Derivative – DaneCobain.com

Todd Wittenmyer – The Vulnerable Gods | Review

Title: The Vulnerable Gods

Author: Todd Wittenmyer

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 349

Rating: 3.5*/5

Todd Wittenmyer – The Vulnerable Gods

I have kind of mixed feelings about this book because while the story line itself is pretty gripping and keeps you turning the pages, there are so many spelling and grammar mistakes that it’s difficult to overlook them. We’re talking the wrong versions of to/too, your/you’re and its/it’s all throughout the book. And the layout is messed up as well, with double spacing, random blank pages and weird page numbers that seem to appear and disappear.

Of course, this is par for the course with an indie novel to a certain extent, and I was prepared to overlook them because Todd is a BookTube friend of mine. But at the same time, I do think that the book would be much, much better if it was copy edited and proofread and then properly typeset.

But now that we’ve got the negatives out of the way, let’s move on to the positives. One of the things that I enjoyed the most was the fact that you can see the author’s personality coming across in the book, and you can also see how he’s inspired by Stephen King. But it doesn’t feel derivative, and in fact it’s kind of difficult to actually classify the genre of this book because it takes inspiration from a bunch of different genres and brings them together into something new.

All in all then, I am glad that I read this, but it also felt incomplete. I feel as though Todd is selling himself short here, and it’s just a shame that it hasn’t been better proofed before he hit the publish button. I can’t really recommend it in its current state because of the mistakes, but I do think there’s a lot of potential there. I’d say it’s a good 80-90% of the way towards being a pretty good indie release, but without the corrections it’s a bit like going to see a decent band who are being held back by a bad sound guy.

Todd Wittenmyer

Click here to buy The Vulnerable Gods.

Annabel Kantaria – The One That Got Away | Review

Title: The One That Got Away

Author: Annabel Kantaria

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 462

Rating: 4*/5

Annabel Kantaria – The One That Got Away

Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review.

This one left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it’s well-written, well-edited and well-presented, and it does feature a story line that basically forces the reader to keep on turning page after page to see what happens next. But on the other hand, it’s nothing new. In fact, it’s basically Gone Girl, repackaged to fit a British audience. So it’ll probably sell a lot of copies and become a critical success, and my own feelings as a reader are effectively moot. Still, I’ll have a go.

Basically, this book follows the story of what happens when a successful businesswoman goes to her high school reunion and bumps into her old flame, who now happens to be a wealthy businessman and successful philanthropist. He still likes her and he makes a move, even though he’s married, and you’ll have to read the book to find out the rest because I don’t want to spoil it for you.

The reason it’s like Gone Girl is that the male and female leads are both manipulative, and that brings me on to the same problem with this book that I also had with Gone Girl – neither of the main characters are likeable, which makes it hard for me to care what happens to them. I mean, they do some awful things to each other – which people have a habit of doing – but I found it difficult to feel sorry for anyone. They all deserved what they got.

Annabel Kantaria

I also thought that the ending was a little rushed, and while it does wrap the story up, it comes almost out of nowhere. It felt a bit like I’d powered through the book only to get to the end and find out that the whole thing was a dream. It was just too quick, too neat and too unbelievable, although I can also understand why the author did it in the way that she did.

But despite all this, I can’t award it anything less than a 4/5, and the reason for that is simple. Whether it’s derivative or not, it’s still well-written, well-paced and plenty easy to read. I got through it in a day, and it’s simply that kind of book – the kind that you might read once and then forget about. If you asked me about it in a week’s time, I wouldn’t be able to tell you what the characters were called. But if you’re looking for a book to read on the beach or while on holiday, it’ll do nicely.