mrkvm's review against another edition
3.0
This was fun but also kind of a mess. While the story as a whole kept me interested, the poor editing, awkward shifting narrative voice, and reaching attempts to be a bit too clever were frustrating. Still, I liked the ending and, of course, now I want to see what happens in Season 2. It's a little like being sucked into an uneven TV series.
laughing_penguin's review
4.0
While I'm normally critical of poorly edited books, the plot was unique enough to keep me reading. While I agree with other reviews that the characters could have been more developed, the story I'd intriguing and worth the read.
kevinhendricks's review
3.0
Historical figures are being reincarnated and someone's trying to kill them. The premise sounds just awesome and despite some typos the unrelenting pace and tone were great. The plotting and overall logic could use a bit of work though, as it was never clear who was on what side, especially with all the side switching and sudden reveals.
loonyboi's review
3.0
The Returners: Season One Part One is a book best described as Highlander with reincarnated historical figures. BAM. Now that’s an elevator pitch! And the story more or less lives up to that pitch. It’s a pretty eclectic group of historical figures, too. All your favorites! Joan of Arc! Paul Revere! Richard the Lionheart! Elliot Ness! Alexander the Great! Harriet Tubman! And many more! It’s like the Monsters of Rock tour, only with 100% more Sacajawea. I don’t want to ruin the plot, but suffice it to say, there’s a decent amount of action here, and a lot of hints about events still to come.
Which brings me to the other important thing about The Returners: you’re not reading a complete novel. As its title implies, you’re not even reading the complete first “season” of the novel, but just part one of an indefinite series. The book was originally serialized online in single chapter installments. As a result of this, a lot of the chapters end in cliffhangers. Sometimes that works, sometimes it feels a little forced. It probably wasn’t as much of an issue when reading the chapters a week apart, but when you sit down to read them all in succession, there’s definitely some cliffhanger fatigue here.
Another potential problem is that there’s an unevenness to some of the chapters, particularly the early ones. Because these are getting posted as they’re completed without time for revision, some chapters have more meat to them than others. The book really hits its stride about halfway through, and I got the impression that the author was becoming more confident in his prose at that point. This does feel like a first novel, and the author was clearly getting his feet wet with those early bits. As the book went on, the characters started evolving more, their dialog becoming more distinct, and descriptions seemed less vague. I can definitely envision a revised edition of The Returners when the whole story is complete that fleshes out the earlier parts.
Neumann also shows his influences pretty heavily in some parts. Without giving too much away, there’s a section that seems almost word-for-word lifted from L.A. Confidential, and while it made sense to the story, I couldn’t help thinking that there was probably a more original way to go about resolving the situation. Neumann’s previous work is in video games, and many of those games have a strong military flavor, which he brings to this book. Sometimes it works. Sometimes…not so much. The tactical nature of the descriptions definitely applied well to Alexander the Great, but I wasn’t convinced of Harriet Tubman’s military expertise.
Also, and this is a problem with a lot of independently published Kindle books, there are typos. As a matter of fact, there’s a typo in the first sentence of the first chapter. It happens, and it’s not so bad that there’s a typo on every page, but maybe one or two per chapter. That’s not terrible, but as someone who reads a lot, every typo is like a stab to the eyeball. I got over it, and chances are you will too. But consider yourself warned.
Pacing in The Returners: Season One Part One seems to be patterned after a serialized television show. Early on we meet several characters, and then we spend the subsequent chapters watching them slowly come together to a single place. I don’t know where the next part is going to take the story, but I definitely look forward to reading it.
Which brings me to the other important thing about The Returners: you’re not reading a complete novel. As its title implies, you’re not even reading the complete first “season” of the novel, but just part one of an indefinite series. The book was originally serialized online in single chapter installments. As a result of this, a lot of the chapters end in cliffhangers. Sometimes that works, sometimes it feels a little forced. It probably wasn’t as much of an issue when reading the chapters a week apart, but when you sit down to read them all in succession, there’s definitely some cliffhanger fatigue here.
Another potential problem is that there’s an unevenness to some of the chapters, particularly the early ones. Because these are getting posted as they’re completed without time for revision, some chapters have more meat to them than others. The book really hits its stride about halfway through, and I got the impression that the author was becoming more confident in his prose at that point. This does feel like a first novel, and the author was clearly getting his feet wet with those early bits. As the book went on, the characters started evolving more, their dialog becoming more distinct, and descriptions seemed less vague. I can definitely envision a revised edition of The Returners when the whole story is complete that fleshes out the earlier parts.
Neumann also shows his influences pretty heavily in some parts. Without giving too much away, there’s a section that seems almost word-for-word lifted from L.A. Confidential, and while it made sense to the story, I couldn’t help thinking that there was probably a more original way to go about resolving the situation. Neumann’s previous work is in video games, and many of those games have a strong military flavor, which he brings to this book. Sometimes it works. Sometimes…not so much. The tactical nature of the descriptions definitely applied well to Alexander the Great, but I wasn’t convinced of Harriet Tubman’s military expertise.
Also, and this is a problem with a lot of independently published Kindle books, there are typos. As a matter of fact, there’s a typo in the first sentence of the first chapter. It happens, and it’s not so bad that there’s a typo on every page, but maybe one or two per chapter. That’s not terrible, but as someone who reads a lot, every typo is like a stab to the eyeball. I got over it, and chances are you will too. But consider yourself warned.
Pacing in The Returners: Season One Part One seems to be patterned after a serialized television show. Early on we meet several characters, and then we spend the subsequent chapters watching them slowly come together to a single place. I don’t know where the next part is going to take the story, but I definitely look forward to reading it.
daelly's review
4.0
I LOVED it. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because of a few minor details, but I'll get back to those in a minute. Is "a few sections/lines/passages" more correct to say, I wonder?
Anyway. The humour was one of the strong points about the book besides the variety of personalities being brought "back" and the mystery of the entire book.
The characters were well-made with good personalities, though a few things bothered me enough to point it out: Why, or rather how, did they accept them being "reincarnated" persons of the past so easily?
I'd figured people of younger ages or even adults would go mad with the revelation.
I'd liked some focus on that, even if minor focus, but I do get how it could interrupt the flow of the book and characters.
Besides that, I'd say it was a greatly enjoyable book with lots of action, mystery and humour! It did not feel boring, especially because it changed viewpoint, and the mysteries kept coming.
I like the suspense of not being told everything at once and stretching revelations out, but goddammit I want a sequel... Now.
Anyway. The humour was one of the strong points about the book besides the variety of personalities being brought "back" and the mystery of the entire book.
The characters were well-made with good personalities, though a few things bothered me enough to point it out: Why, or rather how, did they accept them being "reincarnated" persons of the past so easily?
I'd figured people of younger ages or even adults would go mad with the revelation.
I'd liked some focus on that, even if minor focus, but I do get how it could interrupt the flow of the book and characters.
Besides that, I'd say it was a greatly enjoyable book with lots of action, mystery and humour! It did not feel boring, especially because it changed viewpoint, and the mysteries kept coming.
I like the suspense of not being told everything at once and stretching revelations out, but goddammit I want a sequel... Now.
aaron_inklings's review
5.0
Really enjoyed both the concept and execution of this story. The idea of famous people returning had me guessing who was the next famous returner and would they get killed off? Cliffhanger finish has me anxious for the next book to come out.
b_mcg's review
2.0
An intriguing idea marred by poor, or lazy, writing.
The idea: Famous historical figures, e.g., Alexander the Great, Eliot Ness, Richard the Lionheart, are reborn in modern times, but retain the memories of their past lives. Someone is killing the "returners" one-by-one, and many questions ensue. Who is the killer? Why are they killing the returners? Why have the returners returned? Etc.
Poor writing: Unfortunately, "The Returners" displays the lack of editorial oversight that is the common stigma of self-published works. Typos and misspellings abound, along with awkward sentence constructions and sometimes jerky narrative. The last may be due also to the original serial publication, but still could be addressed by an editor's eyes during collection into an omnibus edition.
Lazy writing: The concept of characters with two lives of experience, one of which is historically documented, would seem to lend to incredibly deep characters. Instead, they are largely flat, and all-too-similar. In their current lives, they all seem to have the same voice, whether young or old, male or female, with no reference to their former life. The influence of their past lives, if seen at all, is limited to what the reader probably learned in high school, or could find in a quick perusal of Wikipedia. If more thoroughly researched, these characters could all be incredibly unique, with the selection of personages being significant to the story, but instead they become just an empty list of famous names.
The story has lots of action, and the pacing is frenetic, being even too fast at times. Partly this may be due again to the original serial publication, requiring a constant hook to keep the reader coming back. But it seems equally likely that this is just the author's style, with the bulk of his previous work being in video games and graphic novels, where action is desired, and exposition is at a premium. In fact, as a graphic novel, the book might work much better, but as a novel, it has some significant failings.
The idea: Famous historical figures, e.g., Alexander the Great, Eliot Ness, Richard the Lionheart, are reborn in modern times, but retain the memories of their past lives. Someone is killing the "returners" one-by-one, and many questions ensue. Who is the killer? Why are they killing the returners? Why have the returners returned? Etc.
Poor writing: Unfortunately, "The Returners" displays the lack of editorial oversight that is the common stigma of self-published works. Typos and misspellings abound, along with awkward sentence constructions and sometimes jerky narrative. The last may be due also to the original serial publication, but still could be addressed by an editor's eyes during collection into an omnibus edition.
Lazy writing: The concept of characters with two lives of experience, one of which is historically documented, would seem to lend to incredibly deep characters. Instead, they are largely flat, and all-too-similar. In their current lives, they all seem to have the same voice, whether young or old, male or female, with no reference to their former life. The influence of their past lives, if seen at all, is limited to what the reader probably learned in high school, or could find in a quick perusal of Wikipedia. If more thoroughly researched, these characters could all be incredibly unique, with the selection of personages being significant to the story, but instead they become just an empty list of famous names.
The story has lots of action, and the pacing is frenetic, being even too fast at times. Partly this may be due again to the original serial publication, requiring a constant hook to keep the reader coming back. But it seems equally likely that this is just the author's style, with the bulk of his previous work being in video games and graphic novels, where action is desired, and exposition is at a premium. In fact, as a graphic novel, the book might work much better, but as a novel, it has some significant failings.
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