Review of Beating Death: Witch Hunters
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Chaitanya Godbole
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- Latest Review: Beating Death: Witch Hunters by Sean O’Banion
Review of Beating Death: Witch Hunters
[Following is a volunteer review of "Beating Death: Witch Hunters" by Sean O’Banion.]
Beating Death: Witch Hunters follows a largely first-person perspective of the main protagonist, Robert O'Banion (Rob), who is special in the sense that he can fly. The magical powers that he has, have made him a target of intolerant powers that be. Wrongfully incarcerated but later acquitted and compensated, Rob is now an entrepreneur and philanthropist working for the betterment of humanity and the environment. A chance encounter has made him cross paths with the sub-protagonists (and each other's cousins) of the story, i.e. Jolie Schraeder (attorney), Emily Williams (FBI's top profiler) and Dr. Greta Keene (Neurosurgeon). The three ladies are the best witches in the country with their superpowers being energy manipulation, mind reading & healing, respectively. The similarities between these four have made them band together in a love relationship which then goes up against the supernatural forces that aim to eliminate such people. The book follows this story aided by magical and historical terms or references along with explicit sexual content & graphic violence. The author has made it a point to lay the latter out in a fun way when the reader commences which made me chuckle and look forward to the narration.
My hopes though were completely dashed as the story just failed to take off in any meaningful way. There are a whole host of characters introduced in rapid fashion with very little space devoted to carefully tie them together and into the narrative. It appeared all over the place with the reader having to take great efforts to figure out the direction of the storyline. It didn't help that the conversational style of multiple characters came out exactly the same with lots of slang words such as yuz, wadduyuh, wit'chuz, 'cept etc delivered in exactly the same manner without a clear demarcation on which character is delivering the said dialogue. This made it extremely confusing to follow scenes where multiple characters were involved. It took some focus on the antagonists or an overseeing Satan to bring the much-awaited spice at some key moments in the story and possibly is the only reason why I am not providing the lowest reviewer rating. However, that dissipated quickly as the book comes to an abrupt end with nothing to take away or enjoy. Even sexual euphemisms or explicit scenes could do little to salvage the entire experience. The fact that one of the characters’ introduction happens with the phrase, sitting around in his underwear, and keeps repeating every time that character is referred to or addressed or is conversing, was one example of quantity over quality. I was open to smiling and moving on with an expectation that humour aids a story’s flight but the story unfortunately, neither flew nor landed.
Rating and Recommendation: 2 out of 5 stars - due to the sexual & violent nature of the book, I'd recommend the book for consideration only by adults. However, that is only a consideration for I personally see no point in reading the book as it neither has some notable learning to offer nor would provide a satisfying experience of a fictional story consumption at the end of it.
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Beating Death: Witch Hunters
View: on Bookshelves
Beating Death: Witch Hunters follows a largely first-person perspective of the main protagonist, Robert O'Banion (Rob), who is special in the sense that he can fly. The magical powers that he has, have made him a target of intolerant powers that be. Wrongfully incarcerated but later acquitted and compensated, Rob is now an entrepreneur and philanthropist working for the betterment of humanity and the environment. A chance encounter has made him cross paths with the sub-protagonists (and each other's cousins) of the story, i.e. Jolie Schraeder (attorney), Emily Williams (FBI's top profiler) and Dr. Greta Keene (Neurosurgeon). The three ladies are the best witches in the country with their superpowers being energy manipulation, mind reading & healing, respectively. The similarities between these four have made them band together in a love relationship which then goes up against the supernatural forces that aim to eliminate such people. The book follows this story aided by magical and historical terms or references along with explicit sexual content & graphic violence. The author has made it a point to lay the latter out in a fun way when the reader commences which made me chuckle and look forward to the narration.
My hopes though were completely dashed as the story just failed to take off in any meaningful way. There are a whole host of characters introduced in rapid fashion with very little space devoted to carefully tie them together and into the narrative. It appeared all over the place with the reader having to take great efforts to figure out the direction of the storyline. It didn't help that the conversational style of multiple characters came out exactly the same with lots of slang words such as yuz, wadduyuh, wit'chuz, 'cept etc delivered in exactly the same manner without a clear demarcation on which character is delivering the said dialogue. This made it extremely confusing to follow scenes where multiple characters were involved. It took some focus on the antagonists or an overseeing Satan to bring the much-awaited spice at some key moments in the story and possibly is the only reason why I am not providing the lowest reviewer rating. However, that dissipated quickly as the book comes to an abrupt end with nothing to take away or enjoy. Even sexual euphemisms or explicit scenes could do little to salvage the entire experience. The fact that one of the characters’ introduction happens with the phrase, sitting around in his underwear, and keeps repeating every time that character is referred to or addressed or is conversing, was one example of quantity over quality. I was open to smiling and moving on with an expectation that humour aids a story’s flight but the story unfortunately, neither flew nor landed.
Rating and Recommendation: 2 out of 5 stars - due to the sexual & violent nature of the book, I'd recommend the book for consideration only by adults. However, that is only a consideration for I personally see no point in reading the book as it neither has some notable learning to offer nor would provide a satisfying experience of a fictional story consumption at the end of it.
******
Beating Death: Witch Hunters
View: on Bookshelves
Latest Review: Beating Death: Witch Hunters by Sean O’Banion
