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Review of Gifted Book 1

Posted: 04 May 2023, 11:37
by José Cortez
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Gifted Book 1" by Walter Strychowskyj.]
Book Cover
1 out of 5 stars
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Maria and Danelo decided to move to New York to start a new life. Ivan and Lydia owned a restaurant there and helped them settle in. Maria and Danelo were not married but had two sons who were raised separately; Tommy grew up with Danelo, and Wally grew up with Maria and his grandparents. Wally lost his parents when he was still at Harvard Law School. His dad was a big-time known drug dealer and trafficker. His mother was a naturopath. The Chinese triad hired Pavlo, Danelo's brother, to wipe out Danelo and his family so it could take over Danelo's drug business.

Wally had psychic abilities to read people's minds. He used this ability to help people, protect himself, predict danger, and even scam people. Wally fell in love with Elizabeth Grace and was determined to make her his wife. Elizabeth was engaged to Jeffrey, Wally's former roommate, and a bully. How does this turn out?

This book has a lot of negative aspects, but first, I strongly believe that Walter Strychowskyj had a good story. However, he could not tell it so well. Instead of going straight to the point, the author introduced a lot of characters, both relevant and irrelevant. For instance, he introduced lots of characters that didn't even matter to the story and the book; this made it very difficult to follow. An example is in Chapter 1, where the author introduced Judy, Henry, Joan, and others that didn't necessarily need to be introduced. I think the author should have slowly introduced these characters as the book progressed.

In addition, the author included descriptions that made me think might lead to somewhere interesting, but they never appeared again in the book. For instance, there was a lot more that could have been highlighted about the property in the forest. Also, the author included irrelevant discussions. Due to the poor storytelling, I found it really hard to read this book. The author's way of writing made me feel like I was reading the summary of an actual book. This book had no actions and no emotions. I did not see the character development I craved, and the characters behaved like robots. A lot of things in this book seemed so unreal. I found it unbelievable that it was so easy for the Chinese triad to make the decision they took regarding Wally. The author's description of some people and things was not properly done. I, nevertheless, do think that the author had a great story, and it would be helpful if the author improved on these aspects I highlighted.

Also, Gifted: Book 1 had so many errors. Most of these errors were tense errors that could have been easily corrected if the book had been actually edited. It is safe to conclude that this book was not properly edited; therefore, it deserves another round of editing. Relying on the issues I mentioned, I rate this book a 1 out of 5 stars. I rated it so low because I could not find any positive side to this book.

I do not recommend this book to anyone due to the issues above, which affected my overall enjoyment. Adults and the intended audience may find this book unsettling or even offensive.

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Gifted Book 1
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Re: Review of Gifted Book 1

Posted: 06 May 2023, 21:43
by Kavita Shah
A great story that needs to have less characters that don't appear later or never, extra information, description, and less discussions. I think as it is a part of a series(the Book1 in the title makes me think so), the characters and discussions could play some role then but too early introduction goes the other way than it should have. I like your honest review.

Re: Review of Gifted Book 1

Posted: 06 May 2023, 22:23
by Husky03
What a shame, the description of the plot you gave definitely appeals to me, even though it does seem a bit messy it screams potential. I don't think I will be able to read a book that dumps a lot of storylines and characters without building them up no matter how interesting the story seems. Thank you for your honest and detailed review!

Re: Review of Gifted Book 1

Posted: 07 May 2023, 14:17
by Aswin3848
I found it to be a well evaluated review. A book connects to the audience when all the relevant characters in the book are part of the environment set up by the author. It is a shame that the characters are not established properly.

Re: Review of Gifted Book 1

Posted: 08 May 2023, 09:09
by Fabbie Woods
I love how detailed your review is. Great review.

Re: Review of Gifted Book 1

Posted: 14 May 2023, 11:33
by Renee_Dittman
I appreciate your review. The storyline sounds interesting, so I hope the author does some editing and cleaning up and puts it out again!

Re: Review of Gifted Book 1

Posted: 14 May 2023, 12:56
by Omneya Shakeep
I think the plot has a lot of potential if the author worked on it, refined the narration, got it professionally edited, and made the characters have more depth. I enjoyed reading your review immensely. Thanks for this honest and thorough review!

Re: Review of Gifted Book 1

Posted: 15 May 2023, 06:37
by Hazel Mae Bagarinao
I enjoyed the summary but then the negative aspects mentioned by the reviewer turned me off. This book can be great if all the issues are addressed. Thanks for your honest review, Jose!

Re: Review of Gifted Book 1

Posted: 11 Jun 2023, 11:31
by Ajiferuke Ajibola
I was enjoying the storyline until your honest review stated the negative aspects. I will suggest that the author looks into all those and make the necessary corrections. I like Wally, though.