Official Review: Messiah's Shard by Mark W. Bonnett
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Anxious Educator
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Official Review: Messiah's Shard by Mark W. Bonnett
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Messiah's Shard" by Mark W. Bonnett.]
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Summary
Messiah’s Shard by Mark W. Bonnett was certainly a fun read, which is really saying something since I am not exactly a sci-fi fan. Even though this book was out of my comfort genre, I appreciated the British humor, the easy-to-read writing style, and the theme of being loyal to friends and loving them as much as possible in the time that you have.
This book follows the story of childhood friends (and some friends they find along the way) as they discover a terrible plot that will result with the destruction of the universe. We watch as John Harley meets extraterrestrial life, tries to find the words to confess his love for Anna, and finds out who he is at his deepest core while outrunning and outgunning the bad guys. Harley is not the sole “main” character as we get inside the heads of his friends, human and otherwise. These friends must find a way to stop the hell on earth before it destroys not just humanity but everything that ever was.
The Good
There were several passages that made me laugh aloud, such as, “John, it’ll be fine, just stay christ on a handcart, it’s there, it’s right behind you, kill it, kill it, kill it!” and “Can’t you just, like, vaporize them or something? Like, do something big and shiny that goes vwompf.” Messiah’s Shard is not a book where the author takes himself too seriously, which I quite enjoyed.
The character development wasn’t superb, but they were developed enough that I legitimately liked them and miss them now that the story is over. John is a nobody and underdog who makes a turn-around; Anna is more than an abused damsel in distress; Mooney retreats from the stereotype of macho, protective man; Madeline is fiercely loyal; Danielle is tough-as-nails and even more brilliant. Even some aliens join this group of friends so that the ending is a nice punch to the gut in all the right ways.
While these weren’t focal points, I appreciated the Dr. Who and Egyptian mythology references. I wish there were more, but we can’t have it all, I suppose.
The Not-So-Good
The first 55% percent or so was pretty engaging for me. After that mark, excluding the last 5% percent (approximately), I lost interest. For one, this e-book is incredibly long. It’s about twice the length of Divergent, which is 500 pages, so you get the picture.
The beginning was fast-paced, I rapidly learned about each of the characters’ personalities and their relationships with one another, and mysteries were building with little pieces being revealed ever so carefully and slowly. By the time I had read 55%, it just drug out. I had learned most of the mystery, not much was being revealed any more, and characters weren’t developing.
The bad guys were just not bad enough (not to mention flat), causing me to feel a lack of urgency toward the situation. Furthermore, while I did enjoy the characters, I wanted to know them more in-depth. With Bonnett’s writing, we jump between characters’ viewpoints, resulting in the reader knowing a little about each of the characters rather than a lot about a few. I would have preferred the latter.
Either I just forgot bits and pieces as I read through the 1000-ish pages, but I was left with questions about why and how certain things happened, which was mildly irritating.
This book needs a good read-through by an editor to weed out the many typos and repetitions. I have contacted the author via goodreads to ask if he wants me to show him the mistakes that I found, but I haven’t received a response yet.
Rating
After much internal debate, I rate Messiah’s Shard 3 out of 4. If I could, I would actually give it 2.75. In all honesty, I would recommend the book to sci-fi fans who like a good laugh and loveable characters. The first half of the book was a solid 3 for me, and the last half made me consider rating it a 2. But the combination of the fairly solid characters, strong beginning, and general fond feelings after I was done led me to end on a rating of 3.
***
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Messiah’s Shard by Mark W. Bonnett was certainly a fun read, which is really saying something since I am not exactly a sci-fi fan. Even though this book was out of my comfort genre, I appreciated the British humor, the easy-to-read writing style, and the theme of being loyal to friends and loving them as much as possible in the time that you have.
This book follows the story of childhood friends (and some friends they find along the way) as they discover a terrible plot that will result with the destruction of the universe. We watch as John Harley meets extraterrestrial life, tries to find the words to confess his love for Anna, and finds out who he is at his deepest core while outrunning and outgunning the bad guys. Harley is not the sole “main” character as we get inside the heads of his friends, human and otherwise. These friends must find a way to stop the hell on earth before it destroys not just humanity but everything that ever was.
The Good
There were several passages that made me laugh aloud, such as, “John, it’ll be fine, just stay christ on a handcart, it’s there, it’s right behind you, kill it, kill it, kill it!” and “Can’t you just, like, vaporize them or something? Like, do something big and shiny that goes vwompf.” Messiah’s Shard is not a book where the author takes himself too seriously, which I quite enjoyed.
The character development wasn’t superb, but they were developed enough that I legitimately liked them and miss them now that the story is over. John is a nobody and underdog who makes a turn-around; Anna is more than an abused damsel in distress; Mooney retreats from the stereotype of macho, protective man; Madeline is fiercely loyal; Danielle is tough-as-nails and even more brilliant. Even some aliens join this group of friends so that the ending is a nice punch to the gut in all the right ways.
While these weren’t focal points, I appreciated the Dr. Who and Egyptian mythology references. I wish there were more, but we can’t have it all, I suppose.
The Not-So-Good
The first 55% percent or so was pretty engaging for me. After that mark, excluding the last 5% percent (approximately), I lost interest. For one, this e-book is incredibly long. It’s about twice the length of Divergent, which is 500 pages, so you get the picture.
The beginning was fast-paced, I rapidly learned about each of the characters’ personalities and their relationships with one another, and mysteries were building with little pieces being revealed ever so carefully and slowly. By the time I had read 55%, it just drug out. I had learned most of the mystery, not much was being revealed any more, and characters weren’t developing.
The bad guys were just not bad enough (not to mention flat), causing me to feel a lack of urgency toward the situation. Furthermore, while I did enjoy the characters, I wanted to know them more in-depth. With Bonnett’s writing, we jump between characters’ viewpoints, resulting in the reader knowing a little about each of the characters rather than a lot about a few. I would have preferred the latter.
Either I just forgot bits and pieces as I read through the 1000-ish pages, but I was left with questions about why and how certain things happened, which was mildly irritating.
This book needs a good read-through by an editor to weed out the many typos and repetitions. I have contacted the author via goodreads to ask if he wants me to show him the mistakes that I found, but I haven’t received a response yet.
Rating
After much internal debate, I rate Messiah’s Shard 3 out of 4. If I could, I would actually give it 2.75. In all honesty, I would recommend the book to sci-fi fans who like a good laugh and loveable characters. The first half of the book was a solid 3 for me, and the last half made me consider rating it a 2. But the combination of the fairly solid characters, strong beginning, and general fond feelings after I was done led me to end on a rating of 3.
***
Buy "Messiah's Shard" on Amazon
Latest Review: "Tea and Primroses" by Tess Thompson
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johnbonhamatron
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I've spoken to you on Goodreads about the errors (a fixed version is now available on Kindle), but to reiterate, thanks for the constructive feedback!
I've made some changes to to it, and made it apparent in the product listing that it's part of a series, so that it's clearer that not all questions will be answered in this first book (and some of the questions that are answered might not be quite answered fully or correctly, yet).
End result: a better book, so thanks once again.
-Mark W. Bonnett
I've made some changes to to it, and made it apparent in the product listing that it's part of a series, so that it's clearer that not all questions will be answered in this first book (and some of the questions that are answered might not be quite answered fully or correctly, yet).
End result: a better book, so thanks once again.
-Mark W. Bonnett
