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A review by rouver
Sailor of the Skysea by Andy C.F. Crawford
1.0
The author of this book contacted me to read it & I was definitely looking forward to the story. I wanted to like it. I wanted to be liked by the author. But for those of you who know me, you know that I hate lying. And I feel like the only just thing to do here is to be honest. Brutally so. It was only because I'd promised that I'd review the book that I finished reading it. I wish I could have a hard copy to write all over it. (PLEASE find a harsh editor that will help you!)
The first problem was that I just couldn't connect with the main character. He had relatively no drive (well, he wants to own a boat), and all of his adventures sort of fell into his lap. I finally decided that it felt like the author had played a fun D&D campaign & decided to write it up, but without his companions. People came in & out of his life, but the author didn't build any rapport. They could have all been slaughtered in a horrible plague & it wouldn't have made a difference. There were multiple side-quests for the protagonist to do, and he does ALL OF THEM. This is fine when I'm playing through a computer RPG (yes, I do all the quests)...not so much when I'm reading a book. Plus, you're never really clear what the main objective is of Ytzak. What he *does* do is recover some stolen books, learn how to play a pipe organ, dig some holes in the ground, practice his accounting skills, and do some boxing. I *think* his big quest was to save a 'native American' (Jinnee) child from an embezzling rapist cleric (*sigh*...really?). Ytzak does complete the rescue with the goal of 'taking her home'...except the author failed to ever really tell us how Ytzak knows where her home IS. There are multiple tribes spread across a large geographic area! The book suffers from too many details and at the same time NOT ENOUGH. What was supposed to be a heart-warming reunion between Ytzak & his mother just felt awkward...we only get bits & pieces about his life & descriptions of his family members, but odd, pointless details like the bar patron who was wearing a bright yellow hat. Like in any good cRPG, named characters have quests for you or pieces of information. Travel randomly into the woods to gather information, come across a strange traveler who takes you several hours to what you find out is actually a leper colony (roll for a lore check on their garments), where you entertain the stricken with your portable organ (hur hur hur) (roll to see if they were suitably entertained), before learning a key bit of information to help you along in your quest, in which case you head straight back to town? CHECK!
ARGH! It was like there were two or three decent stories globbed together in here, with unsatisfying resolutions to all of them. I really wanted the author to succeed. I wanted to type up glowing praises. Instead, I found myself writing rants in my head every day in the shower. I wanted to be able to ask the author, "This! Right here! What was the point? Why did you do that?" Especially the fact that part way into the book, we find out that the whole story is *actually* being told to a cliche of a ornery old man (with cliched crotchety old wife in the background) to some sort of historian. Apparently this is the first installation of the epic chronicles of Ytzak.
Crawford: Seriously, please. Harsh, honest editor. Get one. Because I think you have some good ideas & I think you have a good story in there....you just need to get it pulled out & polished. Good luck!
The first problem was that I just couldn't connect with the main character. He had relatively no drive (well, he wants to own a boat), and all of his adventures sort of fell into his lap. I finally decided that it felt like the author had played a fun D&D campaign & decided to write it up, but without his companions. People came in & out of his life, but the author didn't build any rapport. They could have all been slaughtered in a horrible plague & it wouldn't have made a difference. There were multiple side-quests for the protagonist to do, and he does ALL OF THEM. This is fine when I'm playing through a computer RPG (yes, I do all the quests)...not so much when I'm reading a book. Plus, you're never really clear what the main objective is of Ytzak. What he *does* do is recover some stolen books, learn how to play a pipe organ, dig some holes in the ground, practice his accounting skills, and do some boxing. I *think* his big quest was to save a 'native American' (Jinnee) child from an embezzling rapist cleric (*sigh*...really?). Ytzak does complete the rescue with the goal of 'taking her home'...except the author failed to ever really tell us how Ytzak knows where her home IS. There are multiple tribes spread across a large geographic area! The book suffers from too many details and at the same time NOT ENOUGH. What was supposed to be a heart-warming reunion between Ytzak & his mother just felt awkward...we only get bits & pieces about his life & descriptions of his family members, but odd, pointless details like the bar patron who was wearing a bright yellow hat. Like in any good cRPG, named characters have quests for you or pieces of information. Travel randomly into the woods to gather information, come across a strange traveler who takes you several hours to what you find out is actually a leper colony (roll for a lore check on their garments), where you entertain the stricken with your portable organ (hur hur hur) (roll to see if they were suitably entertained), before learning a key bit of information to help you along in your quest, in which case you head straight back to town? CHECK!
ARGH! It was like there were two or three decent stories globbed together in here, with unsatisfying resolutions to all of them. I really wanted the author to succeed. I wanted to type up glowing praises. Instead, I found myself writing rants in my head every day in the shower. I wanted to be able to ask the author, "This! Right here! What was the point? Why did you do that?" Especially the fact that part way into the book, we find out that the whole story is *actually* being told to a cliche of a ornery old man (with cliched crotchety old wife in the background) to some sort of historian. Apparently this is the first installation of the epic chronicles of Ytzak.
Crawford: Seriously, please. Harsh, honest editor. Get one. Because I think you have some good ideas & I think you have a good story in there....you just need to get it pulled out & polished. Good luck!