This review gave me enough seritonin receptor stimulation that I had to repost it.
Course, the author in me wanted to point out how to properly spell "following" and where vs were, but that's me being author. I wish I had advice to other writers about how to get positive reviews, especially reviews that make ME want to read my own book, but I think as with all things that the answer is simple. Write a good book. Do a good job. There is no shortcut.
Mikael
Check it out:
Every couple of years I read something that seems perfectly suited to my tastes, and this delivered.
The first thing I would like to say is that this was absolutely savage.
The first thing I would like to say is that this was absolutely savage.
In the future they have determined that genetics lead to a predisposition of character, and choose to ship everybody that caries the so called 'murder gene' into a large walled city. Inside the citizens have chosen to live under the rules of a game. Enter the main chara, who is there to shake their world to the very core, of course.
The book splits into two stories really early on, one fallowing the father on the inside,the other fallowing his son, who's story line in very different. Both of which I would have been more than happy to read as separate novels. In many ways they did seem like two different novels in the same universe.
Much of the overlying themes dealt with why people would kill, so much to the point where the main chara, Jay, seemed haunted by his choices early on. He was excepting of his actions, but careful of justifying them. In a dark and twisted world of dog eat dog, one must kill. Quickly adapting to the circumstances, he quickly becomes a key player in their game, in many ways changing the rules.
The opening to this was so very violent! The main chara is no stranger to pain in this.
The cast of characters where well rounded and complete on both sides of the story. But, I do have to say that half way through the fathers story line took a HUGE sideways slant. In such a strange way, I'm not sure if it made the story better, or if I can ever understand why the author did it (I really want to read an interview about this book). It was entertaining though, so far out there, controversial, unexpected, just fucking bizarre. If you can, try and read this before some jerk off spoils it!
If you haven't noticed yet, I haven't said anything about the son's story yet. I don't really want to talk about it, I would have read the book just for that story alone. It was very good, and provided some decent weight to the book.
This book is going to go down as very controversial for the content. Both for the content, and the surprise change in the middle. If you like hyper-violent fiction, read this!
7 comments:
This review was incredibly accurate and summed up everything I would say about your book. The "nature vs. nurture" debate has always been fascinating to me as an Anthropologist, and regardless of the fact that your book was particularly graphic, your twist on the entire concept was fascinating. Don't get me wrong, however, the vulgarity and "graphic-ness" of the book were perfect; if this situation were to occur, this is a very likely scenario for how things would end up. Thanks for such a page-turner!
Chantelle,
Thank you so much for the kind words. Comments and reviews like this are what keep us authors going. I was always particularly curious what an anthropologist would say, so I'm glad that it worked for you.
Murder Genes will be returning to a 2.99 price point soon, so tell your friends to grab it before it does. Also, as a favor, would you mind writing a short review on amazon/goodreads/wherever you downloaded MG? The reviews make a massive difference for full time authors and reviews are an easy, costless way of supporting us.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! You seriously made my day.
I'm glad I was able to make your day! You made mine as well; it's not often the author of a book that you just finished responds to your comments (Well, it had never happened to me before now haha). I wrote a review on Amazon a few minutes ago, I hope it helps you out. Thank you again for your book and your response, I'll be keeping an eye out for any of your future books.
Good luck to you!
Chantelle, I was really impressed by your review. You were able to see a lot more than most and express your insight very intelligently. Thank you for the generous words and you should really think of reviewing more. Hope you enjoy whatever else comes forth from my backwards mind!
Hi there Mikael,
It's been some time since I posted on your blog last. I was hoping you might be able to steer me in the right direction. After writing the review for your book and reading a few more futuristic science fiction novels I came to the conclusion that I need to write something. I don't know if it was an epiphany or if I'd known it all along, but I've always had the drive to write and create.
Ahh I'm sorry if I'm boring you. Anyways, I've completed a story. It's about 70,000 words after a rough editing by myself and some close family members. I have decided I want to publish on the kindle but am still in need of some guidance. I have always appreciated the time you took to reply to my comment and am definitely a fan of your writing... therefore I was hoping you might be the one to give me some direction as far as my next steps are concerned.
I also created a blogspot, where I've made my prologue available if you're interested. :] http://chantellefeasel.blogspot.com
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you're doing well!
Chantelle,
How fantastic to hear from you again. First off, I gotta say, I knew you'd be a great writer! Maybe somewhere inside, I hoped you'd go for it. I did read your prologue, and if this is your first work, I'm terribly impressed--and I do hang around a very talented crowd.
In fact, you should e-mail me: mikaelaizen@gmail.com
I would very much like to network with you, and that might be best done through private e-mails.
Mikael
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