alexpoling's review
2.0
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
For context, I read about 10% of this book before becoming bored and annoyed by it. It's entirely possible it turns everything around and becomes an amazing book, so this is just a review of the first 10%.
Formatically, my version of this book was a mess. I was using a mobi file (on the iPhone kindle app), and it looks like the PDF version is fine, but there were spaces after every two lines of text for the entire book, which was extremely distracting and difficult to read.
Mostly, this book just needs a lot of editing. Typos and mistakes were common, and also distracted from the reading. Some lines were very weird or awkward, and could easily be fixed with a good editor. For example, at one point the word "wizard" was used 4-5 times in one paragraph, just one after the other in every sentence. Needless to say, I doubt this author has any kind of English or creative writing degree or even necessarily any experience with creative writing classes, as that type of writing would have been quickly corrected. Once again, it was very distracting and difficult to read.
The actual story telling was also unsuccessful. At the very beginning of the book, the main character meets a goblin that just does this HUGE info-spill of background and explanation that could have easily been explained using some other method, such as a flashback, but no, let's do it all at one time in a generally uninteresting way. There were also many instances where feelings were told to the reader rather than shown through actions (a rookie writing mistake), which made it very difficult to really empathize with the main character, since I couldn't really feel what he was feeling.
Speaking of the characters, the main character is a very cliché bookishly nerdy character. I cared very little about his feelings and problems. There was really very little emotion conveyed in this book.
As for the other characters, I don't think his girlfriend has actually said anything (yet). All the characters, including the MC, are decently likable, but also not very well developed at this point in the novel. I give zero shits about their well-being.
I could probably go into more detail on some of this, but I don't even really care enough to do that. Sorry? Thanks for the book....
For context, I read about 10% of this book before becoming bored and annoyed by it. It's entirely possible it turns everything around and becomes an amazing book, so this is just a review of the first 10%.
Formatically, my version of this book was a mess. I was using a mobi file (on the iPhone kindle app), and it looks like the PDF version is fine, but there were spaces after every two lines of text for the entire book, which was extremely distracting and difficult to read.
Mostly, this book just needs a lot of editing. Typos and mistakes were common, and also distracted from the reading. Some lines were very weird or awkward, and could easily be fixed with a good editor. For example, at one point the word "wizard" was used 4-5 times in one paragraph, just one after the other in every sentence. Needless to say, I doubt this author has any kind of English or creative writing degree or even necessarily any experience with creative writing classes, as that type of writing would have been quickly corrected. Once again, it was very distracting and difficult to read.
The actual story telling was also unsuccessful. At the very beginning of the book, the main character meets a goblin that just does this HUGE info-spill of background and explanation that could have easily been explained using some other method, such as a flashback, but no, let's do it all at one time in a generally uninteresting way. There were also many instances where feelings were told to the reader rather than shown through actions (a rookie writing mistake), which made it very difficult to really empathize with the main character, since I couldn't really feel what he was feeling.
Speaking of the characters, the main character is a very cliché bookishly nerdy character. I cared very little about his feelings and problems. There was really very little emotion conveyed in this book.
As for the other characters, I don't think his girlfriend has actually said anything (yet). All the characters, including the MC, are decently likable, but also not very well developed at this point in the novel. I give zero shits about their well-being.
I could probably go into more detail on some of this, but I don't even really care enough to do that. Sorry? Thanks for the book....
si0bhan's review
3.0
Book of Spells was a quick enjoyable read. It ended in such a way that it is unclear whether or not a sequel will happen, but should there be a sequel I’d certainly be interested in giving it a read.
It’s one of those books with a premise that promises so many things without giving you the specifics of how the story will play out. It takes one of the lovable fantasy tropes, giving us a story that is wonderfully unique, entertaining, and certainly worth the read. From the start until the end, you’re pulled into the magical world, watching as things slowly develop and become clear, constantly waiting to find out exactly how things play out.
There is a lot going on in this story, and from the very first page you’re thrown head first into the events. We go from watching our main character playing out the role of a normal everyday man, to watching him protect the world from magical beings he is suddenly set to defend the world from. Throughout, we’re introduced to many magical creatures and laws of magic. Each new aspect shown to us works to make the book unique, giving us a different spin on the usual fantasy worlds.
Not only is the book filled with action, we also have a wonderful cast of characters. Both the humans and the magical creatures are enjoyable, developing as the story unfolds. Some characters developed better than other characters – in a couple of situations it seemed almost as though the change was forced upon them just for the sake of adding more to the story – but each character had something to add to the story. Moreover, many of the characters had idiosyncrasies that made for entertaining reading. Not only were the characters amusing, but the situations they found themselves in worked to bring about a smirk.
I will say, however, that I wish the book had been a little bit longer. Despite being nonstop action, I felt as though some parts of the story were rushed compared to others. I would have preferred it had the story been longer, allowing us to truly appreciate all that was occurring. Yes, it was fun; however, I wanted a bit more depth in certain situations. It simply made for uneven enjoyment of the scenes – some were truly loved, whereas others didn’t quite pack the punch they could have.
My only other issue is that the editing wasn’t quite up to par. It wasn’t that the story was badly written, simply that there were errors that could have easily been picked up on had it been given a good one over. For example, the relationship between certain characters seemed to shift throughout the book and certain words were misused. How much it annoys you really does depend upon how well you deal with such things.
Overall, though, I had fun with this one. As I said, I’m certainly interested to see where the story goes from here should there be a sequel.
As a final note, I would like to thank the author for allowing me to read this in exchange for a review.
It’s one of those books with a premise that promises so many things without giving you the specifics of how the story will play out. It takes one of the lovable fantasy tropes, giving us a story that is wonderfully unique, entertaining, and certainly worth the read. From the start until the end, you’re pulled into the magical world, watching as things slowly develop and become clear, constantly waiting to find out exactly how things play out.
There is a lot going on in this story, and from the very first page you’re thrown head first into the events. We go from watching our main character playing out the role of a normal everyday man, to watching him protect the world from magical beings he is suddenly set to defend the world from. Throughout, we’re introduced to many magical creatures and laws of magic. Each new aspect shown to us works to make the book unique, giving us a different spin on the usual fantasy worlds.
Not only is the book filled with action, we also have a wonderful cast of characters. Both the humans and the magical creatures are enjoyable, developing as the story unfolds. Some characters developed better than other characters – in a couple of situations it seemed almost as though the change was forced upon them just for the sake of adding more to the story – but each character had something to add to the story. Moreover, many of the characters had idiosyncrasies that made for entertaining reading. Not only were the characters amusing, but the situations they found themselves in worked to bring about a smirk.
I will say, however, that I wish the book had been a little bit longer. Despite being nonstop action, I felt as though some parts of the story were rushed compared to others. I would have preferred it had the story been longer, allowing us to truly appreciate all that was occurring. Yes, it was fun; however, I wanted a bit more depth in certain situations. It simply made for uneven enjoyment of the scenes – some were truly loved, whereas others didn’t quite pack the punch they could have.
My only other issue is that the editing wasn’t quite up to par. It wasn’t that the story was badly written, simply that there were errors that could have easily been picked up on had it been given a good one over. For example, the relationship between certain characters seemed to shift throughout the book and certain words were misused. How much it annoys you really does depend upon how well you deal with such things.
Overall, though, I had fun with this one. As I said, I’m certainly interested to see where the story goes from here should there be a sequel.
As a final note, I would like to thank the author for allowing me to read this in exchange for a review.
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