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A review by cammie_p
Ground Zero by Kevin J. Anderson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
I love the X-Files. Now, I'm not old enough to have watched the show when it first aired, but I got into it through my parents. Episode one and I was hooked. So, because of this, I had high hopes for this book.
I was let down. Let me explain.
Unfortunately, I had to put this book down about 100 pages in. Less than halfway. Normally I don't DNF books, but once I find it difficult to keep my attention focused, or when I find myself skimming the pages in hopes of finishing faster, I know it's time to call it quits.
And that's exactly what happened here.
Truth be told, I didn't care much for the storyline. That's not to say I had no opinion on it; I think nulcear weapons should have never been invented, much less used, but that's neither here nor there. I found myself not caring much about the characters or the mystery. It almost read like a boring episode of the show, one that I might skip on a rewatch.
I love the characters of Mulder and Scully, so I just wish there was a bit more of them from the get-go. It felt like the book focused too much on the other characters, and there wasn't as much of Mulder and Scully's banter and interactions to really keep my interest. I understand we as readers needed some background on these other characters and needed to know how they were involved, but their chapters were boring to me. They were about 6 pages longer than they needed to be with much more character description than was necessary.
Another aspect that put me off, was the writing. Now, I'm not a writer, so I'm not anyone to critique someone else's writing, but it wasn't doing much to fully immerse me in the story. It felt almost juvenile, not in the sense that a kid wrote it, but more like it was someone's first time writing a story. That being said, I don't need beautiful metaphorical prose in every book I read, however, this book just lacked that bit of complexity a good book craves. There didn't feel like much in the way of syntax diversity, and everything was told to the reader: there wasn't much that was shown that, we as readers, would be left to decipher.
"Scully flicked down the mirror on the passenger side sun visor. She gave a quick glance at the lipstick on her full lips, checked the makeup on her large blue eyes, smoothed her light auburn hair. Despite her tiredness, everything seemed in place. Professional."
"Carrera wore a knee-length skirt and scarlet silk blouse that set off her dusky skin. Her lips were generous, embellished with a conservative lipstick. Her full head of rich brown hair the color of dark chocolate was pulled back on her head, held by several gold barettes and cascaded down her back in a glorious tumble of locks."
Most everything was described in this way: someone was introduced, a paragraph was given about their appearance, said character would take us to a new place, a paragraph was given about the description of that place, etc. All in all, it reads like a published wattpad story, like it started on wattpad, was picked up and edited a bit, then sent out to be published. Would have been 3 stars just for the X-Files alone, however, since I DNF'd, it is sadly only 2 stars.
I was let down. Let me explain.
Unfortunately, I had to put this book down about 100 pages in. Less than halfway. Normally I don't DNF books, but once I find it difficult to keep my attention focused, or when I find myself skimming the pages in hopes of finishing faster, I know it's time to call it quits.
And that's exactly what happened here.
Truth be told, I didn't care much for the storyline. That's not to say I had no opinion on it; I think nulcear weapons should have never been invented, much less used, but that's neither here nor there. I found myself not caring much about the characters or the mystery. It almost read like a boring episode of the show, one that I might skip on a rewatch.
I love the characters of Mulder and Scully, so I just wish there was a bit more of them from the get-go. It felt like the book focused too much on the other characters, and there wasn't as much of Mulder and Scully's banter and interactions to really keep my interest. I understand we as readers needed some background on these other characters and needed to know how they were involved, but their chapters were boring to me. They were about 6 pages longer than they needed to be with much more character description than was necessary.
Another aspect that put me off, was the writing. Now, I'm not a writer, so I'm not anyone to critique someone else's writing, but it wasn't doing much to fully immerse me in the story. It felt almost juvenile, not in the sense that a kid wrote it, but more like it was someone's first time writing a story. That being said, I don't need beautiful metaphorical prose in every book I read, however, this book just lacked that bit of complexity a good book craves. There didn't feel like much in the way of syntax diversity, and everything was told to the reader: there wasn't much that was shown that, we as readers, would be left to decipher.
"Scully flicked down the mirror on the passenger side sun visor. She gave a quick glance at the lipstick on her full lips, checked the makeup on her large blue eyes, smoothed her light auburn hair. Despite her tiredness, everything seemed in place. Professional."
"Carrera wore a knee-length skirt and scarlet silk blouse that set off her dusky skin. Her lips were generous, embellished with a conservative lipstick. Her full head of rich brown hair the color of dark chocolate was pulled back on her head, held by several gold barettes and cascaded down her back in a glorious tumble of locks."
Most everything was described in this way: someone was introduced, a paragraph was given about their appearance, said character would take us to a new place, a paragraph was given about the description of that place, etc. All in all, it reads like a published wattpad story, like it started on wattpad, was picked up and edited a bit, then sent out to be published. Would have been 3 stars just for the X-Files alone, however, since I DNF'd, it is sadly only 2 stars.