Finished – DaneCobain.com

Title: Salvage

Author: Duncan Ralston

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 348

Rating: 4/5

Duncan Ralston – Salvage

This is a book by an indie author friend of mine, although I guess he’s more of an acquaintance. I came across Ralston back in the day when we were both published by BookTrope, and even though we’ve since gone our separate ways, I still grab his books when I can because he’s a pretty decent horror writer. On a par with a lot of the professionals if you ask me, and that holds true from the quality of the writing to the editing, layout and cover design. When you buy this book, you’re getting the finished article from someone who’s done this before a bunch of times.

In this book, we’re basically dealing with a ghost story that’s set partially underwater. A dude has to look into the mysterious drowning death of his sister and figure out what she was looking for in a town that was buried by water after the construction of a hydroelectric dam. That’s really all I can tell you without spoilers, but what I will say is that if you’re looking for a decent indie horror then this is a good place to start. It’s spooky, the ghosts are downright sinister, and the little lick of religion gives it a sort of Biblical horror feel too, although I was getting kind of tired of that by the end of it. I don’t like religion.

Overall, Salvage isn’t the best book I’ve read this year but then I read a lot. It’s not the best ghost story either because it’s behind Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, but only by half a rating point. For an indie book, it’s easily in the upper echelons and it can hold its own against a lot of the stuff coming out from major publishers. I enjoyed it for what it was and actually liked it more than I thought I was going to when I went into it. Good job, Duncan. Now which of your books shall I read next?

Duncan Ralston

Click here to buy Salvage.

Lee Hall – Darke Blood | Review

Title: Darke Blood

Author: Lee Hall

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 404

Rating: 3*/5

Lee Hall – Darke Blood

I was given a signed copy of this book for my birthday from a friend of mine – someone who comes to my monthly spoken word night. I wasn’t too sure what to expect from it, but I thought that I’d give it a go, and it kind of left me with mixed feelings.

The main problem that I had was the way that it switched perspectives. That threw me out of the story for a while, and I started to lose interest and to not take as much of it in. Because of that, it got more difficult to read towards the end when different elements of the story all came together – I couldn’t always understand what was happening, and I think I’d have to re-read it a couple of times to fully understand it all.

But despite that, the basic story line is pretty good, and the author has clearly put plenty of thought into how their fictional world works. If anything, that’s the problem – it’s so thoroughly planned that I found it hard to keep each of the different pieces together in my head as a reader. Luckily, the bits that I did get absorbed into were pretty good, and the writing style was just right for the type of book that this is.

Lee Hall

When I take a look at indie novels, I always find myself judging them based upon the quality of their editing. Too many of them go without editing completely, and that makes a huge difference when it comes to the quality of the finished product. In this case, the book has been edited pretty well, but there are a few mistakes here and there. Enough for me to notice, but not enough for it to hamper my enjoyment of the book.

Overall, as much as I’d like to say that I loved this because it was a gift, I mostly just thought it was okay. It does show promise, though, and so I’ll be curious to see how Hall’s career progresses. It’s strange though, because I thought it started out strong and then started to fizzle out, which was something of a disappointment. It could have been snappier, but I also gather that it was originally meant to be a standalone before becoming the first book in a trilogy.