Title: Tracers
Author: Jerome Gilden
Publisher: Independent
Release Date: March 31, 2012
Pages: 164, eBook
Goodreads Rating: 4.57 stars
My Rating: 1/5 stars
This book had an intriguing idea behind it and it's obvious that the author put a decent amount of thought into creating the Tracers' mythology. Unfortunately, the writing itself turned out to be extremely amateurish and I just couldn't get past that. The book felt stilted and forced and the author often phrased things in awkward ways. The whole book felt rushed and the romance elements were extremely cliche. There was almost NO actual chemistry between the characters, so I didn't care what happened with them. I got the feeling that the author had read a book on the correct elements to put into a fantasy/adventure novel, but he just didn't know how to turn it into a compelling story. Several times, I considered just giving up on the book completely (and I probably would have it had been longer), but I HATE to give up on a book - I almost never do - so I thought I would read to the end and find out if the story improved. Unfortunately, it just didn't get much better.
I hate to give any book one star (and especially to discourage a new author), but in this case, I couldn't bring myself to give it any more. 1/5 Stars.
Pages: 164, eBook
Goodreads Rating: 4.57 stars
My Rating: 1/5 stars
Summary from Goodreads: WARNING: Don’t buy this book if you like sticking with mainstream reading material!
“Imagine being a 19 year old adolescent, who is searching for his parents who seem never to have existed, according to local police, state police, FBI, private investigators." How would that make you feel and what would you do to survive?
Let Jerome Gilden introduce you to Jerry Daniels (19 years old), who used to think he was a normal high school guy and knows he is not crazy, despite other people around him think he is a nut-job who created a set of imaginary parents.
"Yesterday, I graduated from high school; at least I think it was yesterday. I've been losing track of time lately. To tell you the truth, and I swear this is the truth, as crazy as it sounds ... yesterday I went to the future and returned, and I'm really scared by what I've learned."
"I'm no normal teen. I'm the last of the Royalty among a secret race of super-powered humans who are fighting among themselves. War is inevitable. It will affect everyone, even people who don't know there is a war going on ... it will affect you!
"People either want to use me or kill me. For now I'm a Tracer, a guardian of time. My enemies know who I am and where to find me. 'The Dead' are coming, 'la morte', or Morters as they call themselves. They are former Tracers who sacrificed their immortality and the last of their humanity to gain inexplicable powers. They have chosen death as their destiny. They plan to take everything with them."
"Tomorrow ... 'The Dead' and I meet. Tomorrow ... the winner of this war may be decided by what we do, what I do, in our first encounter.
Tomorrow... I will be tested. Tomorrow... I fight for our existence ... and yours."
MY TAKE
Okay, I really struggled with whether or not I should even post a review about this book or not. After all, it's a little, independently published book that most people probably haven't even heard of and, to be frank, I just didn't like it. But, then I decided that I would have appreciated reading an honest review of the book somewhere so that I wouldn't have bothered with it. Plus, I had pointed the book out on my FB page when it was free on Amazon because the blurb intrigued me and I thought it would be worth trying out. I kind of felt like I should let people know what I thought of it since I had mentioned it on FB. So, here goes...This book had an intriguing idea behind it and it's obvious that the author put a decent amount of thought into creating the Tracers' mythology. Unfortunately, the writing itself turned out to be extremely amateurish and I just couldn't get past that. The book felt stilted and forced and the author often phrased things in awkward ways. The whole book felt rushed and the romance elements were extremely cliche. There was almost NO actual chemistry between the characters, so I didn't care what happened with them. I got the feeling that the author had read a book on the correct elements to put into a fantasy/adventure novel, but he just didn't know how to turn it into a compelling story. Several times, I considered just giving up on the book completely (and I probably would have it had been longer), but I HATE to give up on a book - I almost never do - so I thought I would read to the end and find out if the story improved. Unfortunately, it just didn't get much better.
I hate to give any book one star (and especially to discourage a new author), but in this case, I couldn't bring myself to give it any more. 1/5 Stars.
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