Official Review: The Rise of Seth

[RooneysReviews]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Rise of Seth" by Sam Beach and L. Dee Walker.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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The Rise of Seth, by Sam Beach and L. Dee Walker, is a supernatural murder mystery novel. It is set in modern times with creatures of the night, vampires, existing as a secret society unknown to humans. There are two central characters, Dusty Garner and Jonas Sparx. Both of them are private investigators who prefer to work alone. Murdered women had been appearing in Dusty’s home town of Cider Lake and the bodies were too torn apart to be mutilated by a human culprit. Jonas Sparx is secretly a vampire, under cover as an “animal expert”, sent to pretend to help Dusty with her case. However, he is actually trying to lead her away from the real suspects to prevent her from discovering the paranormal world.

Eventually, Dusty’s ignorance endangers her life, forcing Jonas to reveal that vampires exist and that he is one of them. Together, they determine that the murderer is an Ancient Vampire named Seth, who rose from slumber with the intention of purging humanity and making vampires the primary species. Dusty and Jonas agree that Seth must be stopped and Jonas sets up a meeting with another Ancient Vampire named Deva. While Jonas flies to meet Deva, Dusty stays in Cider Lake to search for a stone essential to Seth’s plan. However, Deva detains Jonas and explains that he must train to become stronger in order to face Seth and survive. He trains for weeks with Deva and Dusty becomes upset by his lack of communication. Eventually, Jonas returns to Cider Lake with new information about how to stop Seth, and the two of them continue on their quest to save humanity.

I rate this novel 2 out of 4 stars. The idea is really wonderful. Books with a secret supernatural world are very exciting and murder mysteries are simply classic. The basics behind the characters were really good, but I felt as though they were not very relatable. Dusty is supposed to be considered a “strong” female character, but her attitude, actions, and words simply make her a “mean” character. Personally, I had no affection for Dusty at all and, even at the end of the novel, I would not have been upset if she had met her demise. Jonas was a more attractive character, but he was similar to Dusty in a lot of diction choices, making them monotonous when working together. I thought Jonas’s character was the best when he was away from Dusty and focusing on his own growth. Furthermore, the authors persistently used profanity, which is not necessarily bad, if it is a trait specific to a single character. However, each character in this novel swears frequently, erasing any sense of individuality. After a while, the characters seemed to be exactly the same and it was difficult to read dialogue since it felt more like a monologue.

In addition, the third person omniscient point of view was awkward in a lot of situations. For example, one minor character had multiple pages dedicated to her backstory and then was never mentioned in the novel again. After establishing a connection to the character, I was expecting to build that relationship through the story, but was disappointed when her part quickly ended. There are also a few instances when the point of view switches from third person to second persons. This seemed very unnecessary and took the reader out of the story, rather than adding to the drama that it was obviously trying to build.

Moreover, the plot felt drawn out and slow. There was a feeling of urgency at the beginning when Jonas was both trying to solve a murder and keep Dusty unaware of the supernatural, but that dissolved rapidly once the secret was out. The main antagonist, Seth, and his plans were not mentioned until halfway through the novel and, even then, Jonas spends most of the time doing other things while Dusty struggles to keep her mind on her work. I was hoping there would be a large cliff hanger at the end to make up for the missing suspense, and I think that was attempted, but I do not have an urgent desire to know what happens next.

Despite its drawbacks, I still think this book earned two stars rather than one because the idea is great and there are a few key lines that made me genuinely laugh out loud. For example, when describing private investigators, the authors say, “most private investigators had enough skeletons in their closets to get them elected to Congress.” These moments of humor and wit show true potential for this novel that I think is lacking through the rest of the work.

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The Rise of Seth
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Like RooneysReviews's review? Post a comment saying so!

[ScreechingHedgehog]

Thanks for your thorough review! You provide a lot of details, which I appreciate, without giving away the interesting plot points. I'll definitely consider what you said when thinking of reading this book.

[smiley1423]

I like crime books and murdering going together because they figure out who does it through many of stages.Thanks for giving a good brief detail of this book it really helps me and the other people with there choosing of books!

[Cee-Jay Aurinko]

Sounds like this book has a lot of faults that still needs to be worked out. Rooney, overall, a great review.