redwidowz reviewed on + 15 more book reviews
The good: Very interesting and new plotline and concept. The two protagonists, Cal and Niko Leandros, are brothers fighting against monsters. The twist is that Niko is human, Cal is not (you learn this like 3 pages in so I'm not ruining anything here). The book has a nice variety of monsters, and good character development for each. The battles were well done, and the fight scenes written coherently enough that the reader can follow along without any issues. The book can be quite witty and gritty, and I would best describe it as a "ghetto fantasy" book, in the best possible way. It's as real, scary and dirty as a ghetto, but wholly fantastical in its own right.
The bad: The first 10 chapters, and the last 3. Dear God. It was almost excruciating getting through these particular 13 chapters. The first 10 are all world/character setup, but it's so dry and you can tell Rob Thurman is a novice at writing. In the beginning, every sentence had a comparison. Example: "his entrails hung out like party streamers." I get the fact that Thurman is trying to relate one thing to the other, but there is a point where the reader should be allowed to visualize the scene as they wish. I could NOT get into the story within the first 10 chapters, but the plot was interesting enough that I mushed on hoping it would get better. (It does) The last 3 chapters are just unnecessary, like Thurman wanted to keep writing... and writing... and writing... and it had absolutely nothing to do with enhancing the story in any way. He really should have just stopped.
The ugly: The relationship development between Cal and Niko. Again, Dear God. I almost gave up on this book a few times when it got into the relationship between Niko and Cal, because it was just so long, drawn out, and completely overdone. Niko is great and Cal revers him, they have an unbreakable bond, we get it. Thurman just keeps hammering this point... and hammering it... and hammering it... Seriously, entire pages dedicated to how great Cal thinks Niko is. It was so frustrating that I got pulled out of the story, and I was just reading the words on the page.
The worst: There are several different references to Cal's "little Cal." This was beyond unnecessary, wasn't funny, and just made me wonder why Thurman has such a fascination with that particular part of Cal.
This book has its ups and downs. I'm personally hoping that because this is just the first book, the "world builder," that the other books will be better. Someone else that I was speaking to classified this book as "average," and I would agree. There are far more interesting books to read (Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine, The Strain series by Guillermo Del Toro). Overall rating: 3 stars.
The bad: The first 10 chapters, and the last 3. Dear God. It was almost excruciating getting through these particular 13 chapters. The first 10 are all world/character setup, but it's so dry and you can tell Rob Thurman is a novice at writing. In the beginning, every sentence had a comparison. Example: "his entrails hung out like party streamers." I get the fact that Thurman is trying to relate one thing to the other, but there is a point where the reader should be allowed to visualize the scene as they wish. I could NOT get into the story within the first 10 chapters, but the plot was interesting enough that I mushed on hoping it would get better. (It does) The last 3 chapters are just unnecessary, like Thurman wanted to keep writing... and writing... and writing... and it had absolutely nothing to do with enhancing the story in any way. He really should have just stopped.
The ugly: The relationship development between Cal and Niko. Again, Dear God. I almost gave up on this book a few times when it got into the relationship between Niko and Cal, because it was just so long, drawn out, and completely overdone. Niko is great and Cal revers him, they have an unbreakable bond, we get it. Thurman just keeps hammering this point... and hammering it... and hammering it... Seriously, entire pages dedicated to how great Cal thinks Niko is. It was so frustrating that I got pulled out of the story, and I was just reading the words on the page.
The worst: There are several different references to Cal's "little Cal." This was beyond unnecessary, wasn't funny, and just made me wonder why Thurman has such a fascination with that particular part of Cal.
This book has its ups and downs. I'm personally hoping that because this is just the first book, the "world builder," that the other books will be better. Someone else that I was speaking to classified this book as "average," and I would agree. There are far more interesting books to read (Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine, The Strain series by Guillermo Del Toro). Overall rating: 3 stars.
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