AnHeC

AnHeC (I'm too fucking busy and vice versa)

Hi! My name is Anna, "You'd really like me if you got to know me. I've known me for years and I love me."

A republic of wolves, a city of ghots

A Republic of Wolves. A City of Ghosts - Colin Fisher

Word count: about 160 000
Rating: Didn't finish - I have problems.




I can't. I just can't. I've been trying to read this book, which I've won in goodreads giveaway. Out of all the giveaways I've entered... Nvm.

During last two days I've seen a 3 hour program about queen Victoria's children, countless episodes of dog whisperer, a few films and even considered watching glee. That's how badly I don't feel like reading that book. Two days! So it's time to give up. Had potential - didn't use it.

I will not rate this book, because I haven't finished it, but I'll tell you what was my problem.

Am I just a stupid kid that can't take a realistic, historical fiction? No, in fact I'm shocked I didn't like it. I love history. I like a good piece of fiction set in a different time. I like it when books have educational value. I do immensely enjoy reading about life of normal people during world war II. So where is a problem? It should be a perfect fit!

- let's start with technical issues - the very lay out of the text. Ever heard of 'justify' button in a text editor? Fucking use it! How can you publish a book like that, when my teachers wouldn't accept a paper with text aligned to the left. Ever. Even when I was in a middle school (13-16 years old). It's annoying. It looks bad. And can be fixed so effortlessly, there's just no excuse.

- Was that enough to put me off? No, I'm not such a bitch, come on! I gave it a shot! And found mistakes - grammar, punctuation, even spelling (!) could be improved.

- So THAT's it, ha? That's mean bitch's problem? Nope. That usually doesn't bother me that much. You know what does? When I suddenly loose it while reading! Yep, just like that. I'm reading, it's going well, and BAM! Now I have no idea who's who, what's going on, if I missed a paragraph, did I turn more than one page... THAT is unforgivable. It takes reader right out of the story. And it happened often enough to make me angry with the author.

- But that's not the only problem, oh no. That I'd endure. If there were other redeeming qualities! Yeah, we like that, don't we? Having things to like in a story. It's nice. I'd even dare to say it's why we read them in a first place!

- The action takes place in Spain (duh). That was a problem for me because a) I don't know enough about Spanish history to know wtf is going on (and the book does nothing to help with it) b) Spanish names of places/people annoy, because reading them is hard (that one is minor, I could deal, but things just kept piling on...)

- The book has no direction.
Now, we can have books like that, but they still need focus. There was none

- There's no plot. Really.

It doesn't explain enough about war situation for me to say it's about war. It doesn't focus enough on the life of people, to be about people. It's about nothing NOTHING I SAY! Not about action, not about human struggle, not about military strategy, not about atmosphere, moral dilemmas, hardships, war crime, beautiful acts of goodness and kindness... Just fuck you, Colin Fisher. If this book got a push in any direction, it could be good. As it is... A waste of time. Not funny, not heartbreaking, not interesting. You don't really connect with the main character, but you don't have a story to connect to either. You're just floating like a big turd in a sewer. Great. Just great. Have I gone too far? I've probably gone to far. Sorry *mutters* I'm just frustrated.

Could I finish it? Yes, but why bother? I liked the fact the MC was a widow with two grown up sons fighting for different armies (against each other in other words). I liked the way her thoughts were interwoven into dialogues. I liked quite a few things, but this book badly needed to decide what it wanted to be. It didn't. Maybe it's just not for me? Am I stupid, below average IQ reader that just doesn't understand the genius of it? Maybe. I probably will finish it sooner or later, but not now. Just not now. (that's what we say to a diet... Damn. That sounds like a horrible plan XD)