Official Review: The Feathers by rcheydn

[jcheiser]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Feathers" by rcheydn.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Feathers by rcheydn is a novel that follows the actions of a serial killer from multiple perspectives. The readers get to look at the events from the viewpoint of a pair of detectives, an investigative writer, a few of the killer’s victims, and even the serial killer. Being able to look at the case from multiple angles gives the reader all of the information but leaves the characters with a little less, which makes for an interesting read.

Throughout The Feathers, it was extremely clear to see that rcheydn was very passionate about being a thorough writer. Obviously, a lot of research went into this novel, and not just for the details about the personality of the serial killer, but also about places around the city and processes that had to take place to catch the murderer. I very much appreciated all the hard work and excitement that went into providing the reader with these details, but the way they were incorporated into the story was distracting. Instead of providing this researched information in a seamless way within the storyline, I felt as though these were blocks of text that halted the action of the novel and really did not do much to add to the story.

Another distracting feature of the novel was that it was poorly edited. Some parts almost seem as though they were written with a voice-to-text application because the errors are inconsistent (i.e. the same error is not made with the same word all the time) and the errors mostly relate to how a word sounds. For example, in a few cases, ‘be’ was used in place of ‘he’, ‘bad’ instead of ‘bag’, and other similar errors that should have been caught in editing. On top of that, comma use was poorly executed. I found many sentences in which there was no comma when there should have been (to the point of changing the meaning of the sentence or making the sentence confusing), and a few instances of attempted comma use that spliced sentences in strange places.

The only up-side to this novel was that I was kept interested. From the beginning, the reader sees that the serial killer is doing something with feathers that relates directly to his actions, however we do not know exactly what it is he is doing or why he is doing it. That intrigue is what kept me coming back to the book and turning pages, hoping to finally get an answer. This is especially important considering the target reader would likely be women in their 20s, and without that interest factor, people in that age group would move on to something else rather quickly.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. To be honest, I really struggled on this decision, and the only reason I rate it 3 stars instead of 2 is the fact that I was interested enough to want to come back to the book when I was away and quickly turning pages when I was reading. If it hadn’t been for that factor, the technical errors would have been too much to go beyond 2 out of 4.

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The Feathers
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[kimmyschemy06]

That was a very honest review. It was very nice that you emphasized the good points of the story.

[Amheiser]

This sounds like a really interesting book to read. I like the idea of looking at the events of a crime story from the multiple perspectives of the different people involved. Even though the errors throughout made the book a little more challenging to read, it sounds like it was an intriguing read. Good review!

[peprica21]

Thank you for your review! Sounds like a great plot line. I enjoy murder books told from various perspectives. It is a shame the grammatical errors distract from a good storyline.

[rssllue]

Very nice review. You highlighted the good and bad in the book quite well.