Story Overview:
Lori is savaged
by a wolf when she is twelve years old. Her three friends are dead and she has
a scar that will remain with her forever. To get away from it all, her family
move and for four years she attempts to forget about the horrible day, she
almost died. Then just as everything seems to be getting to a sort of
normality, a student disappears in her new town and through her nightmares she
suspects the wolf is coming to finish the job.
Cover Page: 14/20
Again I am being
drawn to the comment of “can’t judge a book by its cover” and that is more true
here than ever before. When I look at the cover I think – ‘vampire’. However
this book is about werewolves primarily and although the girl on the picture
looks the part of a mysterious person; she doesn’t portray the characters
particularly well nor does she really tell me much about the story. However on
the plus side at least the cover looks professionally done and like it should
belong on a book shelf in this genre. This would at least draw an uncommitted
browser in.
Character (and
their development): 10/20
The characters
within the story all seem alike in their dialogue; although many of them are
years apart in age. Sometimes with little else to offer us in terms of actions
and thoughts gives us little insight into them. I did personally like Lori and
Josh, but found Kirk and Jessica a little too ‘teen tearaway’ for my liking.
But like most of the characters all the latter two are; are obnoxious late
teenagers; something every parent dreads. The development for the main
character is appropriate, but it is nothing special.
Storyline: 17/20
The storyline has
a great deal of potential and is probably the best part of this book. The idea
of something coming back to haunt a protagonist is nothing new, neither is the
idea of a new kid on the block having a shady past, but the two brought
together here have a huge potential. Even some of the minor characters have an
excellent opportunity to shine, with a suspicious police officer from the
previous town and the behaviour of the teachers.
Even the ending
has something that a couple of years ago I would not have expected. However
there is the problem with the storyline. As I read it I thought more and more
about a famous series of books based on vampires, and the similarities between
that series and this book. Don’t get me wrong, this book has more of a
uniqueness to make sure that it isn’t a like for like copy with just a few name
changes. But to me it seems obvious where the inspiration has come from.
Style: 8/20
Action scenes,
description and even character thoughts are all portrayed well. They have a
great pace around them and a touch of the best writers – when they occur. The
dialogue is what the author mostly concentrates on to drive the chapters on,
with little insight to what the characters are doing or thinking though heavy
dialogue exchanges. It is a shame because this is what really lets this story
down, however saying that; young teens may find this style more appealing than
some books that go the other way.
The only down
point about the action scenes is that sometimes objects that are interacted
with are written in as if the reader knew they were there all the time. I don’t
mind an object popping up, but the writing was such that it seemed as if I
missed its introduction earlier on in the writing.
The style of the
writing also didn’t allow the reader to read the action at the pace it was
going, instead going at a constant speed throughout the book. This doesn’t
allow the heart beat of the reader to race as the characters’ does or the
catching of breath when needing. It also doesn’t encourage the reader to
continue reading until the next chapter as almost any place is a good place to
stop.
Spelling and
Grammar: 10/20
The book is not
full of mistakes as some people on the reviews would lead you to believe. There
are in fact very few spelling and grammar mistakes, maybe a little more than I
would expect from an author, but certainly far less than you are led on to
believe. What I found with the writing was
there’s a lot of unnecessary words and sentences which slowed down the reading
and made it more uncomfortable to read.
Conclusion: 59/100
This is a book
with plenty of promise and potential, but the execution lets it down slightly.
There are moments of brilliant writing, but unfortunately it is not consistent.
If I was a young teen, or a person who really loved the ‘Twilight’ series, then
this is the book that I would buy. But for the casual reader it might be one that
would be a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t a bad book, and there
are plenty of books out there that are worse than this one, but one should not
buy this if they like being told what is going on and not hearing it from the
characters.
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