Friday, May 12, 2017

May 12

I have read the following

             The author did present interesting and seemingly factual information.  Pinpointing legends and tales can be difficult. It is clear Trollinger did his research.  The way he chose to divide up chapters was inconsistent.  I would have preferred instead of blending reasonable explanation and the ghost story that he tell the legends or tall tales first then at the end of each section provide the context and possible explanations.  The way it was done however distracted from the haunting in a number of chapters.

            A fun story written for pre-teens.  This is an interesting fact considering I found this book tucked away in the adult section of the library.  A riveting story of a fourteen year old girl in the 1940’s who takes her past, present, and future into her own hands despite her plush lifestyle. Despite this books tendency to tell instead of show readers it was a riveting book even for an adult almost twice the protagonist’s age.  While I haven’t continued in the story yet I’m excited to see a wonderful saga of a girl told in manageable sized books for youth. 

            Book two starts off with a bang immediately where book one left off. This riveting tale seems to slow in comparison to book one however the themes are highly important.  Another homey book which deals with intense subjects without being too heavy.  Despite the high stakes this is a feel good book. The ending does seem farfetched, something you would only see in a religious fiction book.

            As is true for this series book three starts off with a character decision which seems not only out of character but highly unlikely unless shaped by an author.  One must rely on their fait to believe that a person would make such a decision so easily.  This book is filled with the most action in the series although it waits till the back third of the book.  Faith seems less farfetched in this book than the others.  Faith becomes less about getting what one wants and becomes more of a comfort and a place of self discovery.  Despite the higher stakes for others’ that aren’t just Allison the book remains true to its predecessors and contuse to be a feel-good story.

            Following all the high stakes of the previous books the angst that this book begins with becomes tedious.  The book does pick up.  The author does a great job of the villain from earlier in the series makes a reappearance instead of creating a whole new cast of characters.  Again the author relies on preexisting faith of the readers to make readers believe that character changes are believable when they aren’t.  The author made sure to tie up as many loose ends as possible without breaking the overall feel of the series.

The Allison Chronicles as a whole series.

The author was true to the time period she chose for her setting.  The author was careful not to deviate from the religious genre.  She towed a fine line keeping romance away from the plot as much as possible and when it was present it was wholesome.  In fact romance not between adults was portrayed as bad or a distraction.  The author did rely heavily on the readers having faith in God already.  The author assumed that readers would already be praying and would be happy Allison was instead of readers being unsure of their faith.  This could potentially alienate readers, make them feel inferior to a character, or make them not pick up the next book. 

I have worked on the following
Writing out possible scenarios for Gwen and Brooke so I could return Haunted Iowa City to the library.
Finished my first ten pages of a script.  It will be showcased in the Omaha’s film festival this summer.  I do still need to make the character write-ups.           

Thoughts

Is there a series you found to rely to heavily on knowledge or beliefs that the reader needed to have before reading to be effective?


Is there a series you think I should do next?

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