pinada's review against another edition
3.0
Please be warned that my review might contain spoilers!! Thank you
To be honest....i could not wait to finish the book....Do no get me wrong, the idea behind the book is really awesome. But there were some minuses found in the book for me. And take what i am saying not as a criticism towards the book, but constructivism.
First of all, too many names. Seriously, too many. At one point i just started not to care who was who because i got confused with so many character names. And NEVER put characters that have similar names( Jeff, Jayden - that J and J thing messed me up).
Second, there were some things messed up there. I am not sure it is intended, but it is how i felt from reading.
First. Jeff is not very smart nor brave, and then, all pf a sudden, he becomes brave just because he saw things.....And to be honest he had not been through as much as the people in Feldall were.
Second, people in the book accept too many stuff from him and Jax accepts him way too quick. I mean, for a tough leader of Feldall, she should've at least appreciate him for something braver. But maybe she wasn't as tough.
The Three Sisters...God that pissed me off to hell. Jax kept telling him about them yet, he never bothered asking about them at all....oh wait...he did but it was too darn late.
Confusing thing: So basically Jeff is the Creator yet he has no power over them....he just relates stuff which means he is their lives narrator,not creator....right? Thiw is what i got from everything that happened. Or maybe he was an Oracle?
Jax: For someone as tough as Jax is, her reactions are not at all convincing of her personality.
Chanting: I am assuming that, since he heard Maggie say the Chant many times, by now he should've told us as well...or maybe the second book does?
All in all it was an ok book with a great idea. Maybe my review will not help anyone but myself, though i do hope it will be taken into account.
The good thing about the book was, although with few confusing things, it kept me interested, which is a very good start ;).
To be honest....i could not wait to finish the book....Do no get me wrong, the idea behind the book is really awesome. But there were some minuses found in the book for me. And take what i am saying not as a criticism towards the book, but constructivism.
First of all, too many names. Seriously, too many. At one point i just started not to care who was who because i got confused with so many character names. And NEVER put characters that have similar names( Jeff, Jayden - that J and J thing messed me up).
Second, there were some things messed up there. I am not sure it is intended, but it is how i felt from reading.
First. Jeff is not very smart nor brave, and then, all pf a sudden, he becomes brave just because he saw things.....And to be honest he had not been through as much as the people in Feldall were.
Second, people in the book accept too many stuff from him and Jax accepts him way too quick. I mean, for a tough leader of Feldall, she should've at least appreciate him for something braver. But maybe she wasn't as tough.
The Three Sisters...God that pissed me off to hell. Jax kept telling him about them yet, he never bothered asking about them at all....oh wait...he did but it was too darn late.
Confusing thing: So basically Jeff is the Creator yet he has no power over them....he just relates stuff which means he is their lives narrator,not creator....right? Thiw is what i got from everything that happened. Or maybe he was an Oracle?
Jax: For someone as tough as Jax is, her reactions are not at all convincing of her personality.
Chanting: I am assuming that, since he heard Maggie say the Chant many times, by now he should've told us as well...or maybe the second book does?
All in all it was an ok book with a great idea. Maybe my review will not help anyone but myself, though i do hope it will be taken into account.
The good thing about the book was, although with few confusing things, it kept me interested, which is a very good start ;).
sabrina_reads's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
2.0
Finished reading: April 18th 2015
"We all feel the need to prove ourselves. Just because you lost doesn't mean you'd decide differently next time."
Spoiler
At first glance Evensong had so much potential. An author ending up being stuck inside his own fantasy story definitely sounded like an interesting plot... Such a shame this novel by Krista Walsh didn't live up to expectations. At all. The beginning of the story was acceptable, although I wasn't completely convinced by the characters or prose. But when Krista Walsh decided to not simply stick to the 'author trapped inside his fantasy novel' plot and introduced both a dragon, a sorcerer AND zombies into the plot, I lost all my hopes for this one. That Evensong is a huge disappointment is an understatement. The characters are flat and the prose is not convincing at all. Some of the 'romance' scenes even disturbing... This book just doesn't work for me, and I don't think I would recommend it to anyone.
Jeff Powell is an author trying to finish one of his newest novels, but he seems to be unsure how to continue his story... Then one day he wakes up finding himself trapped inside the fictional world he himself created. Feldall is in danger, and his main characters need his help. He doesn't know, but he doesn't have full control of what happens in this fantasy world... The first proof being the spell they wrote to bring him there.
A dragon is tormenting the people of Feldall and he seems to be invincible... And there have been people disappearing without a trace as well. Jeff doesn't know how to help, but since the enchantress cannot seem to perfect the spell to send him back home, he is stuck in the fictional world for now. And the main characters aren't happy with him either. Plus, there is a new villain to be worried about that is about to unleash his powers on Feldall...
This novel just didn't work for me. The characters, plot, prose... All either close to ridiculous or flat and boring. When I first read the blurb of Evensong, I thought it sounded promising and the plot quite refreshing. I guess I was wrong. Another trilogy I won't be finishing any time soon... And most likely never. I definitely wouldn't recommend this novel, although it's an Amazon kindle freebie in case you want to give it a try anyway. (Or at least it was when I downloaded and read it...)
P.S. Find more of my reviews here.
honu_girl's review against another edition
4.0
Intriguing. Is the writer a Creator, or a Storyteller? When Jeff gets pulled into his novel about Andvell, that becomes a key question. Is what he writes what must happen, or is what he writes more a telling of what must be?
honu_girl's review against another edition
3.0
Nice continuation of the idea of bringing the author into his created world.
It loses a bit of what made the first book so intriguing by taking away Jeff's creativity and thus his agency as creator. But, I did find it fascinating at what Jeff could no longer do.
It loses a bit of what made the first book so intriguing by taking away Jeff's creativity and thus his agency as creator. But, I did find it fascinating at what Jeff could no longer do.
sch91086's review
3.0
I'm not sure where to start with this review. There is a lot of stuff happening in this book and yet, it kind of feels like there's nothing happening.
I guess I'll start with the ending. It wasn't an ending. It was kind of like the author had created a villain so powerful he couldn't be defeated, so instead of coming up with a valid way for the protagonists to defeat him she just wrote him out of the story? I don't know! I can't tell you because she didn't tell me! It's ridiculous! Maybe I'm supposed to buy the second book to find out. I don't really want to.
On to the characters: I wanted to like them. I wanted so badly to like them. They weren't unlikeable or anything, they just weren't memorable. There was lots of ridiculous posturing which I kind of hate. There wasn't much character growth. I think Siobhan had the most and she's an incredibly minor character. Maybe even the sisters, the sisters were cool.
Overall I think the author got caught up in building her world and forgot about the plot. It was like "Ooh, I'll add a dragon! And Zombies! And super bad cyborg bears and panthers! And let's borrow a page from GRRM and kill them all! Evil sorcerers! Twisty turny keeps! Romance!" It was just too much. This was an assault on my senses. Nothing about the way the world is told to you feels organic. It's not subtle world building, it's smack you with a sack of bricks look at this! World building. And to reiterate my original point, it didn't lead to a whole lot of anything. There are still some plot points that have yet to be tied up, like they were just forgotten. (I'm pretty sure they were.)
I gave it 3 stars because I did manage to read through to the end- it took me a lot longer than usual. I think I ate up another Saxon Story while I was reading this. I think the idea was cool- what happens when an author gets stuck in their own story? Or what if writers aren't writers but narrators to/of other worlds? And it was mostly well-edited, and I think I picked it up for free on the kindle store, but I don't know if I'll continue on with the series. I am curious to know what all actually happened, but I'm now wary of buying the second book and being sold the same non ending.
I guess I'll start with the ending. It wasn't an ending. It was kind of like the author had created a villain so powerful he couldn't be defeated, so instead of coming up with a valid way for the protagonists to defeat him she just wrote him out of the story? I don't know! I can't tell you because she didn't tell me! It's ridiculous! Maybe I'm supposed to buy the second book to find out. I don't really want to.
On to the characters: I wanted to like them. I wanted so badly to like them. They weren't unlikeable or anything, they just weren't memorable. There was lots of ridiculous posturing which I kind of hate. There wasn't much character growth. I think Siobhan had the most and she's an incredibly minor character. Maybe even the sisters, the sisters were cool.
Overall I think the author got caught up in building her world and forgot about the plot. It was like "Ooh, I'll add a dragon! And Zombies! And super bad cyborg bears and panthers! And let's borrow a page from GRRM and kill them all! Evil sorcerers! Twisty turny keeps! Romance!" It was just too much. This was an assault on my senses. Nothing about the way the world is told to you feels organic. It's not subtle world building, it's smack you with a sack of bricks look at this! World building. And to reiterate my original point, it didn't lead to a whole lot of anything. There are still some plot points that have yet to be tied up, like they were just forgotten. (I'm pretty sure they were.)
I gave it 3 stars because I did manage to read through to the end- it took me a lot longer than usual. I think I ate up another Saxon Story while I was reading this. I think the idea was cool- what happens when an author gets stuck in their own story? Or what if writers aren't writers but narrators to/of other worlds? And it was mostly well-edited, and I think I picked it up for free on the kindle store, but I don't know if I'll continue on with the series. I am curious to know what all actually happened, but I'm now wary of buying the second book and being sold the same non ending.
shirezu's review against another edition
3.0
I'm in two minds about this book. One: I read through it fairly quickly. It kept me engaged enough to keep going (though not enough to stop me reading another couple books at the same time). Two: I felt the characters were very weak, especially the main character.
He just felt so unbelievable. He is supposedly a successful author of an ongoing fantasy series yet he knew nothing about the world he created. Not even what was where. It just really stuck out and to me dragged the book down. I generally avoid self-published books and this reminds me why. Not because of the writing itself but because it needed a better editor and better test readers to help the author.
He just felt so unbelievable. He is supposedly a successful author of an ongoing fantasy series yet he knew nothing about the world he created. Not even what was where. It just really stuck out and to me dragged the book down. I generally avoid self-published books and this reminds me why. Not because of the writing itself but because it needed a better editor and better test readers to help the author.
kerrimcbooknerd's review
3.0
It took me a bit to get into this book for more than one reason. At first, the plot idea kind of made me roll my eyes. I got this book free otherwise I don't think I would have picked it up just because of the plot idea. Then there was the fact that I didn't like *any* of the characters, at first. They all came off as contrived and, honestly, really annoying. The more I read, though, the more I started to enjoy myself. The characters became less abrasive and the author actually did a good job with the plot. Good enough to keep me interested until the end. The end was a bit of a cop-out, like the author knew she didn't really have to wrap anything up because there would be a sequel to deal with that. Still, I ended up enjoying this book. Will I pick up the sequel? Not 100% sure, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.