A review by fionak
Anvil Soul by David O'Sullivan

2.0

I can't even explain how angry it makes me that such an awesome plot was ruined by sloppy storytelling. I willfully tuned out the pointlessness of the first few chapters. I managed to overlook the awkward stilted conversations where little effort is made to indicate tone or even the speaker for long stretches, until I can no longer keep track of who is talking because they all sound like robots who haven't figured out contractions yet. I was able to discount the fact that there are two characters named Simon who are introduced three pages apart. (Unless its historical fiction, having multiple characters with the same name is simply an invitation to chaos and confusion in all who read it.) I can even turn a blind eye to the fact that, suddenly, Tom gets renamed Tim because typos happen occasionally to even the best of us. But, apparently (and for reasons unclear to me) my tolerance is breached when an author uses the same reference to the breeze twice on one page. And ultimately this is why I am so reluctant to read self-published works: anti-editor bias and a refusal to hire one. I have seen it too many times and I am tired of it. Why, sweet Lord? Do they think God will simply bless them with the insight to see all the flaws in their own work?

I received a free copy of this book for review from the author through GoodReads and I bet he’s sorry I won.