Official Review: The Hiders in Darkness by Paul Kocourek

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Mouricia Allen
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Official Review: The Hiders in Darkness by Paul Kocourek

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[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Hiders in Darkness" by Paul Kocourek.]
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2 out of 4 stars
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The Hiders in Darkness by Paul Kocourek is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel. It tells the story of two friends and their adventures in a parallel world. Ronald Thorn and his friend David Corey went on what they thought would be a simple vacation. However, they later found out that there would be nothing simple about the trip. The story is filled with unique flora and fauna, all of which makes for a very enhanced adventure.

What I liked the most about this story was how unique it was. There were so many things in it that I had never encountered in a Sci-Fi novel before. I loved how unpredictable it was, and I could never guess what would happen next.

I didn't like the addition of the Christian faith in what is supposed to be a sci-fi novel; it made the book lose the sci-fi vibe. I would have felt better if it was more in line with the genre, in that there was a deity created specifically for the book. Every mention of the Christian God just threw off the opposite effect for me. However, as I read further on, it became more apparent as to why the author used a real religion.

Most of the mentions felt like I was being preached to. I'm not against the mention of God; I just feel like I was tricked into reading a WatchTower Magazine. It was almost like reading a Sunday school story, but a more extended version, where the focus was just the author talking about how good God is.

It had kind of a slow start, which I didn't like, and the beginning didn't make sense to me. Ronald randomly has a dream one day about a strange world, he woke up and then there wasn't much explanation, then we jump to a month later, and he is mysteriously transported to the dream world. I could see what the writer was trying, but it didn't do much for me.

What I disliked the most about this novel was that so many bits were extremely unrealistic. For example, the characters learning a whole language in thirteen days was a long stretch, even by storybook standards. I know the author did it so they could help the story along; however, I would have preferred if it was more organic and not so forced and fake. The level of conversation that they were able to achieve is impossible for someone who started learning the language less than a month ago. The author didn't support this part of the story with anything, except to say the characters were around each other 24/7, and the native girl was a good teacher.

I struggled with the rating because I wanted to give it a 3 but it just rubbed me wrong. I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars because while it wasn't a terrible story, I couldn't get over certain bits. I didn't notice any grammatical errors, or explicit content while reading. I would recommend this book to Christians and persons who don't mind a story filled with mentions of God.

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The Hiders in Darkness
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Jezebelle84
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Post by Jezebelle84 »

Great review! I don't like being preached too either, so I don't think this book is for me. I completely agree that in a Sci-fi/Fantasy setting, it's much better to create a deity unique to the world.
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