Review of The Last Raider

[Adrianna Hines]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Last Raider" by Spencer Anderson.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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The Last Raider by Spencer Anderson is about a retired Navy pilot named Carl who finds out that his grandson, Cody, has been captured by Serbians. Carl, with the help of his son, two close friends, and a retired NASA pilot, goes to try to rescue Cody. They only have a short amount of time to save Cody before the Serbians kill him. The storyline itself was intriguing and I liked many parts of the book. However, I was left feeling conflicted by the way Spencer Anderson chose to write it.

I felt like the book didn’t catch my interest until the middle chapters. The first two chapters were boring and there were a lot of unrelated side-tangents. Twice the author spoiled his own story yet continued to let the plot unfold as if he hadn’t already told the readers what was going to happen. The transitions in the book were confusing. I had to re-read chapters too many times because I couldn’t understand what was going on. In the first half of the book, I felt like Spencer Anderson alternated between three different writing styles.

Though there were a lot of things I didn’t care for in The Last Raider, Spencer Anderson did an excellent job using imagery and figurative language. I enjoyed the historical facts and learned a lot. I like Carl’s personality as well as a few of the other characters. I found that the chapters where Cody was in sparked my interest and wish Cody could have been implemented more throughout the book.

I found a few typos in The Last Raider and there were many times throughout the book where the transitions were difficult to understand. Though the storyline was interesting the way it was written didn’t speak to me. I rate The Last Raider a 2 out of 4. I’m a little disappointed. I wanted to like this book and had even looked forward to reading it in the beginning.

Though this book wasn’t for me, I think people who are interested in learning more about aircraft models might enjoy The Last Raider. Spencer Anderson goes into great detail about the planes featured in the book. I wouldn’t recommend this book to a younger audience due to the violence and sexual content presented throughout the story. Carl does pray a lot. Overall, I feel like the book has a lot of potential, it just, unfortunately, wasn’t for me.

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The Last Raider
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