Book Review: The Shock of Night

The Shock of Night by Patrick W. Carr

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


“Despite their conviction of my guilt, they weren't stupid, and the village idiot could piece the reason for the attack together.”

Willet Dura stated this over 200 pages into the book. After 300 pages, I still couldn't “piece the reason” together for why anything was happening in this story. Maybe it was because I would read this before bed, so I was tired, but I've read engaging books while being exhausted and understood them. I didn't finish this book, but I may finish it at a later time.

This book had some interesting concepts going on. Religious orders and magical gifts that enhance people's abilities were some of the biggest ones. The concepts and setting took a background to the story probably too much. World-building should contribute to the plot, but there was such a lack of world-buildling that it weakened the plot.

Points in the plot were presented briefly before jumping to another plot point, and then to another, and another. Then we would return to one of those plot points, and then jump back to another one or a new one. Characters were mentioned that I had never heard of without explanation, or hadn't read about for a while, as if I as the reader should know everything about the characters already. The story became rather convoluted and jerky, and I easily became lost in the overall plot.

Part of my problem with the story was the whole ordeal about Willet's “vault.” I guess cracking it can make a guy a vegetable, but I don't understand why it was so important that they do it except to figure out how he stumbled out alive from the Darkwater. When I put this book down I had finally gotten somewhere interesting. Another problem I had were Willet's investigations into these different murders, but I had a hard time tying their importance together because the narration didn't give me enough information. When Willet talked about the village idiot, I felt kind of insulted, because I was deep in the dark at that point.

I had a hard time understanding the role of the Vigil. They pretended to be this really secretive group of people, and for some reason their gift is really outstanding, yet they openly interact with the king and members of the religious orders. They don't bother a lot to keep themselves hidden. They can read the memories of people...and that's about it. In the book the leader of the Vigil warns about reading too many memories from multiple people to learn who's guilty...but isn't that what you would use it for, just in moderation? I didn't understand the reason for the Vigil's existence, or why they held so much sway except to shatter people's minds (while implying to be the “good guys”) and they only seemed to be there to hound the main character.

I wanted to like this book. I like a good tome of fantasy. However, this book was all over the place, and when one of the only times I can read is right before bed, I need a book that's easy to understand while still maintaining good twists and mysteries. This book strove to hold up its fantastical elements, but it was too busy stumbling around trying to piece a convoluted plot together to let those elements shine.

I think maybe if I return to this book at a later time and start from the beginning I may be able to piece things together better.

Also, there were lots of comma splices.




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Hammer of Fire Writing Fun

Some more video updates!  I'm having fun with the Screencastify Chrome extension, and I'm glad I can share writing and revision in-process for y'all to enjoy.  Today is a writing session with In Chaos Forged, Book 1 of The Hammer of Fire.

Revision Session Fun and more Patreon!

Hello everyone.  I discovered a Chrome extension that allows you to record videos and audio, called Screencastify, and I decided to share some revision fun with my readers.

I hope to do more recorded revision sessions in the future, and I hope you'll enjoy my wacky commentary and radical revision skills...heh.

Also, I mentioned getting on with Patreon to help fund some of my work.  I decided to narrow down my Patreon platform and use it to help fund the Libera Battle trading card game project.   You can take a look here at more information.  You can donate a small dollar amount per month, and if we can get enough interest in the project and reach specific milestones, I will make Libera publicly available on The Game Crafter.  When you become a patron, you will have access to Patreon-exclusive posts I plan on making, including progress art for the cards that I haven't shown on Xenithar's Musings or Libera Battle - Official Website.  You'll also have access to a gallery of all the completed cards thus far, and the gallery will grow as I complete cards.

When I got on Patreon, I first thought about getting funding to do book giveaways and give out other goodies like art, but I may save that for a future time.  Libera Battle has a definite, final goal, but will also be ongoing as I create booster packs and future decks.

Have a wonderful evening and weekend!

Patreon

Hello everyone, I hope you've had an awesome November so far.  All these projects have kept me busy and happy.

Recently I've been trying to find ways to supplement our income, and I rediscovered Patreon.  I had learned about it through my brothers' ARC comic project, and I'm planning on launching my own platform on Patreon.  This entails giving you, my readers, more goodies when you pledge a certain amount of dollars to support my artistry. They would include original stories, art, and maybe other things if I think them up.

Progress has been steady on Gift Search, In Chaos Forged, and the Libera Battle TCG.  In Gift Search, I did a ton of revision on the first 1/3-1/4 of the book, jumping back and forth a bit, before continuing on to revise the next part of the manuscript.  In Hammer of Fire, I've been trying to figure out how the story's going to end, and how it will lead up to that point.

I've been thinking about getting beta readers for when I finish drafting In Chaos Forged. I would like to get some serious critique on this book when the time comes, especially since it's so different from other Libera stories and it's the start of a new series.

Keep an eye out for more updates, and have an awesome day!

Gift Search Excerpt

Hello everyone.  It's been a crazy week as our family has prepared to contract for a home, but I've found some time to give y'all an update.

I'd like to share with you an excerpt from my revision of Book 2 of The Legend of Draconite: Gift Search.  I've found that as I've edited and revised this book, I've had to do a lot of rewriting of scenes.  There were holes in the plot and more detail about the characters, world, and how magic works that needed to be worked in.  It's been a lot of work to rewrite, but it's been fun too.

The below excerpt isn't the final product.  I'm still in the editing stage and have modified little of the original draft of this excerpt.  This is a rewrite of Leader's escape from the imprisonment Luna put him in, and it was a great opportunity to explain more of the nature of magic, as well as involve an antagonist that originally didn't play much of a role, the demon Alalt.

Without further ado, please enjoy!