Darswords

Not the End by Kate Vane

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Oh. I am so sorry. I tried. I really did. I read every little bit of this book. And I was given this book by the author for an honest review. But, all I could come up with, is 2 stars, which on GoodReads means ‘it’s okay’. I’ll adjust accordingly on Amazon’s star rating to the ‘okay’ standing.

The writing was not as bad as many I have seen lately, but it left a lot to be desired. I never got to the point that I liked any of the characters enough to feel engaged. Sometimes by turning on the text-to-speech feature (in this case in Moon Reader Pro) and placing it on a high enough speed to still be best understood without sounding like a chipmunk, I can get past boring or confusing parts. Well, not so much this time.

Oh, and speaking of characters… Wow! this had a country full of populous. So many points of view that I couldn’t keep track. Often the fast reading speed gets me to the part of a book where I know who is who. Nope. At the end, I still was confused as to who was in lust with Elizabeth. Who was the twin to Roisin. And the lesser characters were even more confusing.

Maybe it is just me. Probably. But I just didn’t feel anything about the story or people. Look, if it’s any consolation, it took me forever to tell the difference between Rob and Jon in the TV series, Game of Thrones. Now having watched it a million times I have them separated. But, show either of those actors in another context and I get them confused again. AND what makes me frustrated was wondering, if this was my story how would I change it? I couldn’t figure it out. A picture book with names and personal histories on the side?

Oh, and how did the death of the woman at the beach change anyone? They all seemed pretty messed up even in the end. I’m so, so sorry I couldn’t offer more. But thank you for letting me read your book, Kate Vane. I’m sure others out there will love it. Good luck in your future writing. I do think you have the chops.

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