Thalia @ Pictures in the Words

Please note, as this is only a prequel, I won’t be writing a full review for it.

My friends on BookLikes thought it would be fine for me to make my entire review the one word I left on my final status update—uck.

And really, that’s what it all felt like. This “book” had so many issues. From grammar to character development, I felt like banging my head against a wall the vast majority of the time I was reading this. The writing was kind of interesting at first, but I was (as usual) put off by the present tense writing. But it all just kind of…got worse from there. There were multiple basic grammatical errors that got under my skin. I have serious issues with people who are “writers” and work with words, but won’t go through revision and really take the time to make sure they’re using their language correctly. Common sense should tell you that a sentence like “He let’s us…” makes absolutely no sense at all. (Why do people have a tendency to throw in apostrophes where they aren’t needed?!) Anyway, similar errors occurred throughout, and I had to roll my eyes. It makes me wonder if Brightest Kind of Darkness was edited very well. Authors should pay attention to the fact that publishing prequels as part of the series holds those “drabbles” to the same standards as their regular books. If you tell me this is “book #0.5”, then I will read it before the first book, because you’ve told me that it chronologically comes before the first book. Use it to hook me in—prequels are not an excuse for lazy writing, but most times they are pretty much just that.

In a different vein, Ethan was just a very unlikeable character. He has visions (which I never really understood at all), and he’s alienated from his parents, and is rude to his older brother, and he pretty much sees this girl, Nara Collins, and begins obsessing over her instantly. I can understand instant crushes. But Ethan is out-of-control protective of her. He overhears some guy talking about how he wants to get with Nara (in that way), and Ethan goes out of his way to derail the guy’s plans. (Which included breaking into Nara’s car to get her spare tire, replacing her flat one, stealing that tire to get it re-inflated, and then switching them out again without ever telling Nara.) He also slashes the guy’s tires when he (the guy) stays after school to watch her soccer practice. Because felony is perfectly legal when you’re protecting a girl-you’ve-never-talked-to’s virtue! Then, when three kids are being chased by a Rottweiler, he threatens a twelve-year-old boy with the dog. He was actually going to sic a huge dog on a twelve-year-old. (Sorry, just because the kid hit the dog with a slingshot would not hold up in any court if his parents decided to sue.) Then he completely ignores his superior at the place he volunteers because he’s decided he’s going to take a dog outside and sit with it until it dies—no matter how long that may be. (But, of course, everyone thinks Ethan is a miracle worker/saint because he somehow knew the dog would die—disregarding the fact that he was a jerkish idiot beforehand.)

I just didn’t really like anything about this. If put me off wanting to read the first book in this series, especially if I’ll have to endure much more of Ethan. There’s not really anything you gain in reading this, especially if you haven’t read Brightest Kind of Darkness. This one might just be a pass.

Uck.

(http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/72537653731/ethan-review)