Breach by Bronwyn Leroux

Rating: WARTY!

This is described as volume 0.5 of the 'Destiny' series, which is supicious enough, and once again we see it starkly highlighted as to why series are a pile of crap for the most part, and why first person voice typically sucks! I made it through only two chapters before I couldn't stand to read any more of this disaster. The main character, Aiken, who for some reason I thought was a woman at first, is unstable, and we launch into the story right at the point where he appears to be having some form of a panic attack, but he's telling us about it in first person, thereby losing all credibility for me. People don't do that. They can't do that! They can’t both have a breakdown and calmly and logically describe it as it happens. The writing was awful.

The story is about Aiken's life in this nondescript 'community' which seems both modern and ancient at the same time, so that lost credibility for me. The guy is out hunting animals in the forest and later they're talking about having "lunch" - seriously? I read (after he'd sliced a deer's throat open): "It doesn’t take long to sling her carcass over the carrying pole." A carrying pole? The author is apparently unaware of how much a deer weighs. Try 100 - 200 pounds. And he slings it over a pole and carries it along with the other critters he's trapped? Garbage. No wonder he's named achin'! LOL! If there had been two guys, then yeah, maybe they could have carried it on the carrying pole between them, but he's alone! So why even have a carrying pole?

That's when I decided I’d be better off reading something else that was A. intelligently written, and B. not a lousy story. I can’t commend this at all based on my experience of it. This is also my second Bronwyn Leroux encounter and the first was just as bad so I guess I'm done with this author now.

Dawn of Dreams by Bronwyn Leroux

Rating: WARTY!

Errata:
the "-
friends" - this was how a line was split - right at the hyphen. I don't know what was doing this but it looked weird!
"Legends take place in a particular time period, and their basis comes from that actually happened" - 'from what actually happened'? or maybe 'from that which actually happened'?
"Jaden squared his shoulders when it the beast overlooked Kayla and targeted him." It the beast?!

This is the first of a series and I'm not much for series, but once in a while one comes along that looks a bit off the beaten path and I try it out to see if maybe this will be one of those rare series openers that draws me in. They are too few and far between though, so I usually don't hold out much hope. This was one of the fails. I made it almost exactly half way through and gave up on it because of the rampant sexism. It read like it was written by a man - or a romance novel writer.

Set in 2073, the story is of Jaden and Kayla, both of whom independently discover that they can see things others can't: or more accurately, one particular thing - a reptilian-looking bird with a scorpion tail which seems to be stalking them. They each of them have a medallion - identical medallions - which have each been passed down through their family. They feel drawn to it and meeting by accident, they become quickly attached to each other because of their shared experiences. Once they have the medallion on their person, the bird seems much more aggressive, yet neither of them thinks to leave the medallion behind when they go out! Not very smart!

For two people who see something no one else can, neither of them seems much interested in pondering it. They're much more interested in how attractive the other is, and this is where the book lost all authenticity for me. I don't mind a romance in books, but it has to feel real and smart in context.

The story grew worse when Jaden started this protective bullshit - like Kayla was somehow inferior to him and must be protected, and she meekly accepted his judgement. This first became apparent when I read, "She had Kayla on edge. So much so Kayla wanted to grab Jaden's hand and hold on for dear life." Seriously? I mean this wasn't even a threatening situation - the women who had Kayla 'on edge' was a librarian. This tells me that Kayla is weak and stupid, and I have no interest in reading any books about weak, stupid women - and sure as hell not a series about one!

There were issues with the quality of the novel in terms of writing gaffs, as shown in the errata, as well as dumb things like, when Kayla first finds the medallion, she thinks it was "Not a currency coin. Or rather, its octagonal shape wouldn't make that very practical." Kayla seems to have no idea that coins come in literally all shapes and sizes. The Brits have a heptagonal one, and they used to have a 12-sided one! Other countries have weird-looking coins too.

Later I read, "Kayla grinned. Only another girl would understand the need to explore new surroundings" Sexist much?! Guys don't explore? This was sheer sexist bullshit! By this point, the novel had really begun to fall apart for me and after Jaden's St-George-Rescuing-the-maiden stunt, I was so nauseated with it that I couldn't continue.

I can't commend this novel at all. It moved too slowly - a real problem with series - and seemed more interested in these two characters' fascination with each other than in dealing with a real and present other-worldly danger. It was unrealistic and it made no sense. People don't behave like that and this lack of realism overwhelmed what might otherwise have been an interesting and entertaining story.