OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "God's Storehouse of the Deep" by John Garvin Clarke.]

God's Storehouse of the Deep: A John Michael Saga by John Garvin Clarke is an adventure novel with religious and romantic elements, the first in the saga. It follows John Michael, a wealthy and adventurous archeologist who seeks to prove the existence of the Exodus Red Sea path of Moses. After a failed attempt that almost cost him his life, he begins to consider a new approach to achieve his mission from the sea, for which he acquires an exploration vessel.

On his journey, John will meet several people who will help him in his mission, including Natasha, an exotic and strong woman who will take over his heart. But his goal will be jeopardized when his ship, the Red Sea Princess, is attacked by pirates, his crew ending up amid a war between intelligence services and terrorist organizations. For the closer John is to discover the Red Sea path, the tougher it becomes for him to reach his goal.

The book flows at a confusing pace. At first, it appears to be a treasure hunt story. But halfway through it, it ends up becoming a sort of political thriller. The attacks that the Red Sea Princess suffers from pirates associated with terrorism become the center of the conflict instead of the original quest. While these thriller elements are the most interesting part of the story, they feel forced into the plot to generate tension and extend the duration of the text, at the risk of making the reader forget about the main storyline.

This novel is told almost exclusively from the point of view of the protagonist. His characterization is poor, many of his internal conflicts expressed in exaggerated dialogues that can remind the reader of some work by Shakespeare. The secondary characters, with the exception of his love interest, are very little developed. Their characterization is limited to their backstories, and their appearance in the book always coincides with a particular need of the protagonist.

The writer's prose is second-rate. It mixes segments of pleasant fluidity with choppy and poorly developed phrases. Additionally, the book has its fair share of technical language, especially around historical events and the Bible. Although the knowledge of these aspects is important so that the reader does not get lost in the plot, its level of exposition is such that it manages to fill entire lines of dialogues on its own.

As for the editing work, it is mediocre at best. Even if there are no typos, there are a lot of missing commas, incorrectly placed periods, absent double quotation marks in dialogues, and some sentences written in the present tense. There are also some issues with the formatting of hyphens and dashes.

In the end, my reading experience of this book turned out to be frustrating. The characters and the setting fail to convince. The plot is interesting at times, but the thriller elements feel like a stand-alone book on their own instead of a secondary plot. The building of the action scenes is attractive, but their resolution proves brief and unsatisfactory.

The writing and the editing work were merely the straw that broke the camel's back, which is why I am forced to give it 1 out of 4 stars. For those who choose to read the book anyway, I have to emphasize that it has a marked and almost exclusively Christian view of several historical and sociocultural aspects.

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God's Storehouse of the Deep
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Like KRay93's review? Post a comment saying so!

Great review - it is a pity that the book did not live up to expectations since the premise sounded interesting.

Sounds like a waste of what could have been a great story. The plot sounds very intriguing. Thanks for the thorough review.

It's a pity when all that work ends up worthy of only a lonely star. Since this is a series, I am sure the author has invested much time and effort. I hope he can still turn the tide.

Giving a one-star rating is a difficult decision to make. But given the flaws described, I believe you gave the book a fair assessment, KRay93. Thanks for the careful review.

It sounded like it was going to be a great story with that treasure hunter thought. It’s a shame that it lacked any real depth in characters.

The premise of this book had so much potential, in my opinion. I was all set to read it at the beginning of your review. I guess that's why reviews are so helpful, especially this one. Thanks for the warnings about the many problems that make this book a disappointing read - I'll steer clear. Great review!

This sounds like it's supposed to be an Indiana Jones type novel. I can appreciate the Christian aspect, but it's too bad that there were so many issues with characterization and the confusing nature of the plot. I think I'll skip this one for now, but I do appreciate your information.

This sounds like an interesting premise. It's a shame it was not well executed. Your review is really thorough. Great job enduring through to the end.

Oh man, it sounds like this book was kind of a tough one to finish! The characterisation, pacing and writing all seem to need some work. I salute you for getting through it and writing this review (which is really informative, thank you)! Hopefully your next book will be a better read

This book does reads like an Indiana Jones Movie. I am going to read to see the adventure.

I was going to Feel at home with thus book as a Christian until the lost of focus when the plot turn into a love affairs.Anyway, i like the title.

The shift from treasure hunt to political thriller would have turned me away from this book. I was excited by the treasure hunt part of the story. It sounded so intriguing. I trust your judgment on the 1-star rating, too bad

Judging from the reviewer's point of view, I think I have lost my appetite in reading the book. Political thriller should not be mixed with sea adventure and treasure hunting. It is just one of those two opposing topics. The author should only pick one topic at a time. Don't give up. There is always a rainbow after the rain. Kudos to the review.