The novel in progress has passed the 70K word mark. I note that my most recent publication, Justice Resurgent was only 74K words and is the shortest of my books. Justice in Season as originally written was about 95K words but I cut it back to 89K words. Finding Jack-The Orb was over 88K words. Smoke, my favorite work so far, was 95K words. I anticipate reaching the end of the new novel somewhere between 80K and 90K words--it's part of a series so I'm adjusting the break point between books. When I read a book, I don't care so much about word count--unless it's way too long with a lot of slop that should've been eliminated. I only track the word count on my own books to keep my writing goal steady and manageable, and to make sure that I'm publishing something with enough words and pages, i.e., enough story, to be a worthwhile investment for a reader.
Speaking of books: I should review two.
Let me begin with 1632 by Eric Flint. It was available as a free ebook. I had heard about it and had seen it at the used bookstore but that was it. The price in this case was too good to ignore.
This book didn't dawdle in getting to the story. I don't recall a lot of getting to know the characters before the big event from which the story is generated. The city of Grantville, West Virginia and its environs of the year 2000, lands in Thuringia of the year 1632. Not much time is spent anguishing over the how and why of the sudden relocation--which is good; after all, the least interesting part of Gilligan's Island was the 3 hour tour. Luckily, Grantville has some major assets to help its citizens cope with the disease, incessant warfare, and all-around sack of suck that made life in Northern Europe of 1632 filthy, brutal and short.
The strongest part of the book for me concerned the establishment and preservation of American freedom and justice in a time whn the divine right of kings alloyed with might makes right. The Americans have to ante up with the might to preserve their rights and lives. They attempt to extend the same rights to those around them. The politics and warfare of the age are of interest. The Americans eventually have to go "all in" at the gaming tables of kings and roll the iron dice of war with some of the major players of the day. The purple testament gets a new chapter.
Most of the characters are well done. King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden figures prominently and presents an intriguing figure. Some of the American characters represent certain points of view in the politics of the republic and are given more time or development according to how sympathetic the author seems to be to those points of view. Other interesting characters include a doctor, and a cheerleader who doubles as a sniper.
The moments in this book when the founding principles of the United States are put on display, argued and defended really shine. Those moments would make it a 5 star book. Unfortunately, there are other moments that eclipse some of those stars. Several of those moments include some profanity that only detracts from the story in my opinion. Another is Gretchen. She's a great character but the author dedicated entirely too much time to the description and admiration of her physical attributes. I had to skip over some of the more explicit descriptions of her and her activities. The story is exciting and fairly fast paced. The battles, large and small, unfold with descriptive vigor and verve.
I rate the book based on its strongest features: It's not Red Dawn, it's Red, White and Blue Dawn.
I started the book intrigued with the prospect of experiencing a "Post Apocalypse Western" as noted on the cover. That sounded cool to me. The silhouetted figure on the cover looks like a cowboy. I enjoy westerns (I've even written a couple). I expected some six-gun action, a quick draw or two, and some lever-action rifle shootouts with mutants biting the dust by the dozen and horrific creatures soaking up lead like the sandpit at the firing range. One should never judge a book by its cover.
While the cover piqued my interest, the foreword annoyed me. The author used the foreword to introduce himself, set up the world in which the story would take place and to pay some backhanded homage to H.P. Lovecraft. I had two problems with it. First, put the introduction in an Introduction or Author's Note, and use a Prologue to set up the world if necessary--which it shouldn't be. Second, save the virtue signaling; I don't need to know how the author's personal views differ from those of the dead guy from whom he's taking his inspiration.
The first chapter put the story on the road with the virtue signal still flashing. I couldn't see any other point for the descriptions given for those supporting characters--they all died like lemmings leaping into a meat grinder--they were the redshirt casualties before the opening credits (Yes. I'm being redundant, but I like it that way). Inevitably the story picked up and the signal burnt out. The story dug itself out of the hole into which the foreword and first chapter had flung it. The descriptions and actions scenes came alive. I trudged on in hope of finding the western that I had been promised; a cowboy hat doth not a western make. The main character wore a cowboy hat but it never figured into the story or had any apparent purpose.
I finally gave up the trudge. I couldn't find any characters that I cared about or that were even interesting enough to make me stay. I must say that I'm not a big fan of the Cthulhu Mythos; my interest is superficial. I've read some Lovecraft; he's not my favorite. So maybe it was a mistake for me to think that I might like this book. The final straw hit me as I thought about the dialog that I was reading. The conversation didn't flow for me; at best it was just an accumulation of things that the author wanted the characters to say. I never felt like the dialog was taking me anywhere or adding to the story. The occasional humor the dialog may have been intended to produce didn't work in my opinion.
I rate it: Full of the dark hopelessness of Lovecraft but without the understated charm. I do note that the book has 61 reviews at the big river site and 63% of those are 5 star reviews. I stopped just short of halfway through. I think the Mad Max portion of the show was about to start but Elvis and my ability to care had left the building.
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