A review by paradoxically
The Shifter by Janice Hardy
2.0
It took a little bit to pinpoint what bothered me about this book. It had an interesting concept, but it fell flat for me throughout the entirety of the book, and even when I finished reading it I just sort of stared, shrugged, and felt kind of 'meh'.
What bugged me, I think, is that while I love action, I love racing from scene to scene and one crisis to another, there was little other than that. Plot is good. Lots of plot is good. But if you overwhelm the story with what you (the author) want to spit out in a rush, then other things fall by the wayside. Like the characters. You get a mess load of Nya's thoughts and feelings (they felt mostly bland to me, but at least they were there), but everyone else is monotone. Her sister, her best friend, and the rest just sort of melted down into a pile of Everyone Else and unfortunately stayed there. The villains were lackluster, which was truly unfortunate.
Then there's the racing along from one crisis to the next. I like this. I like things happening. But if it keeps happening, if the entire book is one big crisis, then the overall tone is, well, flat. A speedy sort of flat, but still flat. I also wasn't pleased with the fact that practically all Baseeri were horrible people. I understand that we're looking at it through Nya's eyes, that her country was invaded by these people, but you don't see a single decent Baseeri throughout the entire book (or at least a single decent action made by a Baseeri). It's very easy to fall into the this-group-of-people-is-good and this-group-of-people-is-bad sort of mentality, but I wanted something a little more complicated at least.
The concept is an interesting one. The execution left something to be desired. 2 stars.
What bugged me, I think, is that while I love action, I love racing from scene to scene and one crisis to another, there was little other than that. Plot is good. Lots of plot is good. But if you overwhelm the story with what you (the author) want to spit out in a rush, then other things fall by the wayside. Like the characters. You get a mess load of Nya's thoughts and feelings (they felt mostly bland to me, but at least they were there), but everyone else is monotone. Her sister, her best friend, and the rest just sort of melted down into a pile of Everyone Else and unfortunately stayed there. The villains were lackluster, which was truly unfortunate.
Then there's the racing along from one crisis to the next. I like this. I like things happening. But if it keeps happening, if the entire book is one big crisis, then the overall tone is, well, flat. A speedy sort of flat, but still flat. I also wasn't pleased with the fact that practically all Baseeri were horrible people. I understand that we're looking at it through Nya's eyes, that her country was invaded by these people, but you don't see a single decent Baseeri throughout the entire book (or at least a single decent action made by a Baseeri). It's very easy to fall into the this-group-of-people-is-good and this-group-of-people-is-bad sort of mentality, but I wanted something a little more complicated at least.
The concept is an interesting one. The execution left something to be desired. 2 stars.