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mentat_stem 's review for:
Nimravid
by D.L. Greeley
I needed a mindless read when I picked this up and it 100% fit the bill, thus I mostly come away from it with a positive experience. Despite its faults, there's a lot of potential in the characters and ideas. In this particular outing, however it was all a jumbled mess. I made an agreement with myself early on. I wouldn't bother writing a review if a coherent story didn't manage to assert itself. Almost all the pieces ended up coming together, so here are my thoughts.
The central mystery was largely ignored until it was resolved in a mass of exposition in the middle of the final showdown with the big bad. The constant male gaze was was off putting and when focused on a 15 year old girl I almost stopped reading. The main character is pure hypocrite when it comes to violence and death dealing, which is mostly worth mentioning because he can't shut up about his moral code. There's some sketchy theology thrown into the mix. There are a few attempts to deal with race, which is probably important when your main character is a half cat Australian orphan raised by the Yakuza in Japan trying to eek out a living in St. Louis, but it's not handled all that well.
The pacing is totally off kilter. It feels like it's going to be an action adventure, but it's mostly about a bully forcing people into relationships for their own good, lecturing them and thinking bad thoughts, but not acting on them except when he does.
My most frequent note while reading was "ooo, new power." Mostly that was calling out the clunky or convenient way it was introduced, but the collections of abilities are quite impressive. It's established quite early that his powers take a lot out him, yet there always seems to be something to recharge him, amulets, snacks, anger. He has shape shifting armor, can teleport, read minds, speak all languages, harness the wind, cause minor earthquakes, look like anyone or be invisible, is immortal, commune with ghosts. Also he has a destiny.
And since it may come up, I found the reactions to criticism by the author rather crazy. I read and enjoyed this book because a friend of the author recommended it. It mostly suffers from problems that would probably have been ironed out by a professional editor.
The central mystery was largely ignored until it was resolved in a mass of exposition in the middle of the final showdown with the big bad. The constant male gaze was was off putting and when focused on a 15 year old girl I almost stopped reading. The main character is pure hypocrite when it comes to violence and death dealing, which is mostly worth mentioning because he can't shut up about his moral code. There's some sketchy theology thrown into the mix. There are a few attempts to deal with race, which is probably important when your main character is a half cat Australian orphan raised by the Yakuza in Japan trying to eek out a living in St. Louis, but it's not handled all that well.
The pacing is totally off kilter. It feels like it's going to be an action adventure, but it's mostly about a bully forcing people into relationships for their own good, lecturing them and thinking bad thoughts, but not acting on them except when he does.
My most frequent note while reading was "ooo, new power." Mostly that was calling out the clunky or convenient way it was introduced, but the collections of abilities are quite impressive. It's established quite early that his powers take a lot out him, yet there always seems to be something to recharge him, amulets, snacks, anger. He has shape shifting armor, can teleport, read minds, speak all languages, harness the wind, cause minor earthquakes, look like anyone or be invisible, is immortal, commune with ghosts. Also he has a destiny.
And since it may come up, I found the reactions to criticism by the author rather crazy. I read and enjoyed this book because a friend of the author recommended it. It mostly suffers from problems that would probably have been ironed out by a professional editor.