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jscarpa14's review
3.0
RECEIVED FROM: The Author For Review
***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***
Mae is a small town journalist investigating tales of the Jersey Devil in hopes of finding that big story that will take her to a larger publication. During her investigation she is attacked and almost killed by a frightening obsidian creature, then abducted to an unknown location. There she meets a man who looks like angel, but acts like the devil himself. When the man takes an interest in her survival Mae is drawn into a strange violent world and left to wonder if she'll even survive to write the story that led her to this fate.
Like many other books I've read recently this one was a debate between a three and four star rating. I decided on the lower rating because if I didn't include the nonfiction section included as an addition to the book I didn't think it was quite to a four star story yet.
The non-fiction journalistic type story added at the end of the book showed a confidence and proficiency in writing that just wasn't evident in the fictional story itself. If the writer could have transferred that confidence and talent shown there into her fictional piece she could have easily written a four, possibly five star story.
My first issue with this book is the way the writer avoids using pronouns. Mae's name is used too much in telling what's going on it becomes distracting and somewhat reminiscent of the See Spot Run story books of long ago. As the target audience has long since advanced past seeing Spot run, she could have greatly improved her story by more frequently using pronouns like she and her, or portraying some of the information through Mae's thoughts. The reader is already clear on her name after the first couple times it's used, it doesn't need to be liberally peppered through half the sentences in the book.
Another distracting thing in the writing was the use of repetitive words, while many people in real life find a favorite adjective like tiny and stick to it, readers expect a little more variety from a writer. Varying her descriptive words rather than sticking to the same comfortable ones I think would have also improved the flow of the work.
While the book does include a full story arc, a clear beginning, middle and ending, it doesn't really have the length to be qualified as a novel. Part of the reason I bumped it to the top of my TBR pile was it's length since it could be read in no time at all. Writing it at more short story than novel length makes it difficult to create characters readers can get to know and relate to. While the reader can develop an attachment for Mae, other characters are still a major curiosity and the length doesn't allow for character growth within those characters. What she's given us here could be easily taken and expanded upon into a full length novel allowing the reader to know each character in detail, to see them grow and see Mae begin and adjust to her new life after her death. While it is a full arc, it could just as easily be a beginning to a greater and more intriguing novel that I for one would be interested in reading. Finishing I'm left wondering, what happens to Mae now?
Another thing that stuck with me is the description blurb emphases a lot on the fact that Mae is a writer, like this is an important plot point, however this is little more than what presents the situation of the story and it's not like she does any actual writing. Another thing that stuck with me was a comment in the book that Mae enjoyed fictional writing in high school but switched to journalism when she realized there wasn't any money to be made in fiction. I don't know what small town paper this character is writing for, but all the ones I know about pay little more than minimum wage. Many journalists at small town papers take second jobs to pay their bills or have a secondary income from a spouse. Fiction or nonfiction, starting out you do it because you love to write, not because you're expecting to get rich. Unless you're a successful broadcast journalist, which is more television presence than actual writing, you're more likely to make money with success in fiction writing than in journalism. Last I read J. K. Rowling was the richest person in the UK and she made that money in fiction. The main difference between starting as a fictional writer or starting as a small town journalist is the regularity of pay. Neither entry level start can be considered rolling in the dough. This statement coming from the lead character really made me wonder about the intelligence of the character I'm supposed to be rooting for. I really think further research into the careers of the character might have improved the work.
While the story is fiction, there needs to be a certain presence of believability in the story and the character for the reader to really consider it great and worth reading. The great fiction writers put as much if not more time into researching their novels as the nonfiction writers out there. They just choose to present their information in a more entertaining format which is less about teaching the reader and more about realism in their story.
Overall it was an entertaining piece with an intriguing plot and interesting characters that made you want to learn more about them. The main issue with this piece is that it's such a great set up, but limited follow through. For a quick half hour or so read, I would however recommend it.
***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***
Mae is a small town journalist investigating tales of the Jersey Devil in hopes of finding that big story that will take her to a larger publication. During her investigation she is attacked and almost killed by a frightening obsidian creature, then abducted to an unknown location. There she meets a man who looks like angel, but acts like the devil himself. When the man takes an interest in her survival Mae is drawn into a strange violent world and left to wonder if she'll even survive to write the story that led her to this fate.
Like many other books I've read recently this one was a debate between a three and four star rating. I decided on the lower rating because if I didn't include the nonfiction section included as an addition to the book I didn't think it was quite to a four star story yet.
The non-fiction journalistic type story added at the end of the book showed a confidence and proficiency in writing that just wasn't evident in the fictional story itself. If the writer could have transferred that confidence and talent shown there into her fictional piece she could have easily written a four, possibly five star story.
My first issue with this book is the way the writer avoids using pronouns. Mae's name is used too much in telling what's going on it becomes distracting and somewhat reminiscent of the See Spot Run story books of long ago. As the target audience has long since advanced past seeing Spot run, she could have greatly improved her story by more frequently using pronouns like she and her, or portraying some of the information through Mae's thoughts. The reader is already clear on her name after the first couple times it's used, it doesn't need to be liberally peppered through half the sentences in the book.
Another distracting thing in the writing was the use of repetitive words, while many people in real life find a favorite adjective like tiny and stick to it, readers expect a little more variety from a writer. Varying her descriptive words rather than sticking to the same comfortable ones I think would have also improved the flow of the work.
While the book does include a full story arc, a clear beginning, middle and ending, it doesn't really have the length to be qualified as a novel. Part of the reason I bumped it to the top of my TBR pile was it's length since it could be read in no time at all. Writing it at more short story than novel length makes it difficult to create characters readers can get to know and relate to. While the reader can develop an attachment for Mae, other characters are still a major curiosity and the length doesn't allow for character growth within those characters. What she's given us here could be easily taken and expanded upon into a full length novel allowing the reader to know each character in detail, to see them grow and see Mae begin and adjust to her new life after her death. While it is a full arc, it could just as easily be a beginning to a greater and more intriguing novel that I for one would be interested in reading. Finishing I'm left wondering, what happens to Mae now?
Another thing that stuck with me is the description blurb emphases a lot on the fact that Mae is a writer, like this is an important plot point, however this is little more than what presents the situation of the story and it's not like she does any actual writing. Another thing that stuck with me was a comment in the book that Mae enjoyed fictional writing in high school but switched to journalism when she realized there wasn't any money to be made in fiction. I don't know what small town paper this character is writing for, but all the ones I know about pay little more than minimum wage. Many journalists at small town papers take second jobs to pay their bills or have a secondary income from a spouse. Fiction or nonfiction, starting out you do it because you love to write, not because you're expecting to get rich. Unless you're a successful broadcast journalist, which is more television presence than actual writing, you're more likely to make money with success in fiction writing than in journalism. Last I read J. K. Rowling was the richest person in the UK and she made that money in fiction. The main difference between starting as a fictional writer or starting as a small town journalist is the regularity of pay. Neither entry level start can be considered rolling in the dough. This statement coming from the lead character really made me wonder about the intelligence of the character I'm supposed to be rooting for. I really think further research into the careers of the character might have improved the work.
While the story is fiction, there needs to be a certain presence of believability in the story and the character for the reader to really consider it great and worth reading. The great fiction writers put as much if not more time into researching their novels as the nonfiction writers out there. They just choose to present their information in a more entertaining format which is less about teaching the reader and more about realism in their story.
Overall it was an entertaining piece with an intriguing plot and interesting characters that made you want to learn more about them. The main issue with this piece is that it's such a great set up, but limited follow through. For a quick half hour or so read, I would however recommend it.
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