Jonathan Caws-Elwitt

Smashwords book reviews by Jonathan Caws-Elwitt

  • Catch A Falling Starlet on Nov. 28, 2011

    I ran across this novel by chance here. The blurb led me to the sample, and after tearing through the sample I purchased the book. It's witty, engaging, and gripping, well paced and gracefully written. I couldn't stop reading. This doesn't happen to me very often--hence this review of a book I'd never even heard of until a few days ago. As a reader, my specialty is witty books, not time-travel books, so perhaps readers more experienced in the time-travel subgenre will feel I'm stating the obvious in comparing this book to Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog, which I read a number of years ago and enjoyed immensely. Catch a Falling Starlet is similar in general premise and mood. I don't mean to imply that Lyons's book reads like a rehash of Willis's--it's a completely different story, and by making the comparison I'm merely saying I was delighted to find another book of this nature, and I recommend it to others who finished TSNOTD and wished there was something else like it. I do think future readers will benefit if the book is given another proofreading pass for a corrected edition. I'm not one to draw attention to the occasional typo or error, but this book has a large number of such things such as routine typos; incorrect words absent-mindedly typed where it's clear a different word was intended; little mismatches regarding plurals, possessives, or agreement; ending quotation marks placed after the wrong word; and even an instance or two where a character's name is spelled wrong. It was clear to me from the polished quality of the writing that these were just careless mistakes and not any indication of a lack in skill... and because the narrative flowed so smoothly and compellingly, the errors didn't stop me from devouring the book (and giving it five stars). But I think a book of this quality deserves to be cleared of those blemishes.