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paracynic's review
4.0
Tarnish is a new take on the classic Hero’s Journey tale. A young man leaves on a quest to get help for his village which has come under attack from strange creatures. The theme is classic but Brink does a remarkable job capturing the mentality of a boy on the cusp of manhood. Anyone who has made that painful, awkward transition can feel the authenticity of young Wil’s emotions, ranging from the unshakable confidence and feeling of immortality, to troubled self examination. I can’t remember ever reading a book which captured that transition better than Brink has with Billy Cole’s transformation to Wil Thunderstrike.
The world Brink has created is rich and detailed, well drawn with enough backstory to give the setting depth, but not so much as to be overwhelming. I was impressed with the world, and I’d like to see more of it.
My only criticism is the plot and pacing. It tends to meander, and there’s a lot that could be tightened up. Places where I wasn’t really sure where it was headed. Not a suspenseful “what’s going to happen next?” but a perplexing “where are we going with this?”
I think the voice and the setting carries the story through. I will confess that my patience can be bought with voice, but I found this book well worth the time spent reading it.
The world Brink has created is rich and detailed, well drawn with enough backstory to give the setting depth, but not so much as to be overwhelming. I was impressed with the world, and I’d like to see more of it.
My only criticism is the plot and pacing. It tends to meander, and there’s a lot that could be tightened up. Places where I wasn’t really sure where it was headed. Not a suspenseful “what’s going to happen next?” but a perplexing “where are we going with this?”
I think the voice and the setting carries the story through. I will confess that my patience can be bought with voice, but I found this book well worth the time spent reading it.
thebookheap12's review
3.0
I first need to thank the author, J.D Brink, for allowing me access to this book in exchange for a review- sorry for putting it off for a little bit and thank you for being understanding about it!
I was contacted by the author back in April via e-mail, amd he asked if I would be interested in reviewing his novel “Tarnish”. I looked at the Goodreads page and pretty much replied with a “Hells yeah!”. Fantasy? Sword fights? Monsters? Destiny? Gimme, Gimme!
The novel itself is enjoyable. Unfortunately, at the time I was reading this, I found myself in a bit of a reading slump and was very stressed with real life, so much like with “Shadow of the Wind”, I don’t want to be too overly critical about it.
The world building in this novel was great, there was so much depth to the different towns Billy (or Will, as he names himself throughout the book) found himself in throughout the story, and certainly a loving amount of depth and effort had gone into the stories Will told along the way. I found Will mostly amusing as a character (I do say “mostly” for a reason, which I will come back to in a bit), I loved seeing him big himself up for a fight and then basically just get pummeled. Just goes to show that real life is never like the tall tales we spin. It was like the ultimate “You tried…” story. I did feel quite a bit of sympathy for him whenever he got showed up.
If I have one negative to say about this book is that I found it tricky to follow the narration. The story would jump from Will’s perspective, to a story Will was telling, to the perspective of someone in the village back home- this is where the new popular fad of character names for chapter titles does come in handy! I’d find myself a bit confused for the first paragraph or two of a chapter and then feel stupid as I realised “oh wait, it’s a different character” or “oh right, it’s one of the tales”. I found it meant that the flow of the novel got interrupted by it a lot. But even then that isn’t really too much of a negative comment,in my opinion anyway.
Following this, while the tales within the story certainly had a loving amount of depth, I found it took me away from the actual plot of the book too much, and I found it difficult to let the stories keep my attention because I just wanted to follow what was going on with Will and the situation with the monsters back home- which I also felt was not addressed as much as it should have been. I know I’ve missed something vital from this book, I can’t shake that feeling- it has to do with “Trevor”, but I know it’s because my mind was in two places at once while reading this book, just trying to sort out the tales from reality.
I did find myself getting frustrated with Will’s attitude and treatment towards the female characters in the book but I guess this can and probably will be excused by the fact it’s how traditional heroes behave in their adventures, I guess. I know Will is basically a teenager but I still found it pretty off-putting.
On the whole, yes it does have a few flaws, but I certainly recommend this to fans of the fantasy genre.
For more of my reviews, please visit The Book Heap @
http://thebookheap.wordpress.com
I was contacted by the author back in April via e-mail, amd he asked if I would be interested in reviewing his novel “Tarnish”. I looked at the Goodreads page and pretty much replied with a “Hells yeah!”. Fantasy? Sword fights? Monsters? Destiny? Gimme, Gimme!
The novel itself is enjoyable. Unfortunately, at the time I was reading this, I found myself in a bit of a reading slump and was very stressed with real life, so much like with “Shadow of the Wind”, I don’t want to be too overly critical about it.
The world building in this novel was great, there was so much depth to the different towns Billy (or Will, as he names himself throughout the book) found himself in throughout the story, and certainly a loving amount of depth and effort had gone into the stories Will told along the way. I found Will mostly amusing as a character (I do say “mostly” for a reason, which I will come back to in a bit), I loved seeing him big himself up for a fight and then basically just get pummeled. Just goes to show that real life is never like the tall tales we spin. It was like the ultimate “You tried…” story. I did feel quite a bit of sympathy for him whenever he got showed up.
If I have one negative to say about this book is that I found it tricky to follow the narration. The story would jump from Will’s perspective, to a story Will was telling, to the perspective of someone in the village back home- this is where the new popular fad of character names for chapter titles does come in handy! I’d find myself a bit confused for the first paragraph or two of a chapter and then feel stupid as I realised “oh wait, it’s a different character” or “oh right, it’s one of the tales”. I found it meant that the flow of the novel got interrupted by it a lot. But even then that isn’t really too much of a negative comment,in my opinion anyway.
Following this, while the tales within the story certainly had a loving amount of depth, I found it took me away from the actual plot of the book too much, and I found it difficult to let the stories keep my attention because I just wanted to follow what was going on with Will and the situation with the monsters back home- which I also felt was not addressed as much as it should have been. I know I’ve missed something vital from this book, I can’t shake that feeling- it has to do with “Trevor”, but I know it’s because my mind was in two places at once while reading this book, just trying to sort out the tales from reality.
I did find myself getting frustrated with Will’s attitude and treatment towards the female characters in the book but I guess this can and probably will be excused by the fact it’s how traditional heroes behave in their adventures, I guess. I know Will is basically a teenager but I still found it pretty off-putting.
On the whole, yes it does have a few flaws, but I certainly recommend this to fans of the fantasy genre.
For more of my reviews, please visit The Book Heap @
http://thebookheap.wordpress.com
foreveryoungadult's review
Graded By: Brian
Cover Story: Silverskinned Hunk
Drinking Buddy: Don't Take Your Guns to Town, Bill
Testosterone Level: I Ain't As Good as I Once Was
Talky Talk: Stoneass
Bonus Factors: Storytelling, War is Hell
Bromance Status: The Old Gang
Read the full book report here.
Cover Story: Silverskinned Hunk
Drinking Buddy: Don't Take Your Guns to Town, Bill
Testosterone Level: I Ain't As Good as I Once Was
Talky Talk: Stoneass
Bonus Factors: Storytelling, War is Hell
Bromance Status: The Old Gang
Read the full book report here.
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