1 out of 4 stars
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This book is a prime example of what could have been. I was hopeful after reading the blurb but was let down only one hundred ages in.
Guardian Of Deceit is about a teenage Darwin Hastings, orphaned at a young age and later forced to move in with his infamous cousin; a rich football player that has a taste for the wilder side of life. At least it starts out that way. The beginning of this story focuses on Darwin's desire to become a doctor, and the maltreatment he receives from his cousin who misuses his inheritance and denies him even the basics in order to toughen him up. He is exposed to drugs, sex, and lies as his cousin tries to make him into a protege of sorts. The book continues in a coming of age style story, following Darwin through his attempts to navigate college and adulthood.
I truly enjoyed the beginning of this book. I felt bad for the protagonist's plight and wanted his situation to get better. I especially enjoyed the first few pages where the author gave the reader a first glimpse at Darwin's personality and how he related to strangers he'd just met.
Unfortunately my hopes for the story were crushed after the first fifty pages or so. The book seemed to go down several rabbit holes including a murder mystery that involves three chapters of interrogative dialogue. I struggled through these chapters of mindless question and answer sessions. A few sexual encounters made it clear that this was not the teenage gender swapped Cinderella story it started out to be. The author skipped over key events only to leave the reader finding out key facts about the story through dialogue or a passing sentences. It is never made clear how or when Darwin might have received his inheritance. It is only mentioned through dialogue that Darwin was 18 at a random chapter. Given the beginning of the story, one would think that his coming into adulthood would be a big event, but no, merely mentioned as a passing comment in a conversation. Another chapter dealt with a very common and relatable topic but made it very difficult to understand the situation because it dealt with characters whom had never been mentioned before and most of which were never mentioned again after those three pages. The author seemed to attempt to put too many stories into one book and refused to let them go.
As far as grammar is concerned there were several passages that didn't flow well due to short sentences or simply strange sentence structure. For example, the first line of the book reads: 'Darwin Hastings shouldered his backpack to be doing something and checked to see his ticket was still in his jacket side pocket.' While this sentence is not technically grammatically incorrect it still reads strangely enough that it made me wary right off the bat.
I feel it is important to mention that I love reading as much as I love breathing. The fact that I had to force myself to finish reading this book just to have a clear picture of why I disliked it so much speaks volumes. The story skips and the constantly changing content matter made this an almost impossible read. For this reason I am giving it a 1 out of 4 stars.
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Guardian of Deceit
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