Member Since: June 27, 2011

Vincent

Smashwords book reviews by Vincent

  • We Don’t Plummet Out of the Sky Anymore on June 28, 2011

    Nice title but nothing else interesting here. The best part of the story is the title, the plot is insubstantial and doesn't make any sense. Also nothing happens here, a story about a man thinking about a new car. There is also the weird anachronism of mentioning someone use a slide rule which appears in old sci-fi, Asimov etc, but is strange to see in something modern. The author mentions that it was a piece he wrote for a writing club and in that context it makes sense but not as something for the general public. It isn't terrible but I begrudge wasting time on a nothing story when I might have been reading something good.
  • Summon Your Dragons on June 28, 2011

    A nice straight-forward read. This is a simple enough fantasy story about an amnesiac who might be a returned hero or god, it reminds me a lot of Roger Taylor's "The Chronicles of Hawklan", but with enough originality thrown in to keep you interested. Azkun is not a very interesting character, he is confused and preachy at times. The main character is Menish who is a good solid character with some real depth. The rest of the characters are quite likeable and believable. The plot is good, combining a war with magic, and there is some attempt at showing different cultures and world building although not in any real depth. Given Azkun's beliefs through out the book it was hard to see how it would end without a complete anti-climax but thankfully it does, the ending has a few twists and surprises. Everything is resolved and explained and handled very neatly. A nice well written book.
  • Where Sheep May Safely Graze on July 15, 2011

    Nothing much here. I read this because I had read and enjoyed "Summon Your Dragons" but this collection offers nothing. The stories are all dull; they are well written but not even slightly interesting. Even free it isn't worth getting.
  • The White Fox on July 12, 2016

    A disappointing sequel. This is a straight-forward fantasy story. Olcish is a decent character, he's likeable enough and his actions are believable. The plot is slow moving, a lot of the book is about nothing, Olcish learning about his own world with some coming of age stuff mixed in, all pretty standard fantasy fair. Things pick up towards the end, the very end, but even then there is a little too much being forced from outside rather than having events follow from the characters decisions. All the magic, working from outside the characters, gives the book a very simplistic feel, there are no surprises, there is almost no action and there is very little plot. The ending feels too easy, especially by comparison to the difficulties faced in the first book. This isn't as good as the previous book, Summon Your Dragons, it is well written and that makes it an easy read but it is quite forgettable.