Review by Catevanne22 -- The Broadcast by Liam Fialkov

Post by **Catevanne22** » 06 Jun 2018, 10:10

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Broadcast" by Liam Fialkov.]

2 out of 4 stars

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The Broadcast by Liam Fialkov is a book with many twists and turns. The story centers around Sarah, who was tricked into giving up her baby when she became pregnant at 16, and a television network, TXB, that uses a mysterious technology to film current and past events for its television show The Broadcast. The nature of the technology used by TXB is alluded to but never really explained in a convincing way.

These two themes are woven throughout the book as well as just about every other spiritual theme and trend known to modern man. In my opinion, adding so many topics and ideas was distracting, and it made for a very bumpy ride while reading the novel. The numerous characters and many different themes weren’t that well connected, and it became tedious to keep up with all of them. I found myself wondering why the author put in so many characters and varied ideas.

Every time I began a new chapter I wondered what characters I would encounter and what kind of spirituality would be tossed in. At times I felt I was being preached to and that the author was using the book to showcase his views on current trends and beliefs, since he threw one of everything into the book. The book gave me the overall feeling of being jerked around and that there was a surprise around every corner. But surprises aren’t always a good thing.

I enjoyed the style of writing, and the element of suspense is handled well, but the dialogue between Jonathan and Sarah seemed stilted to me. It seemed to be written from a detached point of view in some spots, but then in others it became preachy and sort of sappy. The basic plot of the book is good, but the waters have been muddied by so many characters and schools of thought. I don’t feel that all the subplots and ideas were tied together well; the book takes on too much and should have been more streamlined.

The Broadcast might be interesting to anyone who likes to delve into the supernatural and anyone who enjoys reading suspense novels. The edginess of finding out about the TXB technology was what I liked about the book because it was a unique idea, but the ultimate explanation of it didn’t make sense and I found it sort of ridiculous. What I liked least about the book was all the many, many different ideas throughout the book that weren’t tied in with the general plot. If you are the type of person who likes a book with a straightforward storyline, you might not like this book.

I would give this book 2 out of 4 stars because of the mish mash of characters and subplots. I also feel that the language was awkward in several places and it doesn’t seem that the book was professionally edited, although I found only a few spelling errors.

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The Broadcast
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thaservices1 · Post by **thaservices1** » 06 Jun 2018, 23:20

A very through review. I agree with you about the awkward language in the dialogue.

Jackie Holycross · Post by **Jackie Holycross** » 07 Jun 2018, 03:16

I thought this one sounded good, but maybe it's too confusing for me.

Dael Reader · Post by **Dael Reader** » 15 Jun 2018, 19:29

Nice review. I totally agree about the stilted dialogue. I think the multiple themes could have worked, but didn't. The author just didn't weave them together well enough once he introduced them.