The Fall (The Rift, Book 1), by Robert J Duperre
[This book has no back cover copy]
The Fall
The bigger problem, though, was the tone of the writing.
The narrative frequently lapses into a lecturing, disapproving tone which I found thoroughly off-putting. The implication is that ancient civilisations were good and modern ones are bad; and that ancient knowledge was insightful and inspiring while modern technology renders our civilisation crass and insensitive. This, coupled with a stereotypical, somewhat dismissive view of today’s South American culture gave the book an unsympathetic and judgemental edge which made me reluctant to read on.
If the writer could introduce more variety of tone, could learn to not present things in such a black and white way, and could manage to be more sympathetic to his characters, then this book would be significantly improved; and once he manages that a scrupulous copyedit would resolve the book’s other issues. Whether this would be enough to change this from an ordinary predictable read into an exciting and interesting one, I’m not so sure. I read eleven of this book’s three hundred and thirty nine pages.
I’m surprised there was no back cover copy. How can casual browsers tell what this book is about?
I was astonished that eleven pages read would suffice for a book review. It must have been very bad indeed!
I find it amusing that someone who doesn’t know how to use a colon thinks they can spot punctuation problems.
John wrote, “I was astonished that eleven pages read would suffice for a book review. It must have been very bad indeed!”
John, you might like to read my How This Works page, which you’ll find here:
http://theselfpublishingreview.wordpress.com/how-this-works/
It’s not always about how bad a book is; sometimes the problem lies with a lack of adequate revision. Not always, though.
Oh Really write, “I find it amusing that someone who doesn’t know how to use a colon thinks they can spot punctuation problems.”
I find it amusing that someone who leaves sneery comments on my blog hides behind a false name and a spammy website address to do it; and I see nothing wrong with my use of the colon in this piece. Have a nice day, Mr Really!