1 out of 4 stars
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Out of a humble village surrounded by walls of lava came a girl with unimaginable power. Kanaka lived a simple life without friends or family and often found the quietness of her town grating against her inquisitive and adventurous nature. It wasn’t long before she discovered herself in a troublesome situation that resulted in her removal from her home. Using the situation to her advantage, she embarked on a quest to uncover the mysteries surrounding her new environment and that of her unknown family.
Young, powerful, intelligent and cocky, Kanaka had no problem immersing herself in the dealings of the world. She quickly met several key characters, such as Kaimoni, a wanted boy with an unfortunate past interested in using Kanaka’s power for personal gains. However, through bloodshed and trials, the two quickly struck an unlikely friendship that negated any past manipulation on either end. Soon after, a cocky adventurer was introduced as well. The walking hormone ended up having his butt handed to him by Kanaka, the object of all his desires…in that moment. From then on, the duo of Kanaka and Kaimoni became a trio. All three characters then had significant roles to play as they sought to uncover the secrets behind their incredible heritage, fought demons and gods, discovered magic to learn and lives to save.
Rage of a Demon by E.D. Jimenez was a tale of curses and magic, heroes and assassins, demons and gods, as well as dangerous threats that necessitated quelling. Regrettably, the awesome themes were overshadowed by a severe lack of quality writing.
It was as though the author had no idea how to properly construct a book written in English. The dialogue was never written correctly, run on sentences were the norm, and there was a plethora of missing, incorrect or misspelled words. An example of the mistakes could be shown in this paragraph: ‘“Perhaps it is because they would prefer a lady” Cali said with a scorn. Kanaka laughed “nah, I think perhaps they simply like dolls to play with” she said with a snort. Cali frowned all the more and said, “young lady how will you ever have children with anyone if you continue with that attitude.”’
Although the beginning of the book was frustrating, by the end, I was extremely proficient at replacing incorrect words in my head, rearranging poorly worded sentences, and deciphering which character was speaking when, since there was never a paragraph break between. And looking back, as I contemplated the book as a whole, I realized that the story actually had great potential. It was clear the author had an awesome imagination. However, the failures came in the form of the delivery and unclear details, overruling everything else. There were a few things that didn’t make sense, some events that were poorly explained and a few situations that had a cheezy and juvenile feel to them.
Almost all of the characters were written with a cocky attitude, but each ended up having distinct personalities, which I appreciated. I also found it interesting that most of them had such unusual names, like Mortuus, Sicarius and Graewar...but then there was Steve. Poor Steve. He came out of nowhere but quickly won my favor. Never doubt the power of a fight between a hormonal boy and a girl capable of kicking his butt. I found myself cracking a smile when we were introduced to the idiot, and my mood lightened considerably. I was also impressed with the depth his character ended up showing, as well as some of the others.
As much as possible considering the hindering mistakes, I did become interested in the characters as well as the storyline. I was especially irritated when the book ended on a cliffhanger since unfortunately, I don’t believe I'd be able to make it through the second book to actually find out what'll happen next.
All things considered, I can’t rate this book anything higher than a 1 out of 4 stars. Were it to receive a considerable amount of attention from a professional editor, I’d recommend to teenagers and adults alike, who’re interested in a sci-fi/fantasy story that contains a great deal of action and magic. Barring that, however, I’d say it’s not worth the read.
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Rage Of A Demon
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