OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Adventures of Manny Lark" by Joshua Cox-Steib.]

The Adventures of Manny Lark: A Sip from the Bloodwell, by Joshua A. Cox-Steib is the first novella in an urban fantasy series (or perhaps trilogy), and worthy of 2 out of 4 stars.

The tale follows the adventures of Manny Lark, a half-dragon (how this came about is yet to be explained) as he attempts to fulfill an assignment given to him by his dragon father. In this fantastical land of the Ozarks region, there is a vampire running an unseemly nightclub that Manny must put a stop to. It seems straight-forward enough, but once he arrives, he finds that the situation is much more complicated, and much more personal, than it first appears. With the help of an elven friend, Rael, he embarks on a journey to a new land and finds himself enmeshed in a sticky political situation far from home. As it turns out, home is closer than he realizes.

This was an entertaining, if not frustrating at times, read. As this was only the first installment and it ended with a cliffhanger, I hesitate to criticize the lack of cohesiveness in the plot too heavily. Unfortunately, the mystery of the nightclub and the political drama of the Trans Universal Hub were not tied together very well. At first I believed they were not meant to be, and there were simply two plots going on, but as time progressed, it was clear that the author was attempting to bring them together in such a way that was not very believable.

Characterization was clearly the strong point here. Manny comes across as the typical reluctant male hero common in urban fantasy, complete with the streak of snark, but he is still a fun character to read about. His childhood (as well as his missing friend) were intriguing, and it’s hard not to want to know more about him. Rael, his elf friend, proved to be very entertaining (perhaps his “upper class” flair was also a cliché for elves, though it was not tiresome here), as did much of the supporting cast. The villains leaved something to be desired, however – the “Big Bad” for this installment was dismissed before we could even wonder who he was.

Worldbuilding is critical in fantasy, and I found this to be hit-or-miss. Some parts of it, such as the way that magic works in this world, were well-done and quite unique for the genre. However, there was far too much going on with too little of an explanation. It was a free-for-all for creatures and behaviors that are not of this world - dragons, elves, dwarves, orcs, vampires, but also aliens, which made it difficult to take seriously. Perhaps most troubling was how the Trans Universal Hub seemed reminiscent of Marvel's Thor Universe, complete with Nordic Runes and a character that might seem uncomfortably familiar (the character's name is even an anagram of the Marvel character, so I do not believe this was an accident).

The writing style itself needs a bit of work. The author has promise, but right now the staccato sentences can be a bit off-putting. Sentences run very short and rather simplistic. While this may be an intentional move on the author's part to show the hero's voice (it's first person), the fact that the writing notably improves as the story progresses makes me believe that this was not the case.

Outside of these, there were several smaller details that, had they been addressed, could greatly have improved the story:

• 1) The abrupt beginning of this novella was a bit rocky, in such a way that it made me put it down after a couple of pages for a bit. The bizarre scenario at the outset was also simply never explained, and it became a distraction as the story progressed.
  
  2) There are a few minor discrepancies (for example, Manny notes that another character is recovering from his wounds, and then a page later comments that he hadn't even noticed that said character was making a full recovery), though they do not negatively impact the internal logic of the story.
  
  3) The author needs to work on building gender variety in the cast, as this was very male-dominated. Manny's mother was never even mentioned, despite his "half-dragon" blood being a major theme in the work, and every single important character was male.

In short, this novella is a solid 2 out of 4 stars overall. While the author has potential and I am curious enough to read the next installment, the major issues with style and world-building prevent this from being a 3.

******
The Adventures of Manny Lark
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Sounds like an author to watch for in the future

Great review- but I don't think I'll be picking this one up - I can't stand a book that is more cliffhanger that story! I have come across books that appear to get better as they progress, and I've sometimes wondered whether it's due to the fact that the author has overworked the first set of chapters during editing- but the others retain more of their natural flow from the first draft...

LauraBambrey wrote:Great review- but I don't think I'll be picking this one up - I can't stand a book that is more cliffhanger that story! I have come across books that appear to get better as they progress, and I've sometimes wondered whether it's due to the fact that the author has overworked the first set of chapters during editing- but the others retain more of their natural flow from the first draft...

Thanks!

That's kind of how this one felt. The author's writing was significantly better at the end than at the beginning, and I wish it had just been more consistent. He showed improvement, but given the brevity of the work (30 pages) it was kind of hard for me to forget the awkward first five or six pages.

I am curious enough to look into the second installment though. I want to see where he goes with this.

Great review. I don't like books that end on a cliffhanger. Even if a book is part of a series, I think the loose ends should be wrapped up in each installment.

bookowlie wrote:Great review. I don't like books that end on a cliffhanger. Even if a book is part of a series, I think the loose ends should be wrapped up in each installment.

Agreed. I understand the need to keep suspense going so that people will read the next installment, but there's a limit to how open an ending can be before it ends up having a negative effect.

I really enjoyed this book. My 18 year old daughter borrowed it after I finished it. Amazing!!

LisaSodder wrote:I really enjoyed this book. My 18 year old daughter borrowed it after I finished it. Amazing!!

I haven't checked to see if the next book is out yet. Did she read that as well? I was a little frustrated at the extreme cliffhanger at the end, but I know some people love those.

I wouldn't like the extreme cliffhanger either, unless the next installment was already available for me to read.

I just checked.

Looks like the second part isn't available yet. The first one only came out in January though, but it is tough to deal with abrupt cliffhangers that might make you wait a year.

It's bad enough when that happens with TV show cliffhangers.

Don't even get me started on those! At least they are usually only a 6 month wait.