Review: A different kind of sequel
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 5, 2013
"The Way of the Dogs" is a different kind of sequel in that it takes place 80 years after the ending of the first book.  I found this to be an intriguing strategy, and one that worked.  You get the continuity, but it has several generations of time lapse that give it an interesting twist.  I'm now invested in a whole new set of characters, partly because of the heritage from their ancestors.  I love how they respect and honor their past while pressing forward into the future with new ideas.  Again, one of the strong suits of Baker's writing is his centering around family.Joel, I must advise you again to get an editor.  I know you credit your family at the end of the book for help with that, but you need a professional - or at least someone better than you are using.  Yes, there are relatively few grammar and spelling errors compared to many writers out there in this genre, BUT you really need improvement on proofing to reach your potential.  The main problem is that there were way too many missing commas and hyphens.  You need to learn when words need hyphenating and when not.  And even family members who are helping with editing chores should catch the frequent incorrect usage of "then" for "than", and the places where an intended word is simply missing.  I will purchase your next book, due out in Dec this year as you noted, but I expect to see these issues resolved.  If I am to keep your name in my short list of "Authors to read", which currently has only 12 in it, vs. the "Don't Read" list, which is now up to 56, I need to see improvements on the above.  i have added question marks by your name for now, and hope I can remove them after the sequel to "Dogs" comes out.  I almost went with a four-star rating this time, but decided to be generous due to the overall quality of book one, and most of book two.  I will look forward to book number three - don't disappoint.