Official Review: Raging Falcon by Stephen Perkins

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Rachaelamb1
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Official Review: Raging Falcon by Stephen Perkins

Post by Rachaelamb1 »

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Raging Falcon" by Stephen Perkins.]
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1 out of 4 stars
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Raging Falcon by Stephen Perkins is a political thriller novel set in 2063.

Jim Keogh has been incarcerated for most of his life due to false murder charges. Now there is a political battle to put him on the unsustainable list and end his life. On his last night to live, the prison guards beg Old Jim to tell them his story. It is a story involving his father’s political schemings and dealings with terrorism and black magic. His father is a ruthless man who has little to do with his family. Something changes when Jim is a teenager. All of a sudden his father is meddling in his life, making decisions that will impact Jim forever.

This book is not anything like what I expected. Because it is listed as a young adult novel and set in the future, I was expecting a typical young adult dystopian story. It does not fit either of those categories well. First of all, it is both violently and sexually graphic. There are numerous sex scandals, murders, and instances of rape. Additionally, there is liberal use of strong language with the F-word being one of the more tame words used. All of this makes the book highly unsuitable for the young adult crowd. Furthermore, even though the story starts out in 2063, the majority of it is focused on Old Jim’s past which is our modern day time. There is no real dystopian feel to the story since it is talking about events like Benghazi, Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, and the Boston Marathon bombing. I would describe the book as a paranormal conspiracy theory for adults.

The pacing is fast and there is a lot of action. Unfortunately, there are so many characters to keep track of that the fast pace makes it harder to understand what is happening. I was confused for most of the book because I could not figure out who's who. Some of this is due to the amount of minor characters in the book, but another reason I found is because the characters have numerous titles they go by. For instance, Jim’s father is sometimes referred to by his first name, his last name, the major, the magus, and I believe he is also called the black pope (though I never was certain of that). Add several names to the other characters and readers are left scratching their head in confusion.

I am disappointed by the lack of any relatable or likable characters. The only remotely likable character is Jim, but he actually has such a small role in the book, despite being the protagonist. Although even if he had a larger part, he lacks personality. His one likable quality is that he is not evil. In reality, the main character is Jim’s father, who is utterly despicable. Most of the other characters are just as bad. By the middle of the story, I really grew tired of reading about all these horrible people. It was so depressing!

I have to address the fact that there are grammatical errors. Similar sounding words are sometimes misused. For example, then is used instead of than or chopping instead of chomping. There is also an odd stylistic choice for setting off a character’s thoughts. The author uses an ellipsis at the end of their thoughts instead of using italics. Actually, the author uses ellipses frequently in the dialogue as well which is quite distracting.

My rating for Raging Falcon is 1 out of 4 stars. Despite disliking the characters, I would have given the book a higher rating if it had been well written. The overall confusion of the story makes it impossible for me to recommend it to anyone. A reader should never have to flip back and forth between pages to figure out what is happening.

******
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Annelore Trujillo
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Post by Annelore Trujillo »

It's too bad that the book wasn't well written. It sounds like it might have the potential to be a good book. I have found that with a lot of books lately. Thank you for such an honest review!
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Post by Rachaelamb1 »

anneloretrujillo wrote:It's too bad that the book wasn't well written. It sounds like it might have the potential to be a good book. I have found that with a lot of books lately. Thank you for such an honest review!
Thank you, I agree!
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Post by kimmyschemy06 »

That was a very honest review. Too bad the book isn't as enjoyable as it should be. Good job on the review and good luck on your next one.
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Post by Rachaelamb1 »

kimmyschemy06 wrote:That was a very honest review. Too bad the book isn't as enjoyable as it should be. Good job on the review and good luck on your next one.
Thank you!
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Post by Katelyn Scott »

There's nothing more disappointing than a book that has such great potential but lets you down in the end.
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Post by Zohaib Ahmed »

It seems like this book had potential. The cover is certainly eye catching. Too bad about the errors though. Great review!!

-- 04 Feb 2017, 06:14 --

It seems like this book had potential. The cover is certainly eye catching. Too bad about the errors though. Great review!!
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Rachaelamb1
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Post by Rachaelamb1 »

Katelyn Scott wrote:There's nothing more disappointing than a book that has such great potential but lets you down in the end.
Thank you, I agree!
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Post by mindyg123 »

Great review. A story of lies, deception and magic. Sounds interesting adding this to my TBR list. Congrats on being BOTD.
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Post by gali »

A dystopian society controlled by a new world order, political schemings, and black magic? Sounds promising. Too bad it didn't follow through and wasn't that well-edited. I will pass as political thrillers aren't my cup of tea.
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Post by kandscreeley »

I agree with gali. Political thrillers aren't my thing. Plus the graphic nature of the book turns me off. Thanks for the review.
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Post by Adedola »

It's too bad that the vision of the writer wasn't effectively expressed or communicated in the book. Thank you for your review!
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Post by Waragu Samuel »

Well i haven't read the book but I am attracted to reading this book because of the rating.Could the confusion, the grammar errors and all such stuff have been deliberate in the sense that the person narrating the story was doing at a time "when live lacked meaning" at the eve of his execution? I will read the novel and revisit the rating. Otherwise, thanks for the honest review.
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Post by Heidi M Simone »

A father participating in political scheming and dealing with terrorism and black magic? Sounds pretty intense. Too bad about about the lack of likable characters; if I can't like at least one character, then my interest is turned off. The grammatical errors is also a turn off, as well as, the numerous sex scandals, murders, and rape scenes. This would be too much for me. Thank you for your honest review!
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Post by thebookextravaganza »

Thank you for writing such honest review. I was considering picking up the novel but it seems that not only does the author rely more on the shock value of his work, the story is poorly executed stylistically as well. As a non native speaker I would rather stick to the proper use of English since I myself lack enough experience and self-awareness when it comes to the grammar and so forth. Once again, great and informative review :)
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