Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Review of Darrell Pitt's "Diary of a Teenage Superhero"


Quickie Review:

A short book with a lot to show. It cost a dollar on amazon.com, and it is well worth the price. That is not to say it was amazing, but I’m glad I spent my dollar on Diary than on a McChicken. You may find this book on my shelf collecting dust.

Full Length Review:

Plot:

Axel wakes up with amnesia and discovers he has air related powers. He unites with a bunch of other super powered teens to fight some villains who threaten them with torture. Then they are recruited by a school where they train to save the world.

Now I can’t grade that plot alone, because that is practically every book I read, so I’ll throw into the mix, alien that works for the government that ties in to the end of the book. Not making sense? Well, now we’re on the same level.

2/5


Characters:

The characters are somewhat stereotypical and don't undergo much development, so I’ll describe them by their powers. Axel is the last airbender, Brodie isthe reincarnation of Bruce Lee, Dan is half Magneto half Jedi, Chad is the offspring of Mr. Freeze and the Human Torch and finally Ebony, is the better version of Zan from the wonder twins. They all share the common weakness of special guns that impair their powers. As far as that aspect goes, superpowers usually defining the book in the superhero genre, the powers weren't bad. Some of the characters seem like they are overpowered, namely Dan who could use Jedi mind tricks so long as they didn't advance the plot.

3/5


Setting/Description:

The book is set around the island of Manhattan and in an underground base, all present day.

As for description, I’d rather describe some of the homages to other superheroes, at least I hope these were intentional. And SPOILERS. Axel flies to catch a missile much like Superman, jedi mind tricks as previously mentioned and by the combined powers of all the superteens, the bad guy is turned to stone, much like the end of The Fantastic Four.

2.79/5 (scientific calculation)


Writing Style:

This book is told in first person, present tense.

Now, off topic, but I’m just wondering if the author, Darrell Pitt, chose a pseudonym, or if that is his real name. Was he trying to go for something awesome, because it sounds like a Louisiana car salesman to me? Pitt is usually associated with Brad Pitt. Cool, Hollywood name. But put Darrell in front of it, and you drain the awesome out.

On a scale of Darrell Pitt to Brad Pitt, I would give this a Moses Pitt.

3/5


Potential:

            Maybe Darrell will be a cool name in 30 years, I don’t know.

            ?/5

Final:

            Plot:  2/5

            Characters: 3/5

            Setting/Description: 2.79/5

            Writing Style: 3/5

            Potential: ?/5

Final: 2.7/5

           






Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Review of Jacob Gowans's "Psion Beta"

Reviews Note:

When I was finished writing my first book, I thought I was brilliant for having 120,000 words, while most authors could only manage 80-90k. I found the error of my ways in all of the unnecessary scenes written in that not only added nothing to the story, but detracted from the pacing. Gowans left his novel lengthy. Writing a piece of work with a word count creeping into the 6 figures isn't a violation of any rule, but with so many words, it get exponentially more likely to lose readers before the climax ensues. That is, unless the writer has enough to fill the plot; Psion Beta, does not.

Quickie Review:

This was not the book for me. It had all the elements that I enjoy, superpowers, romance, and futuristic technology, but it suffered from poor plotting. There were way too many characters, but the main character was the only one with a backstory. I felt emersion in the setting, but felt like the world around was all neglected. Would not recommend for high thrills, but possibly if you want to read a rocky love story between 14 year olds. Not taking a spot on my shelf.


Full Length Review:

Plot:

Sammy is your average 14-year-old homeless orphan who lives in a mini mart in South Africa with his friends. Until one day, the police catch up with them, and Sammy evades them with telekinetic powers. When caught, he is taken into the Psion Beta program, for those with his anomaly, where they train their powers against holograms. Every weekend, they have a competition where the betas are split into teams. When they finish their training, the move on to Psion Alpha, the front lines, where they fight the cannibals that threaten the world.

It’ pretty much orphan learns he’s special and joins an academy to learn about his power. Nothing too original, and as mentioned above, the book is way too lengthy.

2/5


Characters:

Sammy is a really tall, buff 14-year-old who everyone mistakes as 16. He has an Irish sidekick, and blonde love interest and a bully. Sammy gets all the attention, and his memories of his parents almost make them characters as well. Sammy comes in to the program, and excels at everything ,surpassing everyone in the entire program, despite some being there for years. And he is a natural at video games. And his only flaw is that , well, no actually…Let me get back to you on that one.

2/5


Setting/Description:

Set on a facility on an island. That’s about all the information given. The facility houses the Psion Betas, with bedrooms, a kitchen and training rooms all surrounding a giant arena.

As for description, I always knew what was happening. Nothing too flowery, but I prefer minimal description that is precise. My favorite descriptions would have to be in a virtual game where historical figures are having a death battle at Stonehenge.

3/5


Writing Style:

Third person, past tense. The middle really drags, because the author is trying to put in so much dedication to Sammy training, that he forgets every movie makes that a one-minute montage. I’m sure a 90s sports director could tell a whopping 80,000 words of it in 2 minutes. Also, I struggled to find originality in the book amongst the prolonged love story and training. The one aspect I particularly enjoyed, was that series of flashbacks that moved parallel to the plot. Normally, it isn’t wise getting stuck in the past in a novel, because it drags down what will happen next, but these flashbacks my have told a more compelling story than the rest of the plot.

1/5


Potential:

The book has become a trilogy, and all of the books are self-published. Currently, the 3rd one ranks #846,169 in book rankings by sale on Amazon.com. They are yet to spark the eye of any publishing house. The author is slated to continue the Psion series though, yet I’m not sure I’ll grab the sequel, Psion Gamma.

2/5


Final:

            Plot: 2/5
            Characters: 2/5
            Setting/Description: 3/5
            Writing Style: 1/5
            Potential: 2/5

Final: 2/5


Monday, August 12, 2013

Review of Richard Paul Evans's "Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25"


Quickie Review:

There is something wrong in a teenage superhero book when the most exciting scene involves two girls shopping. The characters in this book showed so little depth that a car insurance commercial has a better chance of pulling at my heartstrings. And there were enough instances of ‘ly’ verbs to give any editor a heart attack, which I assume is why the book reads like a rough draft. Putting this on a shelf in my garage.


Full Length Review:

Plot:

Right away Michael Vey presents us with a teenage boy with a fat best friend, a popular cheerleader love interest and a bully with 2 cronies. But once the book gets over all that, it picks up. Michael discovers during a fight, that he possess the power of static electricity, just touching someone can light them up like a toaster to a hot tub. Taylor, the cheerleader, sees it and tells Michael that somehow she has powers too and they just happen to go to the same school in Idaho. Along with his friend, Ostin they form a club to uncover why they have these powers. Then, a mysterious group begins to stalk them.

Then there is a whole lot of filler and a thirty-page climax that excelled where every other scene failed.

2/5


Characters:

Michael Vey is a teenager with Tourette syndrome, which causes the readers to yell obscenities at him. Excuse me, I meant to say that he has a few facial ticks. Couple this with static shock powers and leadership qualities, and you have a protagonist. The other characters get descriptions and tend to all be blonde for some reason. The villain enjoys making children torture each other and mess with famous people for fun. Nobody displays enough of a lasting impression that I had to see what would happen next.

2/5


Setting/Description:

Idaho -> California

The description in this book was average, but the constant adverbs such as “he said darkly” and their repeated use made my want to cut onion and glue them to my eyeballs. How does one say something darkly? Must you thrust your head into a shadow whenever you speak?

3/5


Writing Style:

This book is told in first person, past tense. The author enjoys short chapters, stuffing 48 separate ones Michael Vey. The author maintains control over Michael, while jumping over to Taylor in 3rd person every once in a while to see what she’s doing. Nothing is too difficult to follow, yet the pacing lacked at the start, but found ground somewhere along the way.

3/5


Potential:

The book already has a sequel and is going for a third book. The series appears to have somewhat of a following. There are no talks of a movie as of yet. The author, Richard Paul Evans had a best seller on his hands 20 years ago, but this is his first dip into the YA market. He is well written, and maybe he can put some experience into his young adult writing, and stop underestimating what children deem entertaining.

3/5



Final:

Plot: 2/5

Characters: 2/5

            Setting/Description: 3/5

              Writing Style: 3/5

            Potential: 3/5

Score: 2.6/5




Saturday, August 10, 2013

Review of Mark Frost's "The Paladin Prophecy"



Quickie Review:

            Standard teen with special powers attends a school for the gifted, accompanied by his Australian guardian angel. Some evil ancient force composed of agencies, teenagers and monsters pursues him. It’s worth a read, and may surprise you. I would put it on my bookshelf.


Full Length Review:


Plot:

Will West’s family moves around every few years for no explanation. He has no close friends, so he spends his time running cross-country. When men called the Black Hats begin to pursue him, Will follows his dad’s 98 rules to survive. Once he learns that he has been accepted to an academy for the gifted, Will goes home only to find out his mom has become a zombie! Well, no. The Black Hats planted a mind control bug in her neck. After his father warns him to run, Will enrolls in the special school and flies off to safety.

The bulk of this book is Will gaining friends and unraveling the mystery behind who is after him. The plot fell apart for me though, somewhere around the part where Will abandons his family and uses Nando, a random taxi driver he just met to do reconnaissance on the bad guys. There is way too much going on, that the story was lost to all the cool features the author was trying to shove in.

2/5


Characters:

Will manages to meet a handful of wonderful characters that all get broad descriptions, but none particularly stand out, except Dave. However, most, including Will, don’t feel like fully realized ideas. Among Will’s friends, there is the brainy one, the slang-slinging gymnast, a piano player with fierce eyes, and a blonde love interest. While these may be new twists on past stereotypes, none defy expectations. They did make my laugh on occasion, though. The villain(s) had some interesting backstory, and some historical significance, but never displayed any awesome factors.

3/5


Setting/Description:


The book starts of in Ojai, California and moves Will off to The Center for Integrated Learning, a high school in Wisconsin. The Center is a high school for gifted students and recruits all students by merit. It houses a little over 1,000 students by Will’s calculations, yet boasts an entire shopping mall. It sounds too good to be true, or believable at all in our reality. I do enjoy the descriptions of snow though and I would make a pilgrimage to Popski’s any day of the week.

As for description, the book starts of with whole chapters dedicated to describing either people or areas. Some of the descriptions can even entice envy, such as the description for a hot rod and Will’s first Wisconsin breakfast. Yet, some of the time spent on describing minor things in great detail, could have gone to better use. Still, the writing never loses track and the words flow.

4/5


Writing Style:

This book is written in 3rd person limited, past tense for the most part. However, at some points in time, the writing head hops mid-paragraph and the POV changes. The author enjoys lengthy descriptions, and characters so packed with personality they are borderline racist. Maybe it was the Mexican cab driver who can never form a grammatically correct sentence, or the Australian soldier who exclusively speaks in an Australian dialect like he never left. The pacing was slow at times, but picked up near the last 1/3 of the book, which was around 350 pages into this 560-page monster.

3/5


Potential:

This book already has a sequel due out in a few months. I think the author can carry the story through to a trilogy. With most of the description out of the way, I feel like the plot can get to maximum potential if the Mark Frost looks over mistakes from the first. This was also Frost’s first YA book, which was able to capture the teenage voice surprisingly well for a man bordering on 60.       His background in scriptwriting has given him to write the screenplay for the upcoming movie, which will definitely give this book some hype.

5/5


Final:

Plot 2/5

Characters 3/5

Setting/Description 4/5

Writing Style 3/5

Potential 5/5

Score 3.4/5