The Choosing

Just bad. Whatever promise might have been there at the beginning (and I'll admit I was skeptical from the start with the whole gods divide the universe a la Clash of the Titans) quickly and permanently went up in smoke in the first 50 pages.

Juvenile, repetitious writing. Treacly, stilted dialogue. Terrible grammar. Poorly drawn characters. Ridiculous insta-love (this plot device always makes me roll my eyes, but in this case it was 100x worse starting with the bimbo-fication of the only female main character). Plots started and then dropped (hey they aren't twins, but it's not important). Contradictions abound. I've read enough series to know that the first book of the group often has a large amount of exposition. It's a given. The scene has to be set, history and life have to be explained. Worlds must be built. That's the key - the author has to actively build the world the reader is in. Show, not tell through 10 different points of view what it is sorta like. Laszlo spent an awful lot of time telling how the gang of cardboard cutouts reacted to what they saw and felt (summed up in two terms - astonished and awe-inspired) instead of showing the reader.

There was little to no plot. Most of this book is the main cast of naive nitwits on the road. Nothing happened on said road, except for one silly little goblin attack. There was no strife. There was no dissension. No tension. There was nothing. Every time there was even a hint of a possible issue, a little Deus Ex Machina would come hoping into view. Everyone got along, hummed about rainbows and sunshine, giggled and were the best of friends. 250 pages and I have no more idea what the journey is about than I had on page one. There is no good reason given to continue on with book 2.

Save yourself some time and a number of potential injury producing eye rolls and just skip this one.