OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Code: Revelation" by Boris Sanders.]

When the constant nitpicking by a petty boss flares into an ambition to act and stop the mental torture once and for all, Maximilian Gutenberg (Max) finds himself depressed and living life like an automaton. Most of the time, he doesn’t even get enough time to go gift shopping for his girlfriend on their anniversary. And when he finally manages to pick up a gift from a dusty old shop, his life gets completely transformed. Well, the gift was beautiful but not as special as the gift box, which holds a small crystal that is “home” to a being with supernatural powers and superhuman wisdom.

I grew up with fairy tales and a strong belief in magic and can claim a fair amount of ease with accepting things that seem just unrealistic in books as being perfectly plausible. Overall, the premise of Code: Revelation by Boris Sanders exceeded expectations. There were some characters shown from the time of Alexander the Great and then some more from Napoleon’s time, but then most of the book shows a time in the future where humans live in vertical structures and next to no independent accommodations due to the lack of space and some benefit-based planning.

One of the wonderful elements of this story was the capacity for character growth. Both human and supernatural characters are shown to be relatively flawed and limited, which then allows them to learn and change much like any one of us. Evidence of growth and development is especially abundant in Max, the main character, but it is also extremely noticeable in each of the other characters: primary and secondary actors alike. This makes the characters much more real as well as more relatable (and likable, in some cases).

I have always been a fan of fantasies but a lot of the fantasy books lately have let me down due to their extremely depressing dystopia themes or their lack of any sort of connection to the reality in which we live. In this case, however, I think that Boris Sanders has risen above these common snags and found a way to create a fantasy world that is firmly rooted in reality and presents a theme that is truly unique and enjoyable.

However, I have a huge issue with the fact that no professional copy editing was done for the book. I wonder if someone had taken the effort to re-read the book after the first draft was made ready. There were too many typos throughout the book. "What was the point of trying to explain himself to that man, which obviously hated him..." is just one example of a mutilated phrase. The frequent grammatical and punctuation errors made the book frustrating to read, something I was hoping would not happen–considering how engaging the rest of the book was.

I always love it when I stumble across books that don’t allow me to guess what is going to happen the next minute, and I think Code: Revelation easily falls into that category. Overall, this book  seems to have some strong elements in place–elegant execution, convincing characters, and creative control. However, it also has to its disadvantage an appalling number of grammatical errors. Taking these into consideration, I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. If you are interested in fantasy stories that paint a never-before-seen picture of the future, then Code: Revelation would be right up your alley. However, if you are not too comfortable with dystopia/stories with supernatural beings, you just might want to stay away from this one.

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Code: Revelation
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Sounds like an interesting read. From the cover of the book I thought that the book would be a crime thriller of some sorts. I've read a couple of reviews for this book and all the reviewers are complaining about word choices and the grammatical errors that the author made. I don't think that I'll be reading it. Great review though.

Thanks for the review. I'll pass on this one. I'm not a big enough fan of fantasy to overlook the errors.

I can identify with Max already, and I find myself wondering what happens to him after finding this special item. However, just from the sentence you gave I can tell that this would be a hard read. I hope that the author can do some revision to make this one a bit more readable. I would love to pick it up then! Thanks.

I love that there is such great character development in this book. An unpredictable plot is even better! It sounds like this book will be phenomenal with some time spent editing.

Darlynn_Tebogo wrote: ↑15 Jan 2019, 06:42 Sounds like an interesting read. From the cover of the book I thought that the book would be a crime thriller of some sorts. I've read a couple of reviews for this book and all the reviewers are complaining about word choices and the grammatical errors that the author made. I don't think that I'll be reading it. Great review though.

Yeah, the word choices and grammatical errors do have a way of spoiling the entire experience this book has to offer.

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This author seems to have a creative mind with new ideas about the future. I think this book would be extremely interesting were it not for the errors mentioned. Thanks for your thoughtful and honest review.

TJanowski23 wrote: ↑15 Jan 2019, 07:54 Thanks for the review. I'll pass on this one. I'm not a big enough fan of fantasy to overlook the errors.

The book is fully fantasy-based, so I see why it might not be your cup of tea.

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kandscreeley wrote: ↑15 Jan 2019, 09:20 I can identify with Max already, and I find myself wondering what happens to him after finding this special item. However, just from the sentence you gave I can tell that this would be a hard read. I hope that the author can do some revision to make this one a bit more readable. I would love to pick it up then! Thanks.

Yeah, it was a pain to read and re-read the sentences to fully understand the whole book. Otherwise, the book had a lot of potential.

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Jessacardinal wrote: ↑15 Jan 2019, 15:19 I love that there is such great character development in this book. An unpredictable plot is even better! It sounds like this book will be phenomenal with some time spent editing.

That's true. Some editing effort could do wonders for this book.

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The grammatical errors would be too much for me to bear. Thanks for the review though.

I like character-development and good plot description. But too many errors pulls me off the book. Thanks for this honest review.