Expectations before reading
Author Nicky Blue kindly contacted me via Instagram and asked whether I was interested in reading and reviewing one of his Novellas. He said it was a comedy. I told him that I hadn’t read much comedy so far and I wasn’t sure if I really liked that genre. We wrote a little more and then I agreed to give it a try and so I did.
And I got this book. Looking at the title and the cover I was almost sure I would not like it.
This is what you find on Amazon about it:
Amazon
“When seven foot ghost warriors are trying to kill you, a multidimensional Basset Hound might be the only friend you need…
”Read it in one sitting and couldn’t stop laughing. Gag a minute. Dark comedy at it’s finest!” (Goodreads review)
A half-woman, half-cockroach fused in a bizarre gardening accident? That would be Mrs Jittery Twitch, dwelling in the shadows of our misdeeds. If in danger, you can call upon her help… all she asks is your soul as payment. But she’s just a legend, so no need to worry.
Barry Harris is a 28-year-old man, still living with his dear old mum in a little flat above a hairdresser. His obsession with Star Trek and the martial arts won’t help him when he’s forced out on a date.
And nobody knows about the weird string of events that’s about to put everyone’s lives in danger. A trio of samurai warriors and the strangest offer of help lead Barry on a perilous mission to save the day.
(This book is the second in the Prophecy Allocation series but works fine as a standalone read.)”
It still did not convince me.. but I read it anyways and here comes my review.
The Book
I always feel kind of bad rating a book not that great, especially when the author was really nice and asked you if you wanted to review it. I guess this is just not my genre to read. I’m sorry.
Plot ★★
The story was some sort of crime and/or mystery and I was trying to find the funny elements since it is supposed to be a comedy. But I just couldn’t really find them. I rather thought that it was sad.. Maybe it was just not my kind of humor. Sometimes the storyline was quite thrilling, so you wanted to know what was going to happen next. And then there were passages that were so very bloody I couldn’t read them and had to skip them. But maybe it was this exaggerated bloody happening that was supposed to be funny. All in all I thought the plot was quite odd..
Characters ★★
Most of the characters were too overdrawn for my taste. I couldn’t really identify or sympathize with any of them. But I felt sorry for them as they were all tragical characters in a way. I liked the musical taste of the mother though . 😉
Setting ★★★
Well, the setting was totally fine. Set in more or less today’s time with some mystery elements. Nothing to complain about here 🙂
Style ★★★
The book was quite good and easy to read. But I’m definitely not a big fan of footnotes. Maybe it was because of the e-book – the constant jumping back and forth from between footnotes and the actual reading was slighty annoying. Not sure what it would have been like with a physical copy. I started to just not read them.
Opinion after reading
If someone asked me what kind of story this was I would say some sort of tragic mystery-crime story. The plot is kind of thrilling but also very odd, sometimes even absurd. Maybe this absurdity is what others think of as funny? Also many things were very overdrawn: The characters and also some scenes, especially the ones that involved blood.. I guess there are people who love this kind of stylistic device. I am not one of them. It was a really short novel and quite easy to read, so if you don’t mind too much blood and a bit of weirdness you could give it a try. I guess it just isn’t my kind of genre to read.
