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This book was a huge leap of faith for me. I usually don’t buy books priced this high, but the cover caught my eye as being unique, and I sensed there was a touch of metaphysics in it. I checked the beginning and found my interest piqued and nothing to send me running to the hills, so I bought it.
At first I thought I’d made a big mistake, especially when I came across this doozy of a grammar and punctuation mistake. “Wondering if that’s where she’s been hiding all day, a sudden “Squeak”, disturbs his thoughts.”
If you don’t know what the problem is, this sentence is saying that the sudden squeak has been wondering if that’s where she’s been hiding all day. Since squeaks, sudden or otherwise can’t wonder anything, the sentence is nonsense. Added to that, the comma between the subject “Squeak” and verb “disturbs” also shouldn’t be there.
There are other punctuation and crafting issues that should have been caught by an editor or proofreader, and rather too many of them for a book at this price. For example, the excessive number of points of view taken make the book feel scattered and leave us with many characters that we don’t know well instead of a few characters that we know well.
However, having paid for the book in good faith, I kept reading and found myself slowly sucked into the characters and story. It does start off rather bland, and for a while I wondered if I’d finish it, but something kept me reading—some quality that’s hard to put my finger on. Yes, it’s rather thin on description, but I found a kind of innocence in the simple style that though it could have come off as childish—and probably will to some—fitted with the innocence of the central character Fate.
Fate is the quintessential archetypical fool who, though he appears as simply foolish, has surprising wisdom. It’s Peter Sellers in The Gardener. His inability to subscribe to the same limitations that others see as being realistic makes him open to possibilities that aren’t open to anyone who subscribes to limitations. This is the metaphysical aspect that I found and enjoyed.
I’m not an anime follower, so the battle style was new to me, and I found the contests intriguing. More descriptive action would improve the fight scenes. At the moment they consists primarily of characters just saying the names of their ‘techs’, but they would be more powerful if the author could paint more of a picture of actually what those techs did.
Despite all this, I enjoyed the book for its freshness and the unique angle on the story given by the character of Fate. If you like something different, can ignore a few copy errors, and the price is not an issue, then buy it. It’s a good example of a great idea that just needs a little more polish to make it worth its present price. There are plenty of better crafted books around for $2.99 and less. The author has potential, I hope he develops it.
Blurb
Countless times has a young hero dreamed of conquering the Tournament of Tears–dreamed of sitting upon the throne that all kingdoms bend knee to–dreamed of being the best in all the land.
Many times has the Tournament been won for duty and honor’s sake.
A few times it’s been conquered to prove one’s love.
And a handful of times it’s even been won out of hate.
Each of those times, however, started with the same dream in mind. And involved a dreamer too foolish to care that the whole world was against them.
But only …
Once upon a time was there a boy who took on the Tournament with dreams far greater and more foolish than them all. This is his story and the story of his friends.
This is the tale of a Fate undeniable.
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