The Secret Journal by Otto Schafer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a mixed review and may contain spoilers.
First, the good stuff.
The story was interesting, involving archeology and old mysteries (always a winner with me) that weaved together into more mysteries. This part of the story really had me hooked and kept me reading even when other things in the book made me cringe a bit.
Now, the not-so-good stuff.
First, the author often makes the rookie mistake of mixing up POVs. One minute we’re in one character’s head and the next, boom! we’re in another’s. It’s not a huge deal because the story was exciting enough to keep me reading but still, something to be more careful of in following books.
Second, the lecturing was often too much. It felt as if the characters had stopped doing whatever they were doing and decided to lecture each other on the subject. The information, however interesting and/or necessary for the story, could have been spread out and delivered better.
I thought the plot twist or the big reveal at the end did not jive with the rest of the story. For the whole book I was kind of expecting some more scientific explanation (albeit with magical undertones) since the whole archeological setup was pretty accurate for the most part. But then we are hit with an extraterrestrial species of immortals who want to create an army by procreating with humans??? Sorry, it just sounded way too far-fetched even for this fantasy and sci-fi lover.
The worst part I think was the ending. Not because of the cliffhanger which I get considering it’s a series, but because of the extremely long and somewhat repetitive lecture/speech given by the Martial Arts teacher while levitating. It was a huge info dump that totally took me out of the story and ruined it for me. I ended up skimming through the last chapter just to get it over with.
There were quite a few times when the characters would go into some totally off-topic spiel, taking the reader out of the story. An example: at one point Breanne is urgently looking for Garrett, but the scene stops to recall a time when she went into a store and had the well-meaning clerk ask her about her braids which made her feel uncomfortable. Good information about her, but just out of place.
All in all an entertaining story with some flaws. I just hope the author cleans out some of his writing. More is not always a good thing.
Author Natalina Reis 