![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kilroyPrint date: 1994 (20s: 1, 50s: 1, 60s: 2, 70s: 6, 80s: 5, 90s: 4, 00s: 10)
This was one of those books that managed to be just barely interesting enough in the first 20 pages that I opted to read it, and by the end of the book I was regretting it.
It's cliche. The characters can be accurately described in a sentence. It's science fantasy that inevitably leads to the "Surprise! You're from Earth!" ending that I've grown to detest over the years. Evil people are without both the necessary motivations to make them interesting or the willingness to chew the scenery to make them fun.
And it's sloppily written. They spend half the chapters setting up a character who has essentially no relevance to the entire story. The woman that the main character inevitably ends up with is described through the book as hated and evil, but we never get the part where he turns that opinion into some kind of love. (Side note: She's Sexy! That's her major established character trait!) The invasion that's the heart of the story is essentially resolved by waiting it out. There's no payoff here, emotionally or intellectually.
Recently I've been noticing books that would be better realized in other mediums, and this is one of them. As a film with actors to act as lenses for the material and the immediacy of vision, this would probably work fine. It wouldn't be great--I don't think it could be without a major rewrite--but it wouldn't feel like a waste of time.
I should have trusted my gut. The book has a fantasy princess riding a winged unicorn on the cover. I should have put it down right then.
Verdict: Recycle. (17.5/53 keepers)
Page count: 379 (10561 total)
Completed: 29 (14 female authors, 15 male authors)
Rejected: 24 (14 male authors, 10 female authors)
Next book due: Special 1-week break for reading my friend's novel draft, due 9/28
This was one of those books that managed to be just barely interesting enough in the first 20 pages that I opted to read it, and by the end of the book I was regretting it.
It's cliche. The characters can be accurately described in a sentence. It's science fantasy that inevitably leads to the "Surprise! You're from Earth!" ending that I've grown to detest over the years. Evil people are without both the necessary motivations to make them interesting or the willingness to chew the scenery to make them fun.
And it's sloppily written. They spend half the chapters setting up a character who has essentially no relevance to the entire story. The woman that the main character inevitably ends up with is described through the book as hated and evil, but we never get the part where he turns that opinion into some kind of love. (Side note: She's Sexy! That's her major established character trait!) The invasion that's the heart of the story is essentially resolved by waiting it out. There's no payoff here, emotionally or intellectually.
Recently I've been noticing books that would be better realized in other mediums, and this is one of them. As a film with actors to act as lenses for the material and the immediacy of vision, this would probably work fine. It wouldn't be great--I don't think it could be without a major rewrite--but it wouldn't feel like a waste of time.
I should have trusted my gut. The book has a fantasy princess riding a winged unicorn on the cover. I should have put it down right then.
Verdict: Recycle. (17.5/53 keepers)
Page count: 379 (10561 total)
Completed: 29 (14 female authors, 15 male authors)
Rejected: 24 (14 male authors, 10 female authors)
Next book due: Special 1-week break for reading my friend's novel draft, due 9/28