Review of Zona: The Forbidden Land
Posted: 15 Jul 2022, 07:16
[Following is a volunteer review of "Zona: The Forbidden Land" by Fred G. Baker.]
Lost and presumed dead, explorer Randall Taylor left his nephew, Dr Grant Taylor, his estate in the heart of Russia. Filled with an abundance of journals containing handwritten exploits and questions on what happened during Randall’s last trip to the Siberian wilderness, Grant finds more than he expected, in more ways than one. With the help of the gorgeous Irina, his uncle’s friend Boris, a Russian spy, and a group of scientists and mercenaries, he finds himself on a remarkable adventure to Zona. When trust is a luxury and tensions are high, what they find will change everything.
Zona: The Forbidden Land by Fred G. Baker started incredibly slow. It could have been on purpose as a way to build up the story, but I found it hard to submerge myself into Grant's life because of it. While there is a lot of action, and I mean this in two very different ways, I found the characters and reasoning behind actions lacking. Most novels are written in a third person point of view (POV), whereas this novel is in first person POV. While this gives the writer more opportunity to allow the reader inside the protagonist's mind, I found that this was not the case with Grant. There were times when Grant seemed to have a strong reaction or conviction but was not convincing and petered off. His feelings were never mentioned again or were brought up later in the story when they should be a large part of his internal dialogue. It also translated to other characters in the novel where they came off as superficial or one-dimensional, especially where the author wrote women characters.
The author delivered a considerable amount of conspiracy, danger, and the unexpected. There were times I felt like throwing my Kindle out the window with some obviously (to me) suspicious activity that the main character seldom questioned. I would liken this experience to watching a good old-fashioned jump scare horror movie where you yell at the TV for the characters not to go outside or follow the noises into the dark. I enjoyed this novel more towards the end of the book only because there seemed to be more action and unexpected occurrences. In the lead-up to Grant’s trek to Zona, the author could have cut out many parts of the story and would not take away from the plot.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. You can tell that this book was edited by a professional and while there were some issues with character building, this was an enjoyable read.
This science-fiction cross-action novel provides an interesting read for those seeking a similar experience to Journey to the Centre of the Earth but with more body bags and some extremely-large creatures, egos, and particularly-large appetites; and I am not talking about food.
******
Zona: The Forbidden Land
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Lost and presumed dead, explorer Randall Taylor left his nephew, Dr Grant Taylor, his estate in the heart of Russia. Filled with an abundance of journals containing handwritten exploits and questions on what happened during Randall’s last trip to the Siberian wilderness, Grant finds more than he expected, in more ways than one. With the help of the gorgeous Irina, his uncle’s friend Boris, a Russian spy, and a group of scientists and mercenaries, he finds himself on a remarkable adventure to Zona. When trust is a luxury and tensions are high, what they find will change everything.
Zona: The Forbidden Land by Fred G. Baker started incredibly slow. It could have been on purpose as a way to build up the story, but I found it hard to submerge myself into Grant's life because of it. While there is a lot of action, and I mean this in two very different ways, I found the characters and reasoning behind actions lacking. Most novels are written in a third person point of view (POV), whereas this novel is in first person POV. While this gives the writer more opportunity to allow the reader inside the protagonist's mind, I found that this was not the case with Grant. There were times when Grant seemed to have a strong reaction or conviction but was not convincing and petered off. His feelings were never mentioned again or were brought up later in the story when they should be a large part of his internal dialogue. It also translated to other characters in the novel where they came off as superficial or one-dimensional, especially where the author wrote women characters.
The author delivered a considerable amount of conspiracy, danger, and the unexpected. There were times I felt like throwing my Kindle out the window with some obviously (to me) suspicious activity that the main character seldom questioned. I would liken this experience to watching a good old-fashioned jump scare horror movie where you yell at the TV for the characters not to go outside or follow the noises into the dark. I enjoyed this novel more towards the end of the book only because there seemed to be more action and unexpected occurrences. In the lead-up to Grant’s trek to Zona, the author could have cut out many parts of the story and would not take away from the plot.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. You can tell that this book was edited by a professional and while there were some issues with character building, this was an enjoyable read.
This science-fiction cross-action novel provides an interesting read for those seeking a similar experience to Journey to the Centre of the Earth but with more body bags and some extremely-large creatures, egos, and particularly-large appetites; and I am not talking about food.
******
Zona: The Forbidden Land
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon