Book – Calculated (Book 1, Discovered series)
Author – R.S. Novelle
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
Would I read it again – Probably not.
Plot – okay, bit predictable
Characters – okay, a little regular
Movie Potential - ★★★★☆ (probably better on screen)
Ease of reading – easy.
**I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW**
So this was a confusing read for me. I was a little surprised and confused by the first chapter, because it wasn't at all what I expected, then the character I was just getting used to was murdered. So bye bye, interesting character.
To start off my review, let me say that there was a little too much description in this story for me. It wasn't just throughout the story, there was far too much description put in one bit after another. There was so much description in one paragraph that I was getting a little cross-eyed trying to force my imagination of this character to change to conform to the author's description of her. It ruined the flow of the story for me, to continually adapt my imagination to the writer's decisions. The descriptions were so focused and so intricate that there was really no way of allowing your imagination to run free.
I have to say that I wasn't really that interested in the main character Ana. She seemed a little self-centered and career driven (not necessarily a bad thing) and lacking a conscience. She did things that drove the story forward, sure, but a lot of her reactions were odd and uncalled for, or really naïve. I couldn't root for her at all.
I'm not sure if it's because I just came from reading a fast paced, lovable main character driven story with limited detail, but Calculated seems slow and overly detailed to the point that it detracts from the story. The author has said and done all the right things in all the right placed, adding intrigue, curiosity, mystery etc and the chapters are short enough for a quick pick up every now and then, making it a quicker read, but it just didn't draw me in.
As for the story, we're never told what Ana's big 'secret past' is and I'm really not sure that Book 2 will give me those answers either. I may not be interested, but it is a bit of a plot gap. In my opinion, the entire case is left unsolved, as well, with key persons left free to walk the world and never face the consequences of their actions. No-one is held responsible and not one of the bad guys, even the little ones, are caught.
Apart from innocent men getting murdered (for a pretty elaborate reason, in an elaborate way, with a pretty strange background) we're really given no reason to care about the story. We don't get to know any of the victims, not enough to care that they're being slaughtered needlessly. We don't get to really know anything about Ana that makes her relatable or likable, so when she's in danger, I didn't really care what the outcome was.
-
Book – Driven (Book 2, Discovered series)
Author – R.S. Novelle
Star rating – ★★★☆☆
Would I read it again – No.
Plot – The same as Book 1.
Characters – the same as Book 1.
Movie Potential – ★★★☆☆
Ease of reading – easy to read.
**I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW**
This book was a bit of an enigma to me. I wasn’t sure about the whole concept of Book 2 in a series being the exact same story as Book 1, just told from another character’s point of view. I think since that character wasn’t featured much in Book 1, it could have worked, which is why this book gets 3 stars. Because although it could have worked, it just didn’t. Not for me.
Driven is very much the same as Calculated in a lot of ways. The same story, the same killer, the same characters, the same use of excess description, only with a few more flaws.
Let me just say this – there is NOTHING wrong with the writer, the style of writing or the genre. The only thing I don’t enjoy about these two books is that they’re not for me. I know, from reading them that other will enjoy them, but they’re just not my cup of tea. I was raised on crime thrillers, mystery dramas etc, and I’ve studied forensics and the likes. Because of that, I found the story quite predictable and not as exciting as it should have been. This could be entirely my fault, as I’m too used to the genre and theme to really be taken by surprise. Very few crime books manage to really kick me in the gut and take me on a journey. That’s just how it is.
Unfortunately, this book was one of those that didn’t work for me. The swearing was excess to what was necessary and since we already know the story from Book 1 (which I already didn’t really enjoy that much) it was a bit same-old, same-old.
I actually found that I liked the main character, Mara, even LESS than I liked the main character, Ana, of Calculated. I didn’t want to like her and I already knew what she’d done and why, so I was even less inclined to want to care about her than usual. The same can be said for the other characters: I just didn’t care about them, as I said about Calculated’s cast. It was really just like reading Book 1 again, but with an even more selfish, hateful main character that I couldn’t relate to.
For me, what would really have made this duo so much more exciting to read, was if the killer wasn’t revealed in book 1. If we left Calculated, with the story unsolved, knowing there was a Book 2, I wouldn’t have minded at all. Then, seeing Mara’s side of things in Book 2 would have really shocked the socks off me, even if I hadn’t enjoyed Book 1. I think the author missed out on a great opportunity to be shocking and add an extra twist to the series, with this move.
Saying that, I did give the author an extra star for this one, for being brave enough to try it. Telling the same story again, from the criminal’s point of view is an interesting and intriguing choice. It could have worked amazingly well, but for me, there was just that sense of surprise lacking.
I look forward to reading more from this author. This series might not have been for me, but I do appreciate the style and the skill of her writing. The ideas are clever and unique to what I’ve read before, it just turns out that this series didn’t excite me enough to want to care about it. I’m sure that whatever she comes out with next will be a stunner.
YOU ARE READING
My Reviews 2013
Non-FictionA collection of Book Reviews. Some were Read 4 Reviews and others were simply books I found or discovered that I enjoyed or hated. Find out which were which.
