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A review by mjporterauthor
Dawn Study by Maria V. Snyder
3.0
I received a free E-Arc via Netgalley of this book.
This book is a mess. There are too many characters, and somehow both too much plot and far too little. Not to spoil, but nothing happens in this book. The blurb doesn't even seem to relate to the actual events in the book, other than the characters share the same name. This is a real shame and having read through some other reviews, I can't even offer the hope that fans of the series will love it because it seems they don't. They're not impressed by the one-dimensional characters, the repetitiveness, the bleak writing (it's almost all directions and travelling with the odd bit of action that fizzles out because ultimately, there is no story to tell here). I imagine, that just like me, when the ending finally came, they were so used to all the back-tracking that they didn't quite believe what they were reading. I kept waiting for the latest double-cross, and you know, when it didn't come, I was bitterly disappointed and felt short-changed.
However, I will congratulate the author on one aspect of her work, she did manage to keep all the timelines of the characters in sync. I imagine this took a great deal of time and effort and yet it wasn't enough to save the book from being unimaginative and unimpressive.
With hindsight, I think the author and publisher should have either made the bold decision not to publish this book and ask for extensive rewrites, or divide it into two books and change events around A LOT. There is no peril to this story, and I think that to give the characters the send off they deserved there should have been one last big problem to deal with as opposed to something that was fabricated just to try and add another title to a very successful series. This is not the ending that fans will have wanted. A real shame as I've enjoyed the previous books and characters and was very excited to be given the opportunity to read and review the book.
This book is a mess. There are too many characters, and somehow both too much plot and far too little. Not to spoil, but nothing happens in this book. The blurb doesn't even seem to relate to the actual events in the book, other than the characters share the same name. This is a real shame and having read through some other reviews, I can't even offer the hope that fans of the series will love it because it seems they don't. They're not impressed by the one-dimensional characters, the repetitiveness, the bleak writing (it's almost all directions and travelling with the odd bit of action that fizzles out because ultimately, there is no story to tell here). I imagine, that just like me, when the ending finally came, they were so used to all the back-tracking that they didn't quite believe what they were reading. I kept waiting for the latest double-cross, and you know, when it didn't come, I was bitterly disappointed and felt short-changed.
However, I will congratulate the author on one aspect of her work, she did manage to keep all the timelines of the characters in sync. I imagine this took a great deal of time and effort and yet it wasn't enough to save the book from being unimaginative and unimpressive.
With hindsight, I think the author and publisher should have either made the bold decision not to publish this book and ask for extensive rewrites, or divide it into two books and change events around A LOT. There is no peril to this story, and I think that to give the characters the send off they deserved there should have been one last big problem to deal with as opposed to something that was fabricated just to try and add another title to a very successful series. This is not the ending that fans will have wanted. A real shame as I've enjoyed the previous books and characters and was very excited to be given the opportunity to read and review the book.