Review: Conflicted
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 28, 2014
I'm extremely conflicted about this book, which should tell you that it engenders some strong reactions, for what it's worth. I selected it from the top ten of the genre for research purposes, and for the first half of the book slogged through in determination although the writing, in my opinion, is appalling. However, at that point the story began to pick up and I reluctantly found myself invested in the outcome. There are still, even in the better second half, phrases and word choices that make one do a double-take and say, 'what the hell?', but the story becomes more compelling. And then, like a slap in the face, 'to be continued'. I don't mind a minor cliffhanger, if you bring the story to some sort of conclusion, but this, as another reviewer has said, occurs right in the middle of a scene. I appreciate the first chapter of the second book being included, so I could wind down from the broken ending. I won't be purchasing or reading the second book, because it's just too difficult to get through the errors in grammar, vocabulary and even, in one glaring example, an egregious misspelling of a word that was being used incorrectly in the first place. I can't recommend this book. If the story hadn't gotten more interesting in the second half, I wouldn't even be able to say it's okay.