Review: SORCERERS' DYNASTY

SORCERERS' DYNASTY by Stephen Perkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In many ways, Stephen Perkins’s book Sorcerers’ Dynasty reminds me of American Gods by Neil Gaiman. However, instead of the Gods of ancient mythology, it plays on the mythology of Christianity. Sorcerers’ Dynasty features a wide collection of characters that intertwine throughout the novel. The characters are complex and dynamic, however, at times I am left wondering how a character can change so dramatically from one scene to the next. At times a character changes within the same scene. These inconsistencies mostly happen with the smaller less flushed out characters. The main characters give you a solid sense of who they are throughout the entire novel.

There is a lot that is going on in this book. At times you are completely caught up in the dynamics of the world that Perkins created. At other times you are left feeling lost and confused. Going between scenes, at times, can feel like a bit of a whiplash. I wonder if some of the side stories could have been cut, or if it could have been made into two or three books. When I was near the end of the book I wondered how it could possibly end with so much left unsaid. Then it did end, very abruptly. I am still trying to wrap my brain around the ending. I like when a book leaves an impression. It says something positive about the writer if they can impact the reader to that degree. That being said, I felt like I invested a lot into the book and would have rather it have been broken into two books then be left with an ending that was too fast.

Perkins is a good writer. I look forward to seeing how his style develops. He has an incredible imagination and is extremely vivid. However, he is a bit too descriptive. Each sentence seems to have four or five adjectives. Many of the adjectives are said over and over about the same characters. One character was described as loyal in nearly every sentence. Yet the reader already knew he was anything but loyal. The flowery language did not help set the scene, instead, it distracted me from what was actually happening. Also, at the start of the novel, the characters kept zoning out and reminiscing about their past. While this gave the reader great background information it did not flow naturally. Thankfully this ended once all the characters were established.

Sorcerers’ Dynasty is a good book that had the potential to be great. Unfortunately, it did not quite reach that bar. With a bit more flushing out the characters and more work on the timing of the novel, I think Perkins has the potential to be an amazing author. I look forward to reading more of his work.

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Review: ABC's

ABC's by Eden Crane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a cute ABC book lite on words and pictures. It is pretty much exactly what an ABC book is suppose to be. Everyone in my house is too old for this kind of book, but it was nice to see books for Kindle becoming more well rounded.

The book is pretty typical of a children’s ABC book. Each page has a letter and words that start with that letter. There are also a few pictures on each page. The book displays well in landscape in the Kindle app. By viewing it on the app you can also see the full scale of colors.

This is a great Kindle book if you have a younger child or if for some reason you want to review your alphabet.

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November 2017 - Reading Line Up

I know it is already the middle of November, but I want to start listing my monthly reading goals. I still have a fair bit of reading planned for this month, so I finished it would be best to start with November. Since the month is half over my list is fairly short. Some of the books I am in the middle of reading already. I am also hoping to catch up on some of my reviews from this year that I haven’t yet posted.

1. Sorcerers’ Dynasty by Stephen Perkins

A science fiction thriller that combines conspiracy with dysatopian.

2. Fire War by TT Michael

A military dysatopian novel in a world were the US and Canada have merged as one.

3. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Part of Amazons 100 books to read in a lifetime this true crimes books tells about the murder of a prominent middle class American family all in the vain hope of a quick buck.

4. Encounters With Authors by Dale Andrew White

A collection of interviews with famous older authors. I look forward to seeing who they were behind the pen.

5. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Edggers

Another book from Amazons 100 books to read in a lifetime. This one I will actually read in paper (a rarity for me). There seem to be a lot of mixed reviews. I am looking forward to seeing my perspective.

Review: Secrets Of A Digital Marketing Ninja

Secrets Of A Digital Marketing Ninja by Daniel Rosenfeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Secrets of a Digital Marketing Ninja: A Marketer’s Guide to Sustainable Growth by Daniel Rosenfield is written by a digital marketer that is well established in his field. He is addressing those who have a foundation of marketing but are looking to increase their skills in digital marketing as well as small business owners interested in learning about marketing their products. This book is a mentor for an entirely new generation of digital marketers with a light, limited jargon, tone that can be easily read by those who are knew to marketing of any kind.

This book covers basic marketing concepts such as finding your market, social media, crafting a marketing plan, landing pages, affiliate programs, crowd sourcing, and many other topics. Each topic contains the wisdom that Rosenfield has acquired from his career, as well as a breakdown of the basic digital marketing concepts. Since it is assumed that the reader will have a basis in marketing already, there is not enough information on most topics to launch a digital marketing campaign off this book alone. You would need more practical ways to apply the strategies contained in Secrets of a Digital Marketing Ninja.

One exception to this is the section on app marketing. This is the most useful section of the book due to Rosenfield providing examples on how to apply the strategies that he presents. While I have zero plans of marketing an app at any point in the future, I appreciated a better understanding of how app marketing is put into play. I was also able to visualize the use of digital marketing in apps that I frequently use.

The communication in the book is clear and concise. If you are in marketing looking for a recourse on digital marketing then this book is for you. If you have limited knowledge on marketing then I would pair this book with other marketing books, ones that will help you to apply the strategies presented in Secrets of a Digital Marketing Ninja. While I found this book enjoyable I feel it would be better served by simply mentioning more direct examples of how to put the marketing concepts into use. It would also have been interesting to expand beyond Rosenfield’s experience to include some marketing research to illustrate the concepts that he introduced.

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Review: Out of the Shadows

Out of the Shadows by Ashlee Nicole Bye
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Out of the Shadows by Ashlee Nicole Bye is a debut Urban Fantasy novel that presents the paranormal world as a dimension that at one point connected with our own. The shadow world is filled with all the creatures of our myths, some that wanted to protect the fragile humans and others who wished to dominate. As an intermediary between these two fractions you have the Order of Dark and Light, which are reapers that schedule death and collect souls to carry them off to the world of shadows.

I have been looking for a new Urban Fantasy series to add to my must-read pile, and this is the series. The world building is not unique, which would be hard in such a saturated market, but it is solid and well built. Characterization is a strength of Out of the Shadows. At first, it was a little hard to follow who was who. I mixed up two of the main male characters a few times. It was never bad, I always felt connected to the characters and the story. There are quite a few characters in the story, with a few intertwining subplots. Bye does a good job, and as the book continues an excellent job, of giving each of those characters a unique voice. I knew that it was a story I was going to enjoy from the first chapter.

There were times in the novel where my connection to the story was halted because of the writing. The words and sentences did not flow as well as they could have, and I had to reread to understand what the author was trying to say. It was not major disruptions, but it was a slight concern when I first started to read. However, by the end those disruptions were rare. You can see the growth of Bye as a writer from the start of the novel to the finish. I am excited to read the second book in the series; I am sure that it will start out a lot stronger then Out of the Shadows. Although, Bye did an amazing job with her debut novel.


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