Review: Great concept abysmal execution
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2013
I'm really heartbroken because this book has SO much potential! I like the characters & the story but I can't finish the book because I keep tripping over all the errors. Seriously, it's like vicious fingernails screeching down a chalk board in my head as I read. There are blatant and myriad misused words, misspellings and unbearable switches in tense (please stick with past tense because present tense doesn't work & it's super distracting). The author does a lot of telling rather than showing, which is a bummer because she demonstrates that she can create vivid mind pictures with a few descriptions in the beginning. There is also a huge opportunity to flesh out some areas only glossed over but that would add context & make this a more complete & believable story. For example, I love the women's bad-ass fighting skills, but how did they learn & hone them? Let's have some detail on the crash and the group's disintegration into a "Lord of the flies" nightmare. Rather than just telling us these women are geniuses, show them employing their brilliance as they come up with unbeatable guerrilla-warfare tactics to eradicate the men. We could observe their cleverness & adaptability as they invent ways to create a community that employs the individuals' talents to keep them all fed, clothed and sheltered. Ok, I'll stop there because I'm starting to sound like my editor, or worse--like my 10th grade English teacher :) if this book receives a good edit and is re-released I will delight in reading it and giving it a rave review.