Posted by This one has a very different kind of opening in that it’s mostly narrative without a lot of dialogue or on-page scenes. We’re in the character’s head as he relives traumatic events that led him up to this point. These scenes are also very descriptive, full of similes and metaphors that sometimes worked for me but sometimes they didn’t. The opening tone gives the reader a strong sense of loss, depression, and a bit of surrealness since the MC is hallucinating while imprisoned. However, even though the stylistic choices are a bit different from my usual read the story it’s telling is a familiar. This is a classic fantasy rivalry between a werewolves and vampires.
Our MC, the last of the Sylvian line, has lost his wife and daughter and seems to be kind of in between sane and not sane. He’s very prey driven, and the story is told mostly through his thoughts and not through dialogue or a third party perspective. He starts out hating himself, he blames himself for the loss of his wife and daughter and he believes he deserves to be mistreated and imprisoned. He doesn’t even try to escape… at first. He’s been so mentally and physically tortured for so long that he hallucinates about his lost family. It’s not just his wife and daughter, his mother, father, and sister also died horrifically and it haunts him daily with intensity. He then switches gears and is like, ya know what? Imma fuck some shit up and go on revenge warpath.
This is not a happy book.
There’s a lot of blood, violence, and prey-driven scenes in this one and that may or may not appeal to you. There are really in depth descriptions of dismembered family members who have been viciously attacked and strewn all over their home. It’s definitely a book for people who like reading about predator species characters/POVs which I can’t say I see all that often. There’s also a lot of sex scenes which didn’t work for me. That’s going to be a very subjective thing for each reader. I almost always struggle with sex scenes because I either get bored or they make me giggle. There were some word choices in this one that gave me some giggles, like “filling her cavity” and things like that. Again, your mileage may vary with this sort of thing.
I don’t think I was the target audience for this writing style. I tend to like more dialogue and things happening on screen rather than a narration of the character’s thoughts. I’m also not really one for vampire vs werewolf stories… and I’m also not one for overly flowery language. I feel like this was a mismatch in a few ways and could appeal to people with opposite taste from my own. If any of this sounds good to you I encourage you to pick it up! That said, I’m sorry to say it’s status is a cut as I set it down about halfway through.
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Okay, so now onto some more cuts from books I’ve already given full reviews.
If your book is not mentioned below that means it has moved on through round 2 cuts. I’m waiting to see how the rest of my batch shakes down before I make any more cuts, so those remaining are still under semifinalist consideration.
To those I’m cutting, I am sorry. This is my least favorite part of this contest and I do encourage people to give these a try. Everything below is a book that I finished and had been safe before now. Since I’m not rating books this year, to give a rough estimate, if I finish your book that generally means it’s at least a 3 stars.
OTHER CUTS
The Children of Never by Christian Warren Freed
Here’s my FULL REVIEW
The Treachery of Ravens by Steven D. Nickell
Here’s my FULL REVIEW
City of Rain by William Lejeune
Here’s my FULL REVIEW
Rumor of Thorns by Sandell Wall
Here’s my FULL REVIEW
Thanks so much guys for your submissions and I hope people give your titles a try!