"As a writer, you try to listen to what others are saying . . . and then write about the silence," - N. R. Hart
Long time, no see! I haven't done solely a book review in a while, mostly because I haven't had all that much to say about the books I've read lately. But this week's post features a fellow teen author, Brittney Kristina.
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As with most of the books I read, Forsaken falls into the middle ground of some negatives and some positives.
The Negatives
1. The Writing
Albeit not bad, Kristina's writing is lackluster. The sentence structure has little variation, and the style reflects an 'and then' pattern. While this doesn't indicate a poor writer, I prefer the medium in which the story is being presented to me to be poignant, effective, and descriptive. Kristina also relies on adverbs a lot, which clutters the prose.
My other problem with the writing is that it fails to invoke emotion from the reader. Because of the aforementioned pitfalls in the writing, the moments that should be heartbreaking and tender fall flat, and the moments fueled with anger come off as irrational.
2. The Length
This is a big one. Forsaken, reading at 266 pages, feels more like a third draft than a finished novel. This is because of several factors.
The first is underdeveloped characters. Skylar Vail, although a fine character herself, falls prey to crying all the time. Although sure, these are times worthy of tears, but crying should be used tactfully because it can easily turn an emotional character into a crybaby. Tristan serves not much more purpose than to be eye-candy, which Skylar frequently reminds us of.
The supporting cast, primarily the characters in the mental hospital, are outlines of characters. I frequently forgot who they all were and what their defining character trait was. The only character who mattered all that much to the story was Annabeth (a.k.a. Onyx).
With more refinement, Skylar could reach Katniss Everdeen levels of awesome. With more time, Tristan could become a deeply complex, broken character. With more time, all of the supporting characters could become snippets of three-dimensional people.
Some of my favorite characters were Mrs. Carter, Andria, and Onyx. Mrs. Carter seemed the most complex, and I enjoyed her relationship with Skylar. Andria and Skylar did have an interesting relationship, and Onyx was a badass, even though she softened to Skylar way too quickly.
The second is the development of themes.
There are almost infinite ways to develop a theme in a story, through a character's actions, development, and change in a story, through symbols, contrasting values, parallels, allegories - the list goes on.
However, Kristina only uses one or two of these tactics to develop her themes of love, brokenness, and healing. Occasionally, she'll use a situation or a setting to develop the theme, but more commonly, it's explained through two characters talking, or Skylar musing to herself.
The problem with relying heavily on dialogue-driven themes is that they quickly become contrived and heavy-handed. Instead of letting the audience figure out the theme based on situations, character arcs, comparisons, and symbols, Kristina ops for just having a character say it, which is obviously less effective if you want the theme and message to truly stick with the reader.
Conclusively, 100 more pages of development of characters, setting, and themes would make Forsaken a much more complex and interesting read.
3. The Setting
Mild spoilers ahead. The 'dream' plot is set in a fantasy world where it seems that Skylar and Tristan are the only two people in said world. The message is that Skylar and Tristan are broken, but different and that love is powerful and multi-dimensional (literally).
However, when you work in a setting like this, where everything means something, the author should make it clear that everything mentioned is important. When presenting fantasy elements like telepathic animals, pale zombies, and a Romanesque society, all of these should add up to reflect something in our world. Some elements were made clear, such as the whale scene, which was most likely an allusion to the Biblical story of Jonah, however, others that were left unexplained and ignored made the world seem underdeveloped and less fleshed-out.
To combat, a retort to what I've just said would be the common 'maybe you just didn't understand the themes'. And hey, maybe I didn't. Maybe they went right over my head. But to that I say: it shouldn't take someone with a doctorate in English Language Literature to understand the importance of your setting.
And, because I like to end on a positive note:
The Positives
1. The Structure
The unique structure of this book is truly what sells this story. It's told through flashbacks that don't really feel like flashbacks, and they're actually quite effective in explaining the narrative and the characters. The time in the 'dream world' is almost evenly split with time in the mental hospital as well as real-world flashbacks, and this creates a balanced feel to the story. It's something new and creative, and I commend Kristina for this structure.
The structure also adds to the suspense and the mystery woven throughout. The cliffhangers and endings left me racing through the next chapters and add to the atmosphere of the novel. I could see this being a TV show, and I'd like to see more stories with unique structures like Forsaken.
2. Enjoyment
Despite all of the things I've complained about in this review, I did enjoy reading this book. The twists, the betrayals, and the cliffhangers were impactful and flowed well. Forsaken was never predictable, and it kept me hooked. I genuinely did want to finish this book, and I dedicated a lot of the last 3 days reading Forsaken.
In literature's most elementary state, its purpose is to entertain. And that's something this novel did very well.
3. That Strange, Self-Published Charm
This one's a bit harder to explain, but I've found it throughout all self-published books I've read. It's this passionate, home-grown charm.
Think of it like this: When buying an apple from the grocery store. It's firm, symmetrical, and a glossy red. Sweet and predictable. Tastes like an apple, sure.
Let's say you pick an apple from a local orchard. It's textured, has stripes of yellow, red, and green, and a little misshapen. But it's an apple. And it tastes tart and earthy, like the tree was pruned with love and the soil was nurtured.
Both in the aforementioned fruits are apples, but one is engineered for perfection and polished bare. The other is flawed and imperfect but full of flavor.
It's like this with books published by major publishing houses, and self- or indie-published books. Albeit not bad, books from major publishing houses are written, edited, and marketed to fit the publishing industry's mold, sometimes at the cost of genuine and creative innovation.
However, self- and indie-published books are outside of the market, and they have the ability to be imperfect but also to be avant-garde and filled with passion. Forsaken has this quality to it, and all self-published books with this feel are a breath of fresh air to the literary world.
Overall, there is a fantastic book buried within Brittney Kristina's Forsaken. However, 100 more pages of development would refine this story into something phenomenal.
6.5/10 would recommend.
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Man, I forgot how much I love writing book reviews. I should do this more often.
~The WordShaker
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