Author: Michael E. Thies
Publisher: Writer's Block Press
Rating: WARTY!
I was not impressed at all by Trials of the Core and could not really get started on it, much less finish it. It seemed like it was all dialog with no room at all for scene setting. The novel seemed to me to be too reminiscent of The Hunger Games, with Prince Hydro Paen II getting a chance to try out to become a Guardian of the Core by competing in a contest which has a lone victor, but we’re told nothing about what he might have had to do or to sacrifice, or to achieve to get his chance. Was it just because he's a prince? And that name? Hydro Paen? Seriously? I found it laughable and could not take him seriously from that point onwards.
This novel is poorly written, and in runs (quickly - or does it sprint?) in a disturbingly breathless fashion, with little offered to establish who is saying what or what is motivating them. Just in the space of three pages I found some really difficult passages to read - and not technically difficult, just difficult to stomach. On p3 "…colored different from the rest of the sapphire lance." Bad grammar. On p4 "His brother of eight years had the same hair as Hydro, which was attributed to them by their father." Bad wording. On p5 "…pearls pierced to her ear and her fingers fit with rings…." Bad writing. On p5 "For fourteen years younger than Hydro, Aiton showed true promise with the blade…." Really bad writing. On p5 "After blaming him for his sister's death six years prior…." Bad grammar.
This kind of thing would be bearable if it happened once in a while, but to keep on finding one instance after another was just off-putting. I don’t mind bad grammar if it’s part of someone's speech, but it was not: it was part of the author's narration of the story. The speech was also poorly done in some cases, for example, on p41 we read this speech: "Zey are shutting off za guard beams so we can enter." It was at that point that I could not stand to read any more of this.
There were other issues, too, including one of extreme confusion. We have hovercraft, flying ships, and magic. It’s too much crammed into too little narrative space, especially when there has been nothing at all offered by way of setting up the world in which we’re experiencing this. The magic isn't even interesting. It’s nothing but the tired tropes of earth, air, fire, and water, the so-called 'elements', so not only do we appear to be ripping-off The Hunger Games, we’re now also venturing into Air-bender territory.
The confusion isn't limited just to how much we can jam into this grab bag of tropes and disparate elements we want to pack into this ill-defined story. On p 31 in the space of three lines at the start of the chapter we read of "Marqiss", "Marquis", and "Maquis". Seriously? Someone needs to get their titles straight - or their names. It was impossible to tell, in some instances, which was supposed to be a name and which a title. One of the titles/names seems to sum up the problem: Marchionesse Luuise Tityle of Katarh! Her name is a title? Or is that Tityle? perhaps I can't understand this because she has catarrh? or is she originally from Qatar? Who cares?
Page 41 really summed it up for me when I read: " 'You don’t understand…' No one does. I don’t even understand. " and that's exactly how I felt about this whole novel! It’s unintelligible - for at least as far as I was able to stand reading it - and amateurish in the extreme. I don’t want to read any more of this novel, much less an entire series. It’s warty!
