Review: A man of two worlds
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 4, 2014
Sebastian Cloud is a man of two worlds.  To the patrons of the Rock Island Casino & Resort – Live Arena, he is “Strike,” the champion gladiator of 27 matches against man and beast.  At home, he is thoughtful, deliberate, spiritual, romantic, and completely comfortable in his own skin – physically, mentally, and emotionally (almost).  Fighting to pay off a debt to the Yakuza, he is close to realizing his goal when a new partner in the resort pits him against a new gladiator robot.  During the bout, Strike destroys the robot and wins the sympathy and heart of the partner’s beautiful, gladiator-in-her-own-right wife – Virgina.  The adventure ensues and suspense mounts as Sebastian and Virgina attempt to outrun her husband’s (Volton’s) wrath and revenge.The author has packed adventure, suspense, and romance into a compact 75 pages.  The Romantic is a fun story, cinematically told, that you can pick up and enjoy from beginning to end in one sitting. (I highly recommend reading this at one go from start to finish.)  Author Hudson Owen builds a complete adventure without leftover fluff giving us the minimum information to establish setting (the northwest), history, and character back story.  It was quite a satisfying drawing me back for a second reading less than two weeks after first. My first experience was completed piecemeal, and I enjoyed it, but I picked up much more (the building of the relationship between the two protagonists for one) when reading was uninterrupted.The story is presented in such a way that it is almost like watching a film.  Sebastian is introduced to us via glimpses of his day.  Also, dialogue follows naturally speaking and conversational patterns.  Characters switch topics when talking to each other rather than completing one idea before going on to the next just as people do in real life.  This took me some getting used to but when I began to “hear” the characters speaking, it really felt more believable.Elements of the book – the dialogue patterns, the lack of side-bar details, and extraneous exposition - just may not be everyone’s taste, but I don’t want to warn anyone off this very good adventure.  Relax and just enjoy.  I think that it will entertain anyone that picked it up.  (Parents, there are scenes of intimacy so this is not for children.)  And if the author even decided to redevelop this as a longer work leading into a series I think he’d have a winner that way as well.  I know that he’d get my attention, cash, and time.