle", not "Pigalle Louboutin".  (And IMHO, they are a form of torture unless one gets the Pigalle Plato.)Another sticking point with me is when a character fails to follow through on something = almost TSTL moments, not tension builders.  Frex, Adri wondered several times as to Des's nature but never asked him outright.  Meanwhile, Des ominously says to the soul stealer, "Not if you die", but then only snaps the soul stealer's neck which doesn't kill the being (thereby permitting its later escape).(3)  TECHNICAL ISSUES:  Due to my background, I can't help but notice technical errors in writing.  But I can usually overlook them if they are fairly innocuous (read: don't make me pause to double check).  From the very first page, there were numerous errors in comma and semi-colon use, as well as inconsistent use of past perfect tense when referring to events which occurred prior to the storyline.In addition, I don't mind sentence fragments and when done properly, they can be very effective.  However, an incomplete sentence + incorrect punctuation = immediate brake to my reading.  Punctuation is akin to traffic signals and signs; correct ones permit smooth driving (read: reading) while incorrect ones cause confusion and/or "accidents".Then there's my pet peeve of the speaker and the actual dialogue appearing in separate paragraphs.  As a traditionalist, I find it disruptive to reading flow and still don't understand the rationale behind it.Finally, repeated instances of words being misused sounded the death knell for me.  Yes, I winced when "subliminal" was mistakenly used instead of "subconscious" early in the story. But the DNF point came when I read this:"She recounted what she knew, obliterating no detail."I believe that "omitting" may have been intended, instead of "obliterating".  But if not, then I have no idea what the authors meant to convey.Despite the above, I could see the potential for a good story and the different supernatural beings mentioned in the first quarter of the story are intriguing.  I also admit to being curious as to the exact nature of the intense attraction between Sera and Rafe, as well as that between Adri and Des.  So it's possible that I may give INESCAPABLE another go in future when my brain is less inclined to notice errors.