Title: Requiem, Changing Times
Author: R J Parker
Publisher: Olympia Publishers
Published: September 2019
Goodreads Summary: Clint and Corbin are having a weird day. Best friends for life, things are getting a little strange around their town, and at school. When they're followed by a strange man looking for Clint and later attacked by an imp, it makes sense to retreat to the safety of home. But when strangers from another world, Banks and O'Neil, arrive with their medley of allies, things get even weirder. Why are they here? What do they want? And what is The Requiem that everyone keeps talking about? As Clint and his friends and family are drawn deeper into a thrilling adventure, only one thing is for sure. They may not be getting out alive. And class with Mrs Christenson will seem like a walk in the park after this.
My Thoughts: Okay, let's dive in. This book is non-stop action from start to finish. Any time things start to slow down, a dwarf crashes through a window, everyone gets shot by arrows, or a troll crashes the Halloween Dance. Each battle scene is well thought out, very akin to a D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) combat encounter. In fact, this book draws very heavily (like super super heavily) from D&D. Not only does Parker borrow races, and creatures, he even uses the same classes as D&D - druid and paladin stand out the most. Don't get me wrong, I love D&D. I've participated in multiple campaigns, and am currently playing a gnome grandma (code name: Gwam-Gwam) who happens to be a druid. The game can get crazy, ridiculous, and terrifying, and it's fun, but when being adapted to a written story it would need heavy editing and some re-writing to be successful. Requiem, Changing Times does not do this.
The plethora of typos, grammar mistakes, general formatting errors, and rough writing made me wonder if this book had even been edited. In fact, I believe that a good editor would make this book much more palatable. The story is interesting, and most of the characters are fairly well developed, but the "first-draft"iness of the book ruins what could be awesome plot points. For example, I really liked the characters Tamara, Kayla, Banks and Nix, but their characteristics seemed to fluctuate greatly from chapter to chapter. I know Tamara goes through a total personality change, so I'll let that one slide. Characters may face horrible trials that change them as a person, but they still have a base personality that needs to stay consistent for their responses to stimuli to make sense.
The characters in this book don't seem to have that base line consistency. I realize half of them are teenagers, but their personalities were a jumble of contradictions that didn't work together. I would say especially Corbin. That kid not only annoyed the heck out of me, but really wasn't that great of a friend. Clint keeps stating how great of a friend Corbin is, but I never saw it. The boy sabotages Clint at every turn, and is plain rude the rest of the time. Maybe that's just how teenage boys are, I don't know because I was never one. However, I do know something about teenage girls, and Parker's portrayal of them was ridiculous. Almost all the high school interactions felt like something from a TV show. Yes, there's bullying and weirdness and hormones, but no one is so absolutely ridiculous and vain as Amber. No one takes selfies right after almost being blown-up. I could go on about how stereotypical everyone was, but I'll spare you.
In the end the story itself isn't bad, but the execution is. This book has enough material and crazy plot points to be something really unique and wonderful, if it just had some decent editing and rewriting.
Rating: 1/5 trees
The plethora of typos, grammar mistakes, general formatting errors, and rough writing made me wonder if this book had even been edited. In fact, I believe that a good editor would make this book much more palatable. The story is interesting, and most of the characters are fairly well developed, but the "first-draft"iness of the book ruins what could be awesome plot points. For example, I really liked the characters Tamara, Kayla, Banks and Nix, but their characteristics seemed to fluctuate greatly from chapter to chapter. I know Tamara goes through a total personality change, so I'll let that one slide. Characters may face horrible trials that change them as a person, but they still have a base personality that needs to stay consistent for their responses to stimuli to make sense.
The characters in this book don't seem to have that base line consistency. I realize half of them are teenagers, but their personalities were a jumble of contradictions that didn't work together. I would say especially Corbin. That kid not only annoyed the heck out of me, but really wasn't that great of a friend. Clint keeps stating how great of a friend Corbin is, but I never saw it. The boy sabotages Clint at every turn, and is plain rude the rest of the time. Maybe that's just how teenage boys are, I don't know because I was never one. However, I do know something about teenage girls, and Parker's portrayal of them was ridiculous. Almost all the high school interactions felt like something from a TV show. Yes, there's bullying and weirdness and hormones, but no one is so absolutely ridiculous and vain as Amber. No one takes selfies right after almost being blown-up. I could go on about how stereotypical everyone was, but I'll spare you.
In the end the story itself isn't bad, but the execution is. This book has enough material and crazy plot points to be something really unique and wonderful, if it just had some decent editing and rewriting.
Rating: 1/5 trees
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