Thursday, October 21, 2010

Book Review

I just finished reading the Stones of Abraxas by K. Osborn Sullivan - I have to say, I had very mixed feelings about this novel. I would give it a three-star rating out of five, and here's why:

The plot was interesting, and I wanted to know how the story concluded. Unfortunately, I was right in EVERY single guess I made early in the plot. I recognized the spy the first time he came on scene, I knew that a certain road would play a critical part, and I even guessed immediately when the hero and heroine were being led astray. The author could learn not to foreshadow his plot QUITE so heavily, next time!

I felt that the characters (teens David and Amanda, and their parents) were fun to read about, but not very memorable (I had to refresh my memory of their names on Amazon for this review!). Amanda's only really memorable feature was her affection for her cats, for example. The real reason they felt undeveloped was the whole style of the book's narration. It was written in a choppy, simplified fashion. It almost felt as if the author had gone back over a longer and more complex work, trimming and removing all description and editing the vocabulary. If so, the author did his readers a real dis-service; this book had the potential to be much better than it was.

Anyway, if you love teen escape fantasy (and have always wanted to enter a magical world), this series opener has some real potential; just don't expect too much!

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