Review: The House of Grey (#1) - Collin Earl
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 20, 2013
The House of Grey started off as a Podcast, and the early chapters definitely feel like it. The prologue's writing sounded more like a Podcast than a book, which was a bit disconcerting - what works audibly doesn't necessarily translate well to the written word. It's why movies or video games being made into books usually require a separate writer. They're two very different mediums. The editing smoothed out as the book went on, but the first few chapters were almost painful to read.The story is supposed to take place over six books. It really doesn't feel like that's necessary. The first part of the story was so short, it took me *maybe* an hour and a half to read it. The series probably should be closer to 3 books. It would feel more fleshed out that way.Not a lot gets answered in The House of Grey. The main character has amnesia (of course), and a lot of the strange things about the school and Monson never get any sort of answer. That's another area where combining books would have helped. This doesn't feel like the first part of a story - it feels like the first half of the first part of a story.The meta jokes were occasionally cute (Casey comparing their life to a story, for example), but I swear I had to read "Holy Hannah freaking Montana" twice before I realized that yes, that was actually something a character said. Seriously. That actually happened. *sits down and cries*I'd complain about the cliffhanger, but again, it didn't really feel like a cliffhanger. It felt like someone took a book, and cut it down the middle. There was no reason for the book to end where it did, how it did, except to drag the series out for as long as possible.I would also like to question Monson's supposed intelligence and brilliance when he can't even figure out who "M.P." is. I very much wanted to bludgeon him the second he discovered those two sets of initials. I can't remember the male's initials, which is why I didn't include his. But it's incredibly, painfully obvious who they are.Mr. Gatt's class sounds exactly like something I would take. I was sad when it ended so suddenly.I really do want to see where all of this is going.(Follow my book reviews at: [...]