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A review by dawn_marie
The Last Dance by Martin L. Shoemaker
1.0
The concept of this novel is one that I should have enjoyed; hard-science fiction mixed with a mystery surrounding a mutiny. Sadly, that was not the case with The Last Dance by Martin Shoemaker.
I cannot decide if it is the plot or the story structure that made this such an unsatisfying read. I do not mind that each chapter is a different point-of-view or that the timeline is not linear; I think, for me, what interrupted the reading flow is that Mr. Shoemaker’s writing style does not support this technique, as each character’s chapter was (1) told in first person narrative and (2) did not have distinct voice. In short, the inspector’s voice/chapter sounded exactly like the voice/chapter of the security officer, doctor, and others. Additionally, there are times when one character is retelling a story to a second character that a THIRD character told the second and then the story changes from first person to third person narrative – it overly complicated the story telling, making it extremely disjointed and fractured. The other issue I had with the story is that I had a hard time trying to “root” for or “care” about the fate of any of the characters making it extremely difficult to become invested the storyline.
I think the bones of a good story is here, it gets lost in the execution.
I cannot decide if it is the plot or the story structure that made this such an unsatisfying read. I do not mind that each chapter is a different point-of-view or that the timeline is not linear; I think, for me, what interrupted the reading flow is that Mr. Shoemaker’s writing style does not support this technique, as each character’s chapter was (1) told in first person narrative and (2) did not have distinct voice. In short, the inspector’s voice/chapter sounded exactly like the voice/chapter of the security officer, doctor, and others. Additionally, there are times when one character is retelling a story to a second character that a THIRD character told the second and then the story changes from first person to third person narrative – it overly complicated the story telling, making it extremely disjointed and fractured. The other issue I had with the story is that I had a hard time trying to “root” for or “care” about the fate of any of the characters making it extremely difficult to become invested the storyline.
I think the bones of a good story is here, it gets lost in the execution.