Review: A lot of action packed into this novella
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 30, 2011
I received this as a review copy submitted to "Red Adept Reviews" by the author.Overall:  4 1/4 starsPlot/Storyline:  4 1/2 starsThe novella was set a few decades in the future, in an era when city dwellers had solar power, rooftop gardens for food, and moving walkways for transportation. Outside the cities, even in the US, it was like the third world, with farmers having nowhere to sell their crops, since the cities were now self-sufficient.The story involved three strangers who were thrust together under very unlikely circumstances to unravel a mystery that may affect the entire planet. Soon, for reasons unknown to them at the time, they were on the run from bad guys who would stop at nothing to capture them. For the three strangers, learning who they were and completing their mission formed the heart of the story.There was a lot of action packed into only 128 Kindle pages. The story included an old murder mystery, wild chase scenes, shoot-'em-ups, precognition, reincarnation, and a touch of Buddhist philosophy.In the context of the story, the ending was logical and satisfying.Characters:  4 1/2 starsRemy Porter and Darling Daniels, plus the mysterious Clint, were the main characters. At first, they appeared to have no relationship to each other, but as the story developed, it became increasingly clear that some kind of bond existed between them. As the truth emerged, Remy and Darling came to realize that they had a mission to complete, despite the efforts by Clint to control them. Were their shared nightmares just bad dreams, or was there a meaning to them? And why did some people call Darling "The Tea Goddess"?Writing style:  4 starsThe madcap, almost surreal style of writing, particularly in the first half of the story, while the plot is coalescing, reminded me a bit of the style of Douglas Adams' classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Also, the book was narrated in the present tense, which gave it more the appearance of a movie script than a novel ("Remy chugs the last of the bottle and falls flat against his mattress, eyes closing."). These are not criticisms - the style worked - but I had to mentally shift gears from a more typical style of writing.There were some minor plot holes, such as when the three fugitives managed to leave England and suddenly show up in the western US despite having the bad guys and the police on their tail, but in the spirit of the story and the author's writing style, these had little effect.Editing:  3 3/4 starsFor such a short book, I found a few too many typos and misspellings. The Kindle formatting was very good.