A review by frogggirl2
Of Cinder and Bone by Kyoko M.
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
I read a lot of quality self pub fantasy novels (SPFBO and otherwise) and this is not one of those. This book has all of the basic failures that you would attribute to someone learning to write fiction.
*A lot of this book feels like it's the daily world of the author and it's in there because it's part of that day to day as opposed to advancing the plot. A lot of unnecessary scenes and a lot of talking about people's emotions and background - all telling not showing.
*This book gets off to completely the wrong start for any sort of scifi adventure. Laboriously establishing the ins and outs of these basic characters and their average, generic lives does not set the book up for where it wants to go.
*The characters are all stereotypes: the farm boy nerd who can't talk to girls, the oblivious girl nerd that everybody wants, the slutty drunk girl who parties too much, etc. The book uses racial stereotypes in terms of the Japanese and Indian characters, which is off putting when paired with the overall lack of characterization.
*So much of this doesn't follow; they establish that the other guy in the room is somebody they hate and he can hear them talking, so, the main male character proceeds to tell deep dark secrets of his past which he explicitly states in the scene that he doesn't want anyone to know. It just doesn't make any sense as a scene. They hate the Japanese scientist for no stated reason and that lasts one scene and then suddenly they like him.
*Suddenly, the book remembers it wants to be sci-fi fantasy, so the next few pages are 100% info dumping. Any science is jarringly dropped into the story in chunks of info dumps throughout the book.
*Just way too many TV and movie references - trite, juvenile and uninteresting. Cheers, really? Anachronistic. Harry Potter? Played out.
*Cliches abound, i.e. pinch me, "tomato, to-mato," "hey is for horses" (the last two used back to back).
*Unexplained, random time jumps. Jack does not associate with his abusive father so why suddenly are his mother and father flying in to see him? This is not believable. The book skips getting us the scientific discovery and goes straight to media attention. What is shown and what is skipped is bizarre in this book. The plot of the book ends and there's still another 93 pages left.
*There is no world in which this initial press conference would occur. The parts of this book that are supposed to be set in the real, academic world are completely unbelievable and inaccurate.
*The author gets the details wrong - all you need is Google to find that, yes, the US does have an extradition treaty with Japan. In addition to all the laws they break throughout the book, Kamala gets the doctors to violate HIPAA with no qualms and for no reason.
*How the parental relationships resolve is very hokey and unrealistic and all the dialog in these portions is particularly forced. There is a lot of clunky, stilted dialog throughout this book.
The premise is cool but the actual book is a dreadful mess - it's not well written, characterized, paced, plotted or anything else. I know people are inclined to be more lenient with self pub books in terms of reviews, but, don't be fooled, this book is legitimately subpar.
*A lot of this book feels like it's the daily world of the author and it's in there because it's part of that day to day as opposed to advancing the plot. A lot of unnecessary scenes and a lot of talking about people's emotions and background - all telling not showing.
*This book gets off to completely the wrong start for any sort of scifi adventure. Laboriously establishing the ins and outs of these basic characters and their average, generic lives does not set the book up for where it wants to go.
*The characters are all stereotypes: the farm boy nerd who can't talk to girls, the oblivious girl nerd that everybody wants, the slutty drunk girl who parties too much, etc. The book uses racial stereotypes in terms of the Japanese and Indian characters, which is off putting when paired with the overall lack of characterization.
*So much of this doesn't follow; they establish that the other guy in the room is somebody they hate and he can hear them talking, so, the main male character proceeds to tell deep dark secrets of his past which he explicitly states in the scene that he doesn't want anyone to know. It just doesn't make any sense as a scene. They hate the Japanese scientist for no stated reason and that lasts one scene and then suddenly they like him.
*Suddenly, the book remembers it wants to be sci-fi fantasy, so the next few pages are 100% info dumping. Any science is jarringly dropped into the story in chunks of info dumps throughout the book.
*Just way too many TV and movie references - trite, juvenile and uninteresting. Cheers, really? Anachronistic. Harry Potter? Played out.
*Cliches abound, i.e. pinch me, "tomato, to-mato," "hey is for horses" (the last two used back to back).
*Unexplained, random time jumps. Jack does not associate with his abusive father so why suddenly are his mother and father flying in to see him? This is not believable. The book skips getting us the scientific discovery and goes straight to media attention. What is shown and what is skipped is bizarre in this book. The plot of the book ends and there's still another 93 pages left.
*There is no world in which this initial press conference would occur. The parts of this book that are supposed to be set in the real, academic world are completely unbelievable and inaccurate.
*The author gets the details wrong - all you need is Google to find that, yes, the US does have an extradition treaty with Japan. In addition to all the laws they break throughout the book, Kamala gets the doctors to violate HIPAA with no qualms and for no reason.
*How the parental relationships resolve is very hokey and unrealistic and all the dialog in these portions is particularly forced. There is a lot of clunky, stilted dialog throughout this book.
The premise is cool but the actual book is a dreadful mess - it's not well written, characterized, paced, plotted or anything else. I know people are inclined to be more lenient with self pub books in terms of reviews, but, don't be fooled, this book is legitimately subpar.