Erin Claiborne

This was part of a Humble Bundle I bought a number of years ago where the theme was "Made Through Kickstarter". I decided to finally read this one to satisfy this year's Reddit Bingo "Self-published / Indie Publisher" square. From what I understand, this writer started out doing fanfic, and then published this book through Kickstarter that also helped fund an Indie press that published three books. I think where this book fell short for me was that the characters were very...one dimensional. Ewan, one of the protagonists of this story is so boring. He's just existing and he has nothing to endear him to the reader, no likable qualities, nothing to root for, he's just there. Oliver is very assertive and heroic, and at least he tries to do things. Ewan just reacts to things throughout almost the entire book. Sophie is sick of everyone's mess and that's about it. Archie is the rich kid whose actions also don't make sense. I found the budding romance between him and Ewan to be very unbelievable because neither character had qualities worth falling for. The story was a bit all over the place and had some pacing issues. The ending was a bit anticlimactic but also kind of saccharine. Ewan finally had some growth as a character, as well as Oliver. But for whatever reason, as I was reading this, it never quite made sense to me. Until now. If you take this as some sort of Harry Potter fanfic, but names and descriptions changed, but basic character archetypes retained, it makes more sense. The author didn't spend time developing these characters, because if you read HP, it is assumed you'd know them. But this isn't fanfic, this is a separate novel, so that's where it ultimately failed for me… (mer)

PROLOGUE

I WILL NOT begin my review by comparing this book to "Harry Potter".
I VEHEMENTLY REFUSE. And so, I hope, will you.

There was a world of magic before "Harry Potter", alongside it, and there is still one afterwards.
"Harry Potter" does NOT hold monopoly on magic, schools, magic schools, prophecies, destiny, heroic quests etc.
I am tired of people treating it like it does. DESIST!

THE ACTUAL REVIEW

I've come across this book through one of the book blogs I follow and was intrigued. So I thought I'd try to get the book. Did. (thankfully I borrowed, not bought)

'I like it but I don't. Eh?? What?'
That about sums up my experience with this one.

You see, I liked the idea and it started off well. But somewhere in the middle... it lost its spark?
Only 3 hours after finishing the book, I don't really remember it. All those little comments in Reading Progress? I already forgot what those were about. That's a horrible sign. A full-on Red Alert.

It was a fast fun read.
But I felt like quitting half-way through.
The world is blurry, not defined properly. That's a shame.
(And how on earth do you determine evil? There's an almost dictatorship there, no?)

One of the worst things is proof reading. Not sure there was any of that. I don't like being distracted from the story by a bunch of typos and whatnot. There goes a whole star right there.

Not to say the book was bad.
It read fast, and the characters were normal messed up people (I love psychological explorations done right)
Psychologically speaking, the emotional side was believable - resentment, and hurt, and depression, and loss of direction...

But it doesn't have enough to get me emotionally involved with the story. I just did not feel invested.

EPILOGUE/VERDICT
I would not really push anyone to read it. I do recognize that there are people who would absolutely adore this book. But I'm not one of them.
It's promising, but rather MEH.… (mer)