Location: Malaysia
Member Since:
Feb. 05, 2013
J.L. Low
J.L. Low's favorite authors on Smashwords
Smashwords book reviews by J.L. Low
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Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One
on July 26, 2013
Erishkigal is nothing if not a master at writing characters. With her characters, it's as if all of them were actually my friends in real life and I can actually feel their joy, sorrow, pain and remorse as the story progresses. I particularly enjoyed reading about a Lucifer who is not a downright evil reincarnated for once. The awesome thing about Erishkigal is, she manages to make readers sympathize with her villains while still root for her heroes. The world that she created was interesting to read but I'm not sure how well first time readers would take it. For me, I entered the world without problem because I read Angel of Death first, so I already knew who the true villains were. Overall, it's an enjoyable read and I certainly recommend this book for anyone looking for a good epic fantasy about angels.
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Serving Time
on Sep. 12, 2013
I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a review. To be honest, there were so many reasons for me not to want to read this book. For a start, I made a vow never to read anything from the science fantasy genre years ago because my first encounter with one was absolutely horrible. Also, I'm guilty of judging a book by its cover and this book's cover certainly isn't all that breathtaking. On top of all that, the blurb wasn't all that fascinating. Getting the book from the giveaway was a complete accident. The next thing I knew, Ducca sent me a coupon code to get the book for free from Smashwords. Somehow, that got to me in a way that she wouldn't have if she had simply attached a pdf file in her email so I decided to give the book a go. I certainly did not regret it. Reading "Serving Time" felt very much like playing a game of "Tag" - you run round and round in circles, not really knowing what you're doing but having a great time all the same. Before you start reading this book, I must first warn you that the Prologue simply isn't the most impressive beginning that you can encounter in a book. In fact, you'd be thinking that it's one of those cliché stories you've spent your entire childhood reading. I can't guarantee that you will love the book, but I can certainly guarantee that it's not going to be the most cliché thing you've ever read, either. I love how Ducca decided to skip the whole lovey-dovey teenage romance angst crap and give us a story of two brothers instead. Two brothers who happen to be in two different sort of mess and very much require one another to stay sane. The only problem is, I don't feel emotionally connected to either of them. I don't feel the brotherly love between them. There were so many scenes which have so much potential to be heartwarming and yet they merely made me feel like, "meh". In many ways, the two of them merely felt like two long lost friends and I had to be reminded over and over again that they were indeed siblings. Robert and Seth had a lot of potential to be great and yet I felt like both their characters fell flat. The other supporting characters weren't much better, even though I did like the rat quite a bit. The world setting was fairly interesting, even if most of everything did not get sorted out properly. The whole concept about how Logos (the Creator of the universe) went MIA, leaving Time, Lucifer and his cronies to run the world was fun and interesting. I especially liked the part with the Triangulate Sisters. Also, I hope that we get to see more of the Cloud Stone and Imagine people in the future. The plot was interesting but as I mentioned earlier, left me feeling like I was running around in meaningless circles. The ending made me feel betrayed, angry, sad, happy, relieved and confused all at once, if that was even remotely possible.. Long story short, this is one of those stories that have a lot of potential to be great. We'll just have to stay tuned to find out how the sequel turned out to be.
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Uprising
on March 04, 2020
Recently reread this book, and I must say I love this book even more as an adult than I did as a teen. Uprising introduces a very intriguing system of the afterlife, perhaps one of the best I've ever read in fiction. The plot is paced very nicely, but readers will definitely benefit from reading this story at least twice or thrice to pick up on the hints they've missed during the first read through. There are many Easter eggs hidden within the story as well, some of which are more obvious than the others. I love the characters dearly. Even years after reading this story, I find myself thinking of the characters in this novel over and over again. Each character has a personality of their own and even if I dislike a character, I cannot deny that they are very well-written. Overall, Uprising is my favourite angel-related novel and after nearly a decade, I'm still waiting for its sequel.