Book Review: Captive in the Dark by C.J Roberts

 

+Amazing and thrilling climax

-Weak narrative techniques

-underdeveloped main characters

+Shifting perspectives

+Attached to minor character–Tiny

-Not that well written; missing active voice and other errors pertinent throughout the book.

+Tragic: strong idea, fails overall on the delivery.

6/10

To summarize, this book is average. Rape and bondage is not a topic that is saturated (yet). Though this book does offer a lot of potential at face value, it fails to follow through. It was too quick in some parts, and slow in others that dried the content.

An undeveloped protagonist is written by the author at best. Roberts chose to rush the exposition of the story, creating gaps in the development of the captive. As a reader, this strategy failed to attach me to the main character. The protagonist reads flat, and rushed; other than an unknown relationship with her mother, she has nothing out of the ordinary stemming from her life during the exposition of this book. More details about Livvie past are revealed later in the book.

It is not until later (the last 90% of the book), where readers learn something “shocking” about Livvie. Advice to Roberts would be to put this information at the start of the text, in order to continue developing Livvie and make readers feel attached. When dark and sinister events start to rain down on our hero, I don’t feel a bit attached to her; I don’t care at all about Livvie.

More pointedly, Robert’s technique and strategy to develop Livvie fails. The author attempts to use dreams to develop the protagonist. A great idea in theory, but Robert’s writing style is far too rudimentary to attempt such a vast task to develop a character, the issue her is a technical one: I cannot understand due to Robert’s poor writing of the inner dialogue. It skips steps, but it makes me miss important pieces of the character’s life.

Ironically, Roberts does an excellent job of developing a minor character– Tiny. I honestly felt more attached to Tiny than I did to any other character in the book. The reason Tiny was developed is because Roberts applies simple story techniques, which suit Robert’s simple writing style. Tiny is developed through his actions, emotions, and adjectives. I believe this is a simple and useful way to develop characters in story telling.

Roberts is not a fantastic writer, she’s not even a great writer. I would say her writing is average. Her adjectives are too many, and she tells more than showing. Its a typical technique that many emerging (including myself) writers struggle with. At times, I felt like Roberts was story telling, not story showing.  At times, the book reads as if she is expositing and not narrating.

Captive in the Dark is not worthy of a failing grade; in fact, the most tragic part about this book is not its sinister message, or the themes of rape and violence. The tragedy stems from the concept that Roberts has a strong idea here with potential, but she fails to deliver. As a reader, I see snippets of brilliance, but it does not shine through all the time. Although this review mentions where Robert’s technique of developing a character fails, she does a magnificent job expositing her story through different perspectives.

Roberts tells the story through two perspectives. An applauding audience would meet Roberts on this technique, it works well to inner dialogue each character’s internal struggle. Especially during important  conflict moments, it was interesting  to read a perspective from the other character and note their internal and external conflicts as the story went forward. It was double interesting when internal dialogue reflected on past conflicts in a previous chapter to show a character’s internal struggle, and then a reader can compare how one character felt towards a certain conflict  with the other characte . I loved this technique used in the story, and Roberts writes it well.

An amazing climax meets the reader in this book! Truly, Robert’s expositive writing style really paints the climatic moment(s) in this story. Not only that, the climax will make even the boldest readers feel a sense of sick and twist in them for reading this book.

Upon purchase, I was thrilled to read this book: bondage and rape is a new genre I hoped to dapple in. Unfortunately, Roberts fails to deliver. Her plot outline is amazing. Her perspective shift is brilliant. Her sick and sinister idea is great (at some parts). However, poor character development of the protagonist, and poor writing makes this book tiresome. It is not a narrative, but reads more like it explains. I do not care about any of the characters, except a minor one. Roberts is an excellent story teller, she is not a strong story shower.

As a result of this review, the next novel in Dark Duet will not find a megabit on my Kindle.

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The Best Books I Read Before I Became an Avid Reader (and Writer)

Until this year, I rarely read a book. I was an ironic, not well read, skipped all the readings in university English teacher. Thus stated, there were rare instances where a book did captivate my interest when I was not a reader. Below is a list of my pre-avid reader books:

1) Battle Royale- Koushun Takami

Translated from its Japanese origin, Battle Royale sparks debate today. It is argued to be the first and better Hunger Games. Warning to future readers of this book: it is gruesome (tweens killing and raping other tweens gruesome). The action in this text is non-stop.

It is interesting to note that the page count for this book is 666… A lucky number in China, but in Japan…?

2) Halo: The Flood-William C. Dietz

After playing the Halo Combat Evolved video game for a majority of my childhood, it was really neat to read how William C. Dietz imagined the campaign. Bonus material of the surviving marines is pertinent throughout the book, and makes it an enjoyable read. Contrasting the images from the series with the sensory details and description in William C. Dietz text was a thrilling read for me back in my tweens.

Yes, you guessed it, this book was the one that kept me awake until odd hours in the night when I was a child. Maybe you weren’t thinking about odd hours in the night, but I took a guess anyway.

I have not read this book in about 10 years. It would be interesting to pick it up and give it a read to see if I still feel the same about it… Hmm, possibly add this text to my reading list?

3) The Hatchet-Gary Paulsen

Now a book with a medal attached to its front cover, The Hatchet earns my personal medal as the first novel I ever finished reading. It really is sad, isn’t it? While in school, I remember reading books in class, but I also remember just skipping pages during partner reading to crap my way through the assignments– my love for reading was non-existent!

A short list of books! Wondering how these texts will fare now that I am 15 years older…

 

 

Book Review: On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft

+Creative idea to deliver writing advice

-+Lots of interesting Memoiring, but somewhat distorts and distracts from the real focus of this book: on writing.

+Specific writing tips that can be applied to writing right now

+General tips that require a change of lifestyle

+Dark and sinister tone permeates certain chapters of this book

-King is a pompous and arrogant writer.

7/10

Stephen King attempts to write a technical writing book that flecked with the spice of storytelling. Overall, King achieves this task, and I think it is a creative way to present information. The story behind his life as a writer isn’t dry, and King admits it is a challenge for him to write his first non-fiction.

Though his prose and overall approach to writing about writing is creative (and engaging), the creativity distorts from the novels first purpose–becoming a better writer. King’s narrative strings a long for almost half the book. During the narrative, he drops a few hints as to how to become a better writer, but these hints are not direct, and at the very most, ambigious. Deciphering the writing tips, at least for the first half of the book, are pegged on the reader; in other words, the reader is shown a lot of story, and forced to really cog churn and decipher the “hidden code” about writing.

Even though King distorts his writing tips for the first half of the book, his book revives itself on the later half. After getting over the 50% mark, a reader will (finally) discover prose that is direct and related to writing. These tips are pretty strong. Many of the advice can applied to a writer’s wordsmith right away. King breaks down his grammar strategy, and offers several examples, creating a unified and cohesive piece of work for a writer to work with.

Not all of King’s tips are technical (and can be applied right now), instead, King insinuates lifestyle changes that are essential for a writer. These pieces of advice are also powerful, require habit in order to successfully execute, and show how dedicated a writer must be to her craft.

King recieves an applauding audience for his tone that permeates the pages of this book; he is a horror writer, and he (still) manages to write horrifically in a book about advice. It made this informative technical book read with a sense of engagement. King’s tone glued my eyes to the page, making it much more of an enjoyable read. The tone put’s King’s “On Writing” far ahead of Brande’s “Becoming a Writer” in terms of engagement.

In my personal life, I do not hangout with arrogant and pompous people, for the very reason that I aggression may ensue as a result. Modesty is an important characteristic that I find important in human beings. Unfortunately, King is an arrogant writer. His arrogance almost causes readers to stop and close the book, but I stuck through till the end. He often boasts his success, and states a lot of absolutes in terms of being a writer. For me, this arrogance really kept this book from garnering a 9/10.

Overall, this book achieves its intention, and it is a creative way to broach a somewhat dry subject. Reading technical books about becoming a better writer can be tedious, but King breaks that convention down it’s spine. King’s writing is dripping with arrogance, where at times, he reads like he’s some god of writing. King is an amazing writer,but his message in this book is distorted slightly with the creativity, and alot with his arrogant attitude. This book could be for you if you want to become a better writer and look past a pompous author.

 

 

 

Book Review: Ender’s Game

6.5/10

+Excellent fighting scenes that are described well

-Formations are very poorly written, making it difficult to visualize

-Mixture of short and long chapters

+Strong character development

+Several themes are present

A confession is in order before I delve into the review: this marks my third time reading Ender’s Game, and I am actually teaching this novel to my grade 7 class. Upon a first reading, I immensely enjoyed the book.  The second time leveled off to a “meh,” and now that I am teaching it (for the second time), I am struggling to stay engaged with the writer’s words. Does reading a book three times constitute a sudden shift in interest? I thought I loved this book (at some point)!

Ender develops as a character through all the conflicts he faces. The most moving section of the book, for me, occurs in chapter 1. After an event, Ender struggles against himself. He believes that “I am just like Peter. Take away my monitor, and I am just like Peter.” If you want to know who Peter is, and what a Monitor is, you’ll have to read the book!

Without spoiling, I can safely say that the fighting scenes in this book are very well written. Orson Scott Card engages my senses as reader, and isn’t afraid to splatter blood on the wall! My type of book; very riveting. The problem is that the fight scenes are far and deeply separated by pages of exposition, and other confusing wordings that make journeying through this book seem like a job.

Any time Card tries to describe null gravity, or the formations that take place in the battle room, I find my mind swimming with confusion. It is impossible for me to decipher how the soldiers are formatting themselves in null gravity. Here’s a section that leaves me boggled:

“Ender motioned for them all to back away from the door. Then he pulled foreward a few of the taller boys, including crazy Tom, and made them kneel, not squatting back to sit on their heels, but fully upright, so they formed an L with their bodies.”

This section gave me a headache! Card was trying to illustrate an image in my cogs, but fails.

Themes are prevalent in this book, making it–somewhat– a useful tool to teach literature to middle school students. Bullying, leadership, creativity/innovation, strategy, justification of violence, and humanity vs inhumanity are all themes that slap this book on it’s pages.At face value, these themes ring true to the bare bone, but some are easier to decipher than others. Bullying is definitely more prevalent in this text, than, lets say, the justification of violence. Card’s Ender’s Game did not lose points for weighing themes more heavily.

Card certainly flexes his ability to develop a character; this is a facet where I commend his writing. Ender develops as a character through all the conflicts he faces. The most moving section of the book, for me, occurs in chapter 1. After an event, Ender struggles against himself. He believes that “I am just like Peter. Take away my monitor, and I am just like Peter.” If you want to know who Peter is, and what a Monitor is, you’ll have to read the book! The character development saved this book from a scathing review.

Structurally, chapters in this book start off short, but become longer, longer, and then even longer. Lines are plopped in logical positions to help divide elongated chapters, but, at times, chapters seem to drag on and on. One particular chapter, Locke and Demethesis, was dry to no end.

I feel strongly that Scott Orson Card crammed too much into a single book. He could have focused on Ender’s life in Battle school, and forgone the happenings on earth in this volume. Several subplots, combined with Card’s confusing writing style, make this title a tiresome and elongated read. Speaker for the Dead (the second book in the series) will not be downloaded on my Kindle. Unfortunately, I will be removing it from my reading list; I don’t like reading a sci-fi that struggles to put images in my head.

 

 

Book Review: Draw the Circle The 40 Day Prayer Challenge Part 2 of 2

8/10

+The author delivers on his promise

+The novel teaches readers a step by step process to find their voice with God

-the author plays too much on words. It reaches a point of annoyance.

+Despite the flaw above, the author apologizes (humbly) for playing on words

+The author glorifies God for his work

-Wished to see more citations from scripture embedded into the novel

+Overall advice is strong, with even some extreme suggestions that should be done to get even closer to God

A 40 day devotional that can be consumed by a devoted reader in a few weeks, Draw the Circle is a pleasant read.  It took me awhile to get through this book, only because I wanted to percolate on the advice given and embed it into my prayer life.

Readers will meet the first sentence when they begin this novel: “The forty day prayer challenge is going to change your life.”

Ultimately, Batterson delivers on his promise: this book will alter your prayer life; this book is powerful; this book will change your life.

Here’s a memorable quotation, taken right from the pages: “Our potential is directly proportional to our prayer life, it is the single greatest indicator of our success.”

Well then, how does Batterson suggest we alter our prayer life?  I can’t spoil his insights, but I can say that Day 24, “Find your Voice” is fantastic. The author offers clear steps to find God’s voice, and for my relationship with God, I feel that this section of the book really influenced me.

Although Batterson’s content is strong, his writing is alright. He painstakingly plays a lot on words, for example: “the more we pray, the more prophetic we become. The less we pray, the more pathetic we become.” This technique heavily salts each chapter of the book, and would have knocked off a few points on this review, if Batterson did not apologize and admit to his play on words. An apology shows modesty. An apology won HUGE humble brownie points in this reader’s heart! Well done Mark Batterson–thanks for being a humble Christian!

Most importantly, I loved how Mark Batterson attributed all of his success to God. This book is a living and breathing entity of God’s work, or so I think Batterson would say.

I wished to read more scripture citations.  It felt a little distant at times when only one verse was cited per chapter. That said, Batterson does overflow the pages with testimonies of God.

The advice in this book is strong, and after successfully embedding some of the strategies discussed in this book, I have noticed a huge change in my prayer life. My prayer is deeper; my prayer is more creative; I even crack jokes with God now! There are some extreme pieces of advice in this book that are not easy to execute. That does not mean it should not be tried.