Category Archives: Challenges

Review of Innok’s Curse

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I grabbed R.G. Porter’s novel Innok’s Curse off of the KDP free list, and I’m fairly sure this is the version I have. The cover is the same. I’m just thrown a little by Goodreads’ inclusion of this title: Curse of Innok. The synopsis makes it fairly obvious that it’s the same story.

I suppose the author may have published it twice, or one may be an updated version of the other. I don’t know. So confused over this (and just OCD enough to want to be sure I reviewed the right novel) I even messaged Porter to ask which one she wanted reviews posted under. In retrospect, this may not have been appropriate, but I can’t take it back. Oh well. I haven’t heard anything back anyway. Lacking any further guidance on the issue I am going with Innok’s Curse.

Description from Goodreads:
A man cursed by a demon.
A woman who’s memories are more than just her own.
An enemy sworn to destroy all their dreams.
A destiny that none of them expected.

Cursed to live by day as a dragon and by night as a man, Gabriel believes he will forever be alone after the murder of his beloved Danielle. That is, until the night he meets Alayia and everything changes.

Together, they must figure out the truth of the curse that Innok has placed on Gabriel as well as those from his visions. Their quest will bring them deep into the heart of the evil, but with her abilities and the spirit of the dragon within, they might just unlock the truth of the past
and break the curse. If they can keep the demon from winning too fast

Review:
I like the premise of this book. I suppose that ought to be obvious. I wouldn’t have downloaded it or chosen to read it if I hadn’t. The idea of a man cursed to live as both a conscious-less beast and a man carrying the burden of both his own and its guilt is an interesting one. The incorporation of earth magic, reincarnation, and boundless love and friendship only sweetens the pot. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the book lived up to its potential. The whole thing just felt too rushed.

Characters were introduced only to die in the next scene, and while it was obvious that the reader was meant to feel something at this loss, I didn’t. I hadn’t had enough time to come to care. Other characters acted abhorrently, but other than a mention by the narrator that the main character was surprised at their callousness, there was no suggestion that this was out of the ordinary, so it held no emotional impact for the reader.

There was no way to anchor yourself in time. The year 1025 was mentioned at one point, and Gabriel was known to have slept for 50 years. The story seems to begin when he wakes. However, there was no way to know how much time passed thereafter. He could have been living as the dragon for three weeks or two thousand years. I never could figure it out. This also made it hard to reconcile the language used. The narration had a distinctly modern feel, which only further muddled my attempts to settle on an era. 

Solutions seemed to magically appear at times. As an example, after learning about Gabriel’s curse, Alayia pulls a book out of her backpack that just happens to have had the spell she needs to break it inside…from her backpack, not the local library, or the university or even back at home, but from the one small bag she happened to be carrying with her. This despite there being no indication that she had any previous magic training and every suggestion that she came from a family that would disapprove of such a thing anyway. Why did she have a book of spells with her?

Worst of all, I have no idea why any of the events happened. Having finished the book, I still don’t know why Elroy was after Danielle in the first place. Did he think he was in love with her? Did he have some nefarious plan that required her and her magic? Did he have something against Gabriel, and she was just a handy way to torture him? I don’t know. The whole substructure of the plot was missing and felt hollow as a result.

This isn’t to suggest that the book wasn’t without merit. It did contain Talon, who happens to be one of the most colorful characters I’ve come across in a while. Granted, I have no idea why he was so wonderfully dedicated to Alayia, having JUST met her, but he was, and I loved him for that. I really hope the next book ends with him in the lap of luxury. He deserves it. The idea that Danielle and Gabriel’s love was so strong that it could transcend time was moving, and the message that it is important to accept all of yourself (even the parts you fear or don’t understand) is a good one. Such acceptance is an important first step toward…oh, enlightenment, self-improvement, acceptance into Heaven [choose your transcendental equivalent].

There is a lot of potential here. The storyline itself is a good one, and other readers may love the book. Everyone is different, after all. I, however, didn’t, and I cringe just typing that because I hate to say it about anyone’s baby. But in this case, it is unfortunately true. This one just wasn’t for me. 

Addendum:  I heard back from Mrs. Porter this morning. She thanked me for the review, which made me feel a little better because I really felt a little guilty for my honesty. I know I shouldn’t, but I really want to like every author’s book and cringe when I have to admit otherwise. She also said that the two titles are an earlier and later incarnation of the same story. Mystery solved. Thank you, Mrs. Porter. 

Review of Leigh Parker’s 10 Ways To Piss Off A Reaper

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Leigh Parker sent me an e-copy of 10 Ways to Piss of a Reaper, the sequel to 10 Ways to Kill a Cupid (which I reviewed here).

Description from Goodreads:
Two years after Leigh’s absurd story, another event occurs involving the volcanic Natalie McIntyre, her life file and the Reaper that’s just pulled it from the Heaven filing system.

To save Natalie from her impending doom, Leigh goes back to Heaven to save her only to be given an ultimatum – pair ten people up in seven days or risk staying in Heaven indefinitely

 Review:

Ok, before I even get into the meat and potatoes of this review let me just say that the author, yes, you Leigh Parker, are cruel, cruel, CRUEL! The third book (10 Ways to Freak Out an Angel) better be done soon or I might go a little Natalie McIntyre crazy myself. This book ends on a serious, nail-biting cliffhanger. There was much teeth gnashing and hair pulling on my part when the kindle wouldn’t go any further and I realised I was at the end of the book. Meany!

Like the previous book, 10 Ways to Kill a Cupid, this book is side splittingly funny. I started the book while sitting in a parking lot waiting on someone and got more than one strange look. For all intents and purposes I probably appeared to be sitting in a car alone, laughing to myself. It has a very ‘English humour’ sort of feel to it that I just love, and not just because of the references to hob-nobs and kievs.

Leigh is just about the most lovable looser you could imagine. I don’t really think Leigh is a looser, but Leigh likes to tell the reader that, so I’ll allow Leigh the title. The self-deprecation is kind of cute. Leigh also must be just a smudge masochistic, ’cause the love for Natalie-the-beast seems real. Natalie is just about as unpleasant as can be, but somehow I really, really want her for my best friend. Granted, she might strangle me or die of disgust at the thought, but still. Once you have her number, like Leigh does, I bet she’d be a lot of fun. 

Parker has pulled off another stunner with 10 Ways to P*** Off a Reaper and I can’t wait to read the third book in the series. Highly recommended!

 

Book Review of Sam Enthoven’s The Black Tattoo

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I bought a copy of Sam Enthoven‘s The Black Tattoo because one of the very first reviews of my own book compared the two. Honestly, after reading it, the only similarity I see between the two books is that we both used the Japanese terminology for the swords our characters heave about.

Description from Goodreads:

Jack’s best mate, Charlie, has always been effortlessly cool. When Charlie wakes up one day and finds a mysterious, moving black tattoo on his back, it’s a clear sign that he’s even cooler than Jack thought. To top it off, Charlie has got super powers also.

Or does he?

Jack soon learns the terrifying truth: Charlie’s incredible powers come from an age-old demon called the Scourge, who is using Charlie to bring about its evil master plan. 

When the Scourge vanishes with Charlie, Jack and Esme, a girl with super powers of her own, follow their friend from the streets of London into Hell itself, where they face horrors that may well cost them their lives.

Slightly spoilerish Review:

This book isn’t at all what I expected. I thought it was going to be all dark and serious. Instead it falls somewhere closer to the writing of Terry Brookes or Douglas Adams (minus the sci-fi). It is funny. Yes, yes, the universe is in danger of being snuffed out in one abortive act of finality and everyone is in danger, but the characters (Jack especially) are still able to recognise the absurdity of the situation and let an exasperated explicative slip. Jack’s insistence that most things in his life are just ‘typical,’ even when everything around him is most assuredly not is an effective running gag that made me laugh more than once. 

Granted, he’s a pretty useless hero. I’ll admit that for much of the book I lent toward agreeing with other reviewers who disliked him because of this. Even after hints that he might have finally been given a few extra abilities of his own nothing materialises. He remains totally and utterly normal. But toward the the end I started to suspect this was the point. He is the most powerless individual in all of Hell. He is simply below notice of the movers and shakers of the underworld. But in the end he is also unquestionably the hero. As defenceless as he is (and knows he is) he twice marches into the bowels of Hell to rescues his friends…”and apparently the universe.” He willingly offers his life in place of his best friend in order to correct the actions of another and save the world. Such courage is almost superhuman by itself, more so since there is nothing but unassuming backbone to support it. 

Esme is just plain awesome. I always love a well-honed warrior and just go gaga over a female one. I suppose I should at least mention Charlie. He’s a git. He just is. 

I got fairly tired of all of the ridiculous descriptions of the different demons. A whole section of the middle seemed dedicated to this. The story seemed to lag a little, bogged down by one description after another. Similarly there seemed to be a lot of ‘great black wings wrapping around them’ going on. It seems that one description apparently covers a lot of different sounds. All-in-all, I enjoyed it.