Not much has happened this weekend, but since it's the start of a brand new week and furthermore, it's a bill bill day, a brand new post for you to chew upon and digest is here for the taking.
First, a little personal pimping.
Now through April 1st, my novel "The Inner Sibling" is on sale. If you enter the code VE24Z at checkout, you'll save 33%/$1 off the cover price. Clicking on the caption will bring you directly there.
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About a two weeks ago, I saw a book called "The Lesser Dead" by Christopher Buehlman at my local library. I immediately went through my usual routine and ultimately decided to check it out. A few days later, I opened it up and started reading, but eventually gave up after the 1st chapter. Never really got back to it so about a week later I returned it to the library.
Last week, I again saw that book on the New Fiction shelf, so I decided to take another chance, reasoning that perhaps I had an off week, which in turn prevented me from reading it. And again I started reading it, this time getting through three more chapters before giving up on it.
This time though, the reasons behind me giving up on it were pretty clear and that clarity prompted me to write my first 2 star review on Amazon (apparently this writer has received a lot of 4 & 5 star reviews for this book plus extensive reviews from some Amazon's top reviewers).
So my friends, this is what I left for review. Please note that 2 is the lowest I will go for a rating. I will not do 1 star because 1 star signifies that there was no redeeming quality. 2 means that you got me to pick up the book to read. No more and no less. Oh, the title of the review is "Needs An Attitude Adjustment".
"When I'd first seen this in my public library, I thought to myself, "Cool, a story about vampires." After checking it out and bringing it home, I found some time to give a read. However, after reading about 5 pages or so, I put it down. Why? For some reason, it just didn't grab my interest. Eventually I brought it back to the library. However, about a couple of weeks later, I saw it on the shelf and I decided to give it another try, because I figured I was having an off day the first time around.
However, after reading about four chapters, not only did it not grab me, but I got extremely turned off by the smug/condescending tone of the narrative voice. I deal with smug/condescending people at work and the last thing I want is to read a story that sorely needs an attitude adjustment. I have no idea on whether or not this is a good story because I couldn't get beyond the crappy narrative voice.
Because of the crappy narrative voice, I will think long and hard before trying any of Mr. Buehlman's other novels."So my friends, this is how you don't read a book: you check out a book based on the inside jacket blurb, yet get completely turned off by the content once you actually start reading it.
(c) 2015 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved.
No one wants to be smugged at. You probably got further than I would've.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to think that's the impression that I got while reading the book. Apparently this writer has gotten some moderate accolades from the publishing industry as well as from Amazon, but this book really hit a sour note with me.
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