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A review by lindagreen
The Marked Son by Shea Berkley
3.0
Let me start off by saying that I had a lot of issues when I started this book. I almost put it down several times because, truthfully, the beginning annoyed me on every page.
Meadow? Check.
Pacific northwest? Check
Fantasy dream girl? Check.
Flighty mom? Check.
Angtsy teen boy that’s rude and disrespectful to everyone? Check.
Changing pov’s with a dated descriptions that don’t match the modern dialogue? Check.
I did not want to continue. It was like the melding of two really bad books all in one (“those” vampire books and “those” fairy books) and the main character was such an ass it almost made it impossible to keep reading. But I did.
And I’m sort of glad I did. The book began to redeem itself about midway through as action and suspense picked up. The characterization never did improve but as the book wore on I got used to them and was willing to forego my gut reaction to follow along. They became bearable because I was enjoying the story itself. I think had the author tweaked these characters more instead of making them so mary/gary sue-ish this could be an extremely good book. The plot is strong, the character backgrounds are okay, the descriptions were interesting if not detailed (good for reluctant readers) and with just minor tweaks I think the book good be much more solid and well received by a wider audience.
ARC Galley Proof
Meadow? Check.
Pacific northwest? Check
Fantasy dream girl? Check.
Flighty mom? Check.
Angtsy teen boy that’s rude and disrespectful to everyone? Check.
Changing pov’s with a dated descriptions that don’t match the modern dialogue? Check.
I did not want to continue. It was like the melding of two really bad books all in one (“those” vampire books and “those” fairy books) and the main character was such an ass it almost made it impossible to keep reading. But I did.
And I’m sort of glad I did. The book began to redeem itself about midway through as action and suspense picked up. The characterization never did improve but as the book wore on I got used to them and was willing to forego my gut reaction to follow along. They became bearable because I was enjoying the story itself. I think had the author tweaked these characters more instead of making them so mary/gary sue-ish this could be an extremely good book. The plot is strong, the character backgrounds are okay, the descriptions were interesting if not detailed (good for reluctant readers) and with just minor tweaks I think the book good be much more solid and well received by a wider audience.
ARC Galley Proof