Seth Scharon

This was a very difficult review to write, because I don't like saying negative things. However, I received this book with the agreement I would write a review about it, so I feel bound to do it.

First of all, the cover art is good. The author's name and title are perhaps just a bit blurry, but not so that you'd notice it unless looking for nitpicks. The way the chapter headings were formatted is excellent, not always the case with a self-published book. The illustration for the line breaks was fun, and just overall the formatting for the print book was terrific.

There is one thing I didn't like about the formatting, and that was the prologue and the epilogue were formatted (with line breaks in between each paragraph, instead of indenting). Since the rest of the story is paragraphed normally, I imagine this was just a personal choice to set the prologue and epilogue apart from the rest; still, I found it very offputting.

I tried very hard to get into this book. I really wanted to like it. The premise was solid; the setting sounded interesting. And I love science fiction and fantasy. So why the low rating?

I just couldn't get myself to like the main characters. I tried, but I just couldn't. The steamy sex scene in the first paragraph did not help ("A sex scene? Before I even know who these characters are? Let alone why I care about them? Really?"). Then we got introduced to the main characters, and they just . . . I didn't care about them. Maybe it's just personal taste. Maybe it's because they just didn't seem very distinct to me. Maybe it's because there was no hook to introduce me to them, no real conflict internally, just sort of two people doing stuff and finding a thing.

They just didn't seem to be interesting. Nothing made them stand out to me. Nothing made them stand out in a bad way (they weren't cliche), but nothing made them stand out in a good way, either.

Which is I guess what made the whole book fall flat to me. The whole thing just felt "meh" all around to me. Nothing seemed particularly bad, either; I just couldn't get into it.

I give it two stars because I really *wanted* to like it, and it probably is a good story to many people. But I can't honestly give it three, because I couldn't get into the story at all, despite it being the kind of premise that would usually interest me.… (mere)