Reviews

The Lost Scrolls by Victor Milán, Alex Archer

mxsallybend's review

Go to review page

1.0

The Rogue Angel series is one I've been curious about for years, but somehow never quite got around to starting. With some time to kill on the weekend, I picked The Lost Scrolls at random from my pile of Alex Archer books and got to reading.

My first impressions were that of a cheesy, formulaic read, a paint-by-numbers adventure. Book 6 of a 57 book series (and the third ghost-written by Victor Milán, from whom I'm really expected better), it feels like it's already exhausted its potential.

The writing itself is somewhere between poor and serviceable, forcing me to reread multiple scenes to understand who did what. The fight scenes are decently choreographed, although they suffer from the genre's Stormtrooper affliction, whereby a roomful of trained mercenaries with automatic weapons can't hit one woman, who has time to leap, twist, cavort, and kick them in the face while they inexplicably pause their trigger fingers.

I won't even touch on the laughably bad technology details. Instead, I'll give that a pass, assuming that readers weren't so savvy or sophisticated twelve years ago.

Where the story really fell flat for me, though, was in the adventure aspect. Annja Creed is a world-famous archaeologist. The title speaks of lost scrolls. The cover illustrates pyramids and hieroglyphics. The blurb promises the "charred ruins of the Library of Alexandria" and "astonishing texts that detail the wonders of Atlantis." Despite all that, the amount of actual archaeology and tomb raiding here is negligible, with two scenes hundreds of pages removed from one another.

I skimmed most of the second half, more because I felt obliged to finish than because I really cared what happened. I'll give one of the Mel Odom, Jean Rabe, or Joseph Nassise ghost-written entries a chance, but I fear my Rogue Angel relationship will be a short one, which is massively disappointing.


http://femledfantasy.home.blog/2019/02/04/book-review-the-lost-scrolls-by-alex-archer/

curiosityp's review

Go to review page

2.0

I'm seeing a pattern in these books now. The ones written by Victor have Annja surviving villains attempting to kill her within a few pages and at every possible moment for the rest of the book. They are written like ludicrous action movies. The ones written by Mel Odom are full of interesting and believable plot and are more enjoyable to read. Victor's are so barely tolerable that I can't remember his last name.

dat_gyul's review

Go to review page

2.0

Started out so slowly I thought I would never finish the book but I stuck with it and towards the end it really picked up. Can't say that I'd ever want to re-read it.

laurla's review

Go to review page

i like the stories, but i'm getting a little tired of the hundreds of people killed in each novel. it seems like gratuitous violence and bloodshed.

muti-author series - victor milan

kgrhoads's review

Go to review page

4.0

A bit more violence than many in the series, but nothing out of character ...
More...