Michael M Belcher

Potential Unfulfilled

Revisado: 04-04-25

No spoilers.
There was certainly an interesting premise to the story however the execution left (so) much to be desired.
Action sequences were poorly written/made no sense.
If you're going to write about military characters...learn about how military personnel act and how they think/talk/respond to what's going on around them. Quite making shit up if you don't know.
Writer certainly doesn't know how the Colonial Marines work much less their gear/weapons.
Writer doesn't understand the Xenomorphs.

There was more than a hint of "story-by-numbers" feel to the writing. The plot line was disjointed and the ending was certainly contrived (see above about weapons/gear).

Stop writing stupid characters doing dumb things.
If I had to read about one person "smiling" at another ONE.MORE TIME...

More than anything this book needed the services of a competent editor, who could have fixed the vast majority of problems by pointing them out to the writer and working through them. Who ever the editor was for this book should be fired.

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Not all horror stories...

Revisado: 03-21-24

...are of the same quality.
Pretty interesting foundation for the anthology but there's a lot of hit and miss here.
Some stories are interesting even if they aren't necessarily scary. Delving more into the mysteries surrounding the corpse-eating monsters and the demi-god they worship and serve. And being monsters, they don't stereotypically lack for cognition either. They can communicate and have their own motivations, twisted as they are.
But there's also some low-quality stories sprinkled liberally throughout. I suppose written by authors who are inexperienced with writing horror (or dialogue it seemed).
You have more to worry about poorly written characters with equally poor decision making skills than running up against anything that will truly frighten you here but the book was entertaining and the narrator sufficient to the task (for the most part).

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Interesting Idea: Poor execution

Revisado: 03-05-24

Not going to lie. I made it 3 1/2 chapters before I ducked out.
The core concept is interesting if a bit stale (mix Lovecraft + lots of military hardware) a variant of the modern military goes back in time/crosses over to a fantasy setting trope.
While there's a certain level of entertainment you can get out of reading this book, it's akin to going back and re-watching old episodes of Three's Company or The Love Boat. It's doable, sure, but by the end of the episode you'll probably end up wanting to pull your eyes out.
It's written in the way that civilians must fantasize how Soldiers act and speak.
Hint: We don't.
The book doesn't really have characters but caricatures. Cartoon cutouts.
Done well with interesting dialogue it can work. Here it doesn't.
And right off the get go, things don't track/make sense with the plot.
The writer spends a lot of time and takes great pains to make the story/characters SOUND gritty & hard instead of BEING gritty & hard.
As a veteran, I wouldn't recommend this book to other veterans. Well, not unless you go in for the poorly written dime novel stuff that tries to emulate the old Mack Bolan stuff (no accounting for taste).
I'm certain there's an audience for this stuff. Just not this guy.

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Mission: Correct Genre Application

Revisado: 02-15-24

It is written with an interesting premise and setting in mind; however, it should be clarified that the book was written for a YA/Teen audience.
The main protagonist(s) are teenagers and young adults, with their varying backgrounds reflecting this. It is appropriate for a YA/Teen story but a bit farcical for an adult story. Children make for poor spies/secret agents for reasons beyond just their age. While the author does a good job of keeping the dialogue and emotional reactions appropriate for the protagonist's age group that's also part of the problem. Agents, upon which the fate of countries, empires, and secret societies depend should be seasoned professionals, not adolescents grappling with the challenges typical of coming of age.
All the best training in the world (locked up in a closet) cannot make up for the lack of social/contextual/and basic knowledge that comes from exposure to the outside world/people. The protagonist's "employer" should have known this is he was half the experienced and exacting man he was made out to be. I say this as an Intelligence professional for going on 35 years myself.
Not a bad series of books BUT...it should be made much clearer that these books are really written for YA/Teens.
Great job at narration.

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A solid entry into the series.

Revisado: 11-16-23

I don't have much to add that others haven't already stated. A fine story with all the sorts of action, thrills, and mystery the series has given readers so far.

What I'd like to address though, is only important inasmuch as there are more books to come.
Character progression.

There are few "rules" writers can rally cling to when it comes to creating characters and making them feel alive. It's all up to their imaginations of course. but still.

1. Don't make your characters annoying (unless it's a part of their personality...and even then there's a limit to what a reader will accept/digest).
2. Don't make your character stupid or obviously and repeatedly obtuse (see rule #1).

John Watson has been around now for a little while and similarly experienced his "condition" for a while. His reactions in this book, however, remains static. It's like he's still confounded by what he is and what the ramifications of his condition portends. Flexibility...adaptation....an open mind. While these things are not a given, when faced with such extraordinary circumstances you either adapt or you die.
Watson's obtuseness in reaction and reasoning with what's going on around him, his lack of personal awareness, his lack of personal growth...is presented less as a challenge for him to overcome but is used as a mechanic. A stumbling block that will dictate how he responds...again and again and again.
Eventually this will go from being annoying to being a serious detractor to the story.

Everyone changes over time. The only ones who don't are dead.

So too I find a bit ridiculous that Sherlock, imminently logical as he is....would have to have explained to him, by Watson of all people, the rational behind why the end had to be the way it was.

That's not being thick-headed, that's being purposely obtuse.

I hope that this does not continue in the future.

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Lesson: Writers, do your HOMEWORK

Revisado: 10-26-23

Oh boy, where to start?

Published in 1987, this book, which was fairly popular at the time it came out, is definitely (and painfully) showing its age. I had to Struggle (and I mean capital S)to finish this one and I really like Koontz. Within the first 30 minutes I really wanted to stop the audiobook and delete it but I kept at it just to see how it would all turn out.

For future/prospective writers...if you are going to write about something you have no personal knowledge of, take the time to research the information. You don't have to become an expert but at least make yourself familiar enough that it doesn't come across so obviously that you don't have a clue about whatever it is you're writing about. It is 2023 not 1987 and, 20 years of constant warfare aside, pulling shit out of your ass doesn't work any more when it comes to describing military personnel/veterans. Much less Tier 1 folks.
While this is important generally, it is even more so when this involves a Main Character.

Case in point, if you're going to give a character a background that includes being a former SFOD-D operator then they should act and behave accordingly. This did not happen and regardless of the writer saying on several occasions that the character was former Delta, they did not act or behave in such a way as to lend any credence to the claim. If anything, their actions and related thinking/emotional responses were quite the opposite. In SPECTACULAR fashion. A both a veteran and a SOF member I should know. It was jarring enough to not just take you out of the story but made you want to just stop the book entirely.

A smaller detail would be the use of revolvers (and strange fascination with mini-uzis). Revolvers were being widely replaced by semiautomatic pistols by most police departments by the mid '80s. The military had already stopped using revolvers as even a secondary arm decades earlier. FOR A REASON.

At some point it was fashionable to use the NSA as the ubiquitous "Men in Black" secret government agency that went out and did all kinds of nefarious/questionable actions to invariably keep John Q Public in the dark about what was going on. While people are more knowledgeable about such things (you hope), this is just lazy writing. From the wrong agency to not understanding how agents think to not getting that agents don't exclusively wear suits everywhere they go...yes. Lazy.

The narrator does a pretty decent job given the material. They put a fair amount of emotion into their story telling and were able to make each character stand out as an individual.

The basic concept is ...ok although by this time it leans very heavily on several well established tropes.

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The Writers Should Know Better...

Revisado: 05-11-22

Interesting idea (if getting a bit beaten to death lately if you look at similar books that have come out/coming out recently) and it has it's moments. Entertaining but ultimately disappointing. Especially coming from these guys. They know how aggravating it is to those of us green suiters/former green suiters who sit in the peanut gallery listening/watching civilians get shit wrong when talking about military stuff.

Leans a bit too heavily into tropeville...it's no substitute for proper world building or attention to detail. Basic Writer 101...I know it's a difficult task trying to balance magic & fantasy vs the implements of modern warfare but you have to do better than give the humans a sudden case of incompetency. Sure, us Army types like to make fun of the Air Force on a regular basis but one thing they have never been made fun of being, and that's being ridiculously stupid. That strike mission in the early part of the book just broke my brain. No. Just no. And the "naval engagement"? Seriously? It's just seems like you're pulling shit out of your ass to justify the outcome. We won't even discuss the idea of an O-4 leading a DA team in the field. I mean the vast majority of civilians won't know the difference and are all caught up in the language and minutia. But damn.

Guys, there's bullshit and there's BULLSHIT. Anything that pulls you out of a story so much and so often is just bad.

I'm just about at my third hour in and REALLY not leaning into finishing this.
Dig the narrator though. Wish he had something better to work with.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Bravo!

Revisado: 03-05-21

As a long time table top and mmo/rpg player I cannot express my love for this story enough. Middle Earth is now second on my list of places I wish to live in. Outstanding narration to go with an immensely entertaining story. Again, bravo!

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Disappointing

Revisado: 12-20-19

Like the headline states "disappointing".
I bought the 3 book series because there was a sale going on and it seemed like a great deal on a title I was interested in. I didn't even make it past the halfway mark on the first book.
Oh well, lesson learned.
A very interesting premise, mixing famous monsters and historical mythologies. All let down by the poor writing.
The pacing, dialogue, and plotline were all over the place, sometimes good (not great) but also just as many times just bad. The same goes for the quality of the writing overall.
In summary, the book was incredibly frustrating to listen to because the idea behind the story is an interesting one. A novel blend of old and new. But the writing was what I imagine every middle school English teacher is subjected to when reading the results of the assignment they handed out. Some good, some potential, and a whole lot of mediocre or poor.
I often felt like I was watching one of those "made for Syfy Channel" movies.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas