2 out of 4 stars
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Guardian of Deceit tells the story of Darwin, a newly orphaned teen who dreams of becoming a doctor. He moves in with his rich pro football player cousin Luther, and meets a host of characters who both help and block him as he navigates his new position in the world.
The book has a strong start. Any story about a plucky orphan clawing his way out of tough circumstances is naturally intriguing. The characters Darwin meets have fascinating profiles: Luther the degenerate, gambling-addicted pro athlete; Luther’s waif-like pop superstar girlfriend Sweeney; Laszlo, Luther’s kind but tough security chief, and best of all, Granny, the cranky, money-mad Scrabble fiend with the solid gold heart. The pacing in the first few chapters is fast and lean, and the author has a good sense of how to keep the story moving.
Unfortunately, after a solid beginning, the book quickly begins to unravel. The style is often stilted and reads like a scholarly essay or a technical manual. Word choice is often strange and sometimes flat-out incorrect, and there is an overall stuffiness to the tone. Although the main characters are young, there is little that’s youthful in their dialogue and actions. (“Do you think he’s immoral?” one teenager asks another, referring to an open relationship.) Good dialogue is the lifeblood of good characters, and without it, the characters seem anemic. Even Darwin himself is bland and passive, more like an observer than an actor.
What’s more, this book has a noticeable problem with its female characters. All the women are either hysterical twits, frigid snobs, delusional control freaks, or conniving, sex-mad “sluts.” There are scenes describing battles against sexual harassment, but they ring hollow when all the women in the book fit a mold that can most kindly be described as “old-fashioned.”
The story itself also loses focus after a few sections. Darwin overcomes Luther’s mistreatments and advances his medical training with the help of prominent local physician Dr. Malverne, but none of these story developments offer much tension or conflict, or effect any real change in Darwin’s character. Instead, they read like a laundry list of life events whose significance remains unexplored. For example, Darwin’s quest to get into a private high school is described as a major hurdle in his path toward medical school, but, later, his transfer to Exeter is revealed almost as an afterthought, something you’d miss if you weren’t reading carefully. No description is offered of how his life – inner or outer – changes as a result of this major transition. The book weaves in different directions (medical drama, murder mystery, romance), with little sense of how these parts fit together into a larger whole. By the end, we’re left with a superficial account of a superficial life.
I’m rating this book 2 out of 4 stars. At three stars I would recommend it to a friend, and at one star I would say it’s not worth reading at all. I’m giving it two because despite the sketchy characters, meandering story, and stiff tone, I still wanted to know what would happen next. Unfortunately, “what happens next” is only one part of telling a good story, and I feel that this story could have been much better with at least a few more rounds of editing on every level. As it stands, Guardian of Deceit reads like a very promising first draft.
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Guardian of Deceit
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