....I made it to chapter 4 and could not stand this. Absolutely could not stand this.
An amazon summary to give it a few legs to stand on, "Seventeen years ago, in the island village of Dentro, lived a large and powerful demon. With just a howl, mountains were obliterated. With the help of an outsider, the chief of Dentro destroyed the demon and sealed its dark power within three powerful ancient weapons: a spear, a shield, and a sword. After leaving the unwelcoming village, the man who had helped destroy the demon took the sword in an effort to keep the village and its people safe.
Months later, a villager bore the son of the outsider. Carrying the child of a stranger was in violation of a sacred village law, and everyone knew whose child the boy was. Born into a village filled with hateful people, Zephyr grew up not knowing why he was so hated. With no friends, and eventually no family after the passing of his mother, Zephyr was forced to survive by himself as an outcast.
Zephyr's only wish was to make his mother proud and force the village to recognize him--while surviving in a world filled with demons, paranormal abilities, love, hate, and undiscovered lands." AMAZON LINK OF WHYYYYYY
This is a minor, petty annoyance of mine, but the table of contents look like it came out of an Excel file.
From what I encountered of the book, it was filled with summaries with hardly any details that was trying to set up a universe separate from our own. I'm going to quote the prologue, "Long ago, in a time long forgotten by history, the rulers of the universe known as gods lived among humans, even choosing to mate with some throughout the many worlds," (Tolson, page 13, Zephyr: The West Wind). Okay, so I've already learned that the main character is going to be a child of the gods, that most likely as their are gods there are going to be demons, and the next three paragraphs are all more summary like this. If I flip the page and use another quote, "Zephyr's only wish was to make his mother proud and force the village to recognize him--while surviving in a world filled with demons, paranormal abilities, love, hate, and undiscovered lands," (Tolson, page 14, Zephyr: The West Wind).
...really? I really want to know if an editor even read the story or even gave feedback.
The rest of what I read is written in the same manner where a lot of information is given immediately without it being relevant yet. I couldn't even make it past page 38 (where chapter 4 begins). I really try to give a book to the thirty percent mark at least, but the book is 450 pages.
I'm giving myself mercy on this one.
By page 38, the book had already begun the trials of adulthood which apparently the main character was going in for his fifth attempt. The chief of the village told Zephyr that he wouldn't be able to save him this time if he failed. The first trial was to let your hand wander over five different kinds of magic rock to see which one would glow. Zephyr failed this trial four times before, and he risked death from it? They're rocks. How are the rocks lethal? Alternatively, maybe if he failed again he would be voted off the island, but he wanted to leave anyways...so what's the problem with that? The chief also says this brilliance, "'I do not understand,' the Chief stated. 'Only one should shine brightly, and yet each so far has shone, but not enough to have chosen you. In the past, you could not even pass this part of the test, as they would not shine at all. This is truly unbelievable,'" (Tolson, page 30, Zephyr: The West Wind). ....SHOW, DON'T TELL. HELLO, WRITING 101?
I take issue with books that are like THIS IS TOTALLY LETHAL, DEATH, BOOGIE MONSTER NOISES, without explaining anything. If there is no explanation of why it's lethal, then it's really not lethal. Heck, even if the chief had been like, "If a stone doesn't chose, then it kills you," alright fine, I can believe that since they're full of magic powers or something. But to just be like, "Yeah you'll die if you fail the test this time"; why didn't he die the past four times? Can the chief not save him because he's getting old? Why is this dude even the chief?
The chunk of book I read spent a good deal of time summarizing why the universe was the way it was and trying to allude to crystals that are a big deal, blah blah blah, but it couldn't spend five sentences explaining the village that hates Zephyr? ....really?
As I didn't read much of the book, I'm not going to say much more about the book.
I didn't like it, the style of writing was kind of unrefined, and I don't want to even try to hit page 135 with this book. Nope, not going to do it.
...
According to the back of the book, the author is working on an English degree somewhere in California. YAY! Maybe he can write better once he's done... too soon? ....probably too soon.
Happy reading, something else.
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