Dear Mitch
I enjoyed your earlier works, both fiction and non-fiction. The Time Keeper contains much of what made those books great. Easy-to-read, but not dumbed-down. A narrative that is comforting, uplifting, and touching. Characters that we quickly care about. The only thing missing is that spark of originality that made those other works unique, and prevents this book from rising to the level of the others.
How many times can we see the paranormal being shows our main characters an alternate world? Charles Dickens did the after youre dead scenario in A Christmas Carol, and while that may MAY have been a fresh concept in the late 1800s, its been done to death by now. That concepts cousin the World Where You Never Were has been cloned and adapted since Clarence guided George Bailey in Its a Wonderful Life. I am not saying that it is not possible for a talented writer to manage to find a fresh angle to either of those scenarios; I AM saying that you are a talented writer who was not able to do so.
Taken entirely on its own merits, the book is a pleasant diversion with some lessons for all of us. Unfortunately, those lessons needed a fresh morality tale to help pass them on to a world that can sorely use them, rather than the been there, done that feeling that this reader got from your text.
I hear your next book was just released please rest assured that I **AM** looking forward to it!
Your friend,
Andrew
p.s. RATING: 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 stars
I enjoyed your earlier works, both fiction and non-fiction. The Time Keeper contains much of what made those books great. Easy-to-read, but not dumbed-down. A narrative that is comforting, uplifting, and touching. Characters that we quickly care about. The only thing missing is that spark of originality that made those other works unique, and prevents this book from rising to the level of the others.
How many times can we see the paranormal being shows our main characters an alternate world? Charles Dickens did the after youre dead scenario in A Christmas Carol, and while that may MAY have been a fresh concept in the late 1800s, its been done to death by now. That concepts cousin the World Where You Never Were has been cloned and adapted since Clarence guided George Bailey in Its a Wonderful Life. I am not saying that it is not possible for a talented writer to manage to find a fresh angle to either of those scenarios; I AM saying that you are a talented writer who was not able to do so.
Taken entirely on its own merits, the book is a pleasant diversion with some lessons for all of us. Unfortunately, those lessons needed a fresh morality tale to help pass them on to a world that can sorely use them, rather than the been there, done that feeling that this reader got from your text.
I hear your next book was just released please rest assured that I **AM** looking forward to it!
Your friend,
Andrew
p.s. RATING: 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 stars
