Review of The Enforcer’s Tale

[Do Thi Huong]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Enforcer's Tale" by Joanne Kimm.]

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2 out of 5 stars

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The Enforcer’s Tale by Joanne Kimm tells the story of fighting injustice in a dystopian world ruled by a government dictatorship. The Children’s Alliance Coalition, established by the government, aims to provide children with what it believes are the best conditions. Children are required to follow the Coalition’s educational program and live according to its standards, which means they can be taken away from their parents to live in chosen Coalition homes.

Joseph Young, a 13-year-old boy living with his mother in a small town where everyone looks out for each other, is one of these children. Refusing to give up, Joseph excels in the Enforcer’s program, earns the complete trust of the Commander, and eventually becomes his successor. However, Joseph never forgets to find his mother, who is living in the Talon—a safe haven for families where children can stay with their parents.

When Joseph discovers the Talon, he must choose between becoming the leader of the Coalition or siding with the Talon rebels to reunite with his mother. The ending is unpredictable and marks just the beginning of a series.

This is an interesting plot that really hooked me from the start. The fight for what is right, the distrust between people, the danger from hidden agendas, and a light touch of romance promise an intriguing read. The pace is quick and full of action, and there are no redundant scenes. I also appreciate the writing style, which is simple yet clear and effective.

Unfortunately, as the plot becomes more complicated, what I loved at first started to show its flaws. The story is narrated in the third person. The problem is that it lacks the character’s reactions to events. In some scenes with unexpected twists, I often wondered how the characters felt about what had happened. Why didn’t they react to it? It feels disjointed and frustrating when the author moves quickly from event to event, focusing heavily on describing the characters’ actions and dialogues. There wasn’t enough written about their thoughts and emotions, so I either felt like something was missing or was not sure why they responded the way they did. This gradually dampened my enjoyment of the book.

The story has some plot holes as well. For example, Danny, a boy involved in a crime, had already told Joseph that the instigator walked with a limp, but during a later interrogation, Joseph still asked him again if he had seen the man limping. Or, in a scene at the chicken coop, why was Sam in shock when Joseph knew about the Talon, given that they had already discussed it before? It feels as though the author forgot the details she had written earlier.

On top of that, there are significant issues with character names. For instance, Kurtis and Richard are clearly different characters at the beginning, but by the end, Kurtis suddenly appears in scenes that should logically involve Richard. If this was not a mistake, I could not wrap my head around it. Another example is the housekeeper Penny’s children, who are called Shane and Kyle early on but are later referred to as Sean and Michael. This has created a lot of confusion in the plot.

There are also frequent punctuation errors, such as missing closing quotation marks in dialogues. In my overall impression, I do not think the book is poorly written in terms of language. It has a nice storyline that could attract many young readers who enjoy dystopian and heroic fiction. However, it needs more professional editing to resolve the mix-up of character names, solidify the plot, and enhance the storytelling to spare readers from having to justify the characters' actions themselves. For these reasons, I rate this book 2 out of 5 stars.

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The Enforcer's Tale
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[Louis Donald]

The plot sounds engaging with its dystopian setting and moral dilemmas, but the character inconsistencies and missing emotional depth seem like too much of a distraction for me. I’m not sure I’d enjoy it enough to continue reading.

[Pearl Flourish]

The Enforcer’s Tale by Joanne Kimm presents an engaging dystopian narrative centered on Joseph Young, a young boy torn between his role in a controlling government and his desire to reunite with his mother. While the plot is compelling, the storytelling could benefit from deeper character development and more thorough editing to address inconsistencies and enhance reader immersion.