Review of Beating Death: Witch Hunters
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Review of Beating Death: Witch Hunters
[Following is a volunteer review of "Beating Death: Witch Hunters" by Sean O’Banion.]
Beating Death: Witch Hunters by Sean O’Banion follows the adventures of Robert O’Banion, his three lovers, Jolie Schraeder, Emily Williams, and Dr. Greta Keene, and a cohort of Robert’s friends, family, and acquaintances, with some fun side characters thrown in. However, Robert, Jolie, Emily, and Greta are far from ordinary, and the extraordinary nature of their lives means they have a lot of enemies. Luckily, they have each other and enough power to take on any adversary.
I felt the book fell short of how interesting that blurb sounds. It wasn’t boring by any means; I thought it was quite interesting. My problem is that there is a lot of telling and not nearly enough showing in the book. Epic action scenes are condensed into a sequence of descriptions and narration, and it reads more like a second-hand account than like the reader is supposed to be experiencing the book alongside the characters. I’m aware that the book is a sequel, which explains some of the recapping, but my complaints are regarding new events in the book and the fact that a prequel recap should span a chapter or two at the most, if it’s not being woven in throughout the story. Another issue I had was the constant redundancy, which got very annoying very fast. There are times when redundancy is done for emphasis, but this wasn’t that. For example, the book mentions that Dr. Keene is the best neurosurgeon in the country EVERY SINGLE TIME she is mentioned. It recaps the same events from before the book’s start about 7 times throughout the book. There’s more redundancy, but it might count as a spoiler, so I’m omitting it. Apart from that, some details are dropped in at arbitrary points in the book, and this is mostly a problem with dialects. The reader doesn’t find out that a character speaks a certain way until about halfway through the book, sometimes later. This ties into the problem with telling and not showing, because there is sadly little dialogue in the book, especially in the earlier parts. Instead, all this information was relayed to the reader second-hand, and I didn’t enjoy that. The book had great capacity for exciting and suspenseful storytelling, but the way it was written failed to inspire anticipation in me.
Of course, there were some things I enjoyed. The author has a great sense of humour, and it shines through in the book. I audibly laughed at some parts. The chapters that focus on the side characters are great. They have almost none of the problems with dialogue and the redundancy used for emphasis and humour. Additionally, I did mention at the start that the book was quite interesting. I finished it, and it didn’t feel like a chore. So my review isn’t completely negative, and the book has many redeeming qualities that make me not hesitant to recommend it. Overall, I would rate Beating Death: Witch Hunters a 3 out of 5. I would recommend it to lovers of the supernatural.
As a significant warning, Beating Death: Witch Hunters is unsuitable for members of the Christian faith, chiefly because it represents God, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary in ways directly opposing the Bible and Christian theology.
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Beating Death: Witch Hunters
View: on Bookshelves
Beating Death: Witch Hunters by Sean O’Banion follows the adventures of Robert O’Banion, his three lovers, Jolie Schraeder, Emily Williams, and Dr. Greta Keene, and a cohort of Robert’s friends, family, and acquaintances, with some fun side characters thrown in. However, Robert, Jolie, Emily, and Greta are far from ordinary, and the extraordinary nature of their lives means they have a lot of enemies. Luckily, they have each other and enough power to take on any adversary.
I felt the book fell short of how interesting that blurb sounds. It wasn’t boring by any means; I thought it was quite interesting. My problem is that there is a lot of telling and not nearly enough showing in the book. Epic action scenes are condensed into a sequence of descriptions and narration, and it reads more like a second-hand account than like the reader is supposed to be experiencing the book alongside the characters. I’m aware that the book is a sequel, which explains some of the recapping, but my complaints are regarding new events in the book and the fact that a prequel recap should span a chapter or two at the most, if it’s not being woven in throughout the story. Another issue I had was the constant redundancy, which got very annoying very fast. There are times when redundancy is done for emphasis, but this wasn’t that. For example, the book mentions that Dr. Keene is the best neurosurgeon in the country EVERY SINGLE TIME she is mentioned. It recaps the same events from before the book’s start about 7 times throughout the book. There’s more redundancy, but it might count as a spoiler, so I’m omitting it. Apart from that, some details are dropped in at arbitrary points in the book, and this is mostly a problem with dialects. The reader doesn’t find out that a character speaks a certain way until about halfway through the book, sometimes later. This ties into the problem with telling and not showing, because there is sadly little dialogue in the book, especially in the earlier parts. Instead, all this information was relayed to the reader second-hand, and I didn’t enjoy that. The book had great capacity for exciting and suspenseful storytelling, but the way it was written failed to inspire anticipation in me.
Of course, there were some things I enjoyed. The author has a great sense of humour, and it shines through in the book. I audibly laughed at some parts. The chapters that focus on the side characters are great. They have almost none of the problems with dialogue and the redundancy used for emphasis and humour. Additionally, I did mention at the start that the book was quite interesting. I finished it, and it didn’t feel like a chore. So my review isn’t completely negative, and the book has many redeeming qualities that make me not hesitant to recommend it. Overall, I would rate Beating Death: Witch Hunters a 3 out of 5. I would recommend it to lovers of the supernatural.
As a significant warning, Beating Death: Witch Hunters is unsuitable for members of the Christian faith, chiefly because it represents God, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary in ways directly opposing the Bible and Christian theology.
******
Beating Death: Witch Hunters
View: on Bookshelves
Latest Review: Kashmir is Heaven Enough by Farhana Qazi
