A Quest of Heroes by Morgan Rice
1 Star
Book One of The Sorcerers Ring
Yes, Surviving a Bad Book has returned. It makes me feel like Life has returned to normal too, even though it hasn’t. And like I always say:
“Feelings are more important than anything, even Logic, Truth and Life Itself.”
After the last SaBB post, I wanted one that wasn’t so vile. So I started perusing my 1/2 and 1 Star books and oddly enough, the majority of them were from the last 3 years. So either my taste had improved dramatically OR I’m just being a LOT more picky and not willing to put up with barely adequate trash masquerading as novels.
This particular novel isn’t offensive beyond it’s complete and utter mediocrity. The storyline is lifted wholesale from the story of King David in the Bible and has a dash of Arthurian Legend thrown in.
What really makes this book bad is that I wasted my precious time on it and that the writer has a whole series of the wretched things. I HATE being a Gatekeeper. Back in Ye Olde Olden Days, there used to be these people called Agents and Editors who were paid to sift through all the dreck. Now, with the Self-Publishing Revolution that the Ebook has enabled, I am the Gatekeeper. What’s more, when I actually do some Gatekeeping and call a piece of trash a piece of trash, half the time I get this kind of response:
This is the kind of book that I would DNF at the 10% mark now. Live and Learn.
- SaBB – Freeware
- SaBB – An Enemy Reborn
- SaBB – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
- SaBB – Shadows Rise
- SaBB – The Boy and the Peddler of Death
- SaBB – The Space Vampires
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
I guess that’s one disadvantage of self-publishing: you’re the only filter. But I must say that agents and editors aren’t doing the best job of filtering books. I’ve read some really terrible books which I would have expected to be filtered out. Anyway, this is definitely one book which I won’t pick up. 🙂
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As much as I rant against indies sometimes, I KNOW that agents and publishers aren’t doing a great job either. sigh. What a time to be a book reader…
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HAHHAHA what a time indeed!
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I believe the words of Mr Dickens would fit here perfectly:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”
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This book got suggested to me a few times by bookbub (I think). Glad I decided against it.
Totally agree with the self-publishing thing. It’s why, despite the fact I have been published before, I refuse to self-publish. Much rather wait until someone says yes.
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You made the right choice 🙂
I always point to Michael Sullivan as a very good success story on the indie side. But for every Michael Sullivan, I encounter 100 authors like this. That is a pretty bad ratio
😀
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Yea, Ryria Chronicles if I remember correctly? I’d be ashamed to put something bad out … especially if I had the nerve to charge for it.
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Yep, first the Riyria Revelations and now the prequels, Riyria Chronicles.
Been backing them on Kickstarter for hardcover editions as they come out and I’m totally ok with how they are turning out 🙂
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I have a higher success rate with indies than you do. It could be because I’m listening to a lot of indie audiobooks, and maybe the authors who go through the extra effort to get an audiobook produced are also the type who put extra effort into their writing.
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That wouldn’t surprise me at all. Audio moves the book from vanitypress status to something a bit more “real”. It is the author placing their money where their mouth is.
Most of the indies I try now are because of word of mouth or a personal recommendation.
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I think the industry needs more people like you (and me) who are willing to write bad reviews.
It’s not helpful if someone just says “this book sucks”, but your comments about this book having too many elements copied from the Bible and Arthurian legends is very helpful. Some readers will say “oh, I’m sick of that kind of story” but there may be a small group out there who will say “ooo, I love those kind of stories”. Your review is helpful to both kinds of readers, and maybe even to the author, by getting readers to him that will actually like his stuff.
The same thing applies when I write that I hate a book because it’s full of childhood flashbacks. Maybe there are a few readers out there going “ooo, I love childhood flashbacks”.
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Too bad Goodreads doesn’t think that is what the industry needs 😉
Of course, they now exist to sell books, sigh.
10 years ago, I probably would have just written that ubiquitous “this book sucks” but now, when I go back to look at my review and I remember exactly NOTHING about the book, a reminder about why the book sucked is very helpful 😀
I know that I have read a book because someone said they hated “X” and I liked “X”. Farmboy to Chosen One? I’m in! Give me Duke Planeswalker any day 🙂
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That wanted poster was actualy aimed at you? Man, that sucks.
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Oh no, it wasn’t. I had to google for something like it 🙂
But, I have been threatened with physical violence back when I was on goodreads. One of the reasons I like blogging better. I am in much more control here than a site like GR…
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Send them my adress…😈
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Hehehehee….
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It’s actually the reason I don’t read indie books – not unless someone very picky (like you) slobbers all over it, like on Riyria books – and even then it takes me a while to get to read them… Gatekeepers are what we really need right now! 🙂
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Gatekeepers indeed. I don’t want to be a gatekeeper, but in some ways I am forced to be one. Not cool…
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Sort of why I stopped taking requests for self-published authors now… Hate going through them now and falling on things that could be excellent candidates for your SaBB series!
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Good choice.
I just wish more indies were self-aware enough to realize when their book is a piece of crap and to let it go.
Instead, we end up with hordes of delusional fanatics who think THEY and their BOOK are the next Chosen One.
I mean, if you don’t even know how to properly use the rules of the english language or that there even are rules, then for goodness sake, don’t write a book 😀
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Shame, I like the cover 😀
That’s the reason I am staying far away from self-published books. There’s maybe 1% or less than that, that is actually worth reading.. and I don’t want to spend my precious time finding those jewels^^ Everyone and their dog can publish a book nowadays..
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That cover is actually a stock photo that you can buy the use of through various sites. I found this out when I was searching for a decent sized photo of the cover and ran across the base cover on multiple sites.
And yep, some people seem to relish searching for that 1%, but not me. And the other thing I’ve noticed is that the people who are the loudest in proclaiming that we NEED to give indies a chance, read like 10 books a year. It becomes obvious that reading isn’t the center of their life like it is mine…
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Ugh, okay, good to know.. so if I ever publish a novel, I can use it, hooray 😀
Either that or they are self-published authors themselves. Or family members.^^
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Yep, no worries. Your literary masterpiece can look good on the shelf too!
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When I still accepted indie submissions I did write some negative reviews (and the skewered ratio good finds vs. bad finds was the main reason I stopped accepting submissions, btw) but I was lucky enough that I never received negative feedback. Still, I wonder why a well-thought-out, reasoned negative review that explains what the reader considered wrong in a story should be seen as a capital offense: IMHO, if I ask someone their opinion on something, I must also be prepared for some unpleasant surprises…
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Someone who writes a bad book and isn’t selfaware enough to realize it, surely isn’t going to be the kind of person who can take criticism, of any sort.
They’re kind of like those people who can’t sing but still audition for shows like American Idol. The people we love to watch fail spectacularly 😀
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Granted, but still we masochistically suffer through their performance, so what does that say about us? 😀
Oh, and I thought it might be interesting to share this, since it impacts on the discussion: google about “Moon People” by Dale Courtney. And have fun… 😉
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Masochists for sure.
Do I really want to go down that google path? I’ll set that aside for later this week. Thanks, I think 😀
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I couldn’t resist.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I can’t tell if Courtney was trying to be farcical or not. Some of those excerpts. I wanted to scratch my eyes out…
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It does give you some perspective about bad books, doesn’t it?
Anyway, before you open the bottle of brain bleach 😀 for the necessary cleanup, try reading some of the reviews on Amazon: a good number of posters wrote apparently raving reviews using the same kind of language (if I can all it that…) of the author – they are true works of art, and funny too! 🙂
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I saw some of those 5star reviews. Paid shills or just really, really, really, really stupid people? I can’t tell 😀
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Neither, I believe.
These reviews aim some finely sharpened sarcasm at the book, masqueraded as praise: the very fact that they tend to adopt the author’s writing…. er…. style, is proof enough for me. Yes, they gave the book 5-star ratings, but everyone who read even a sample of that novel, does not take the rating seriously.
And now go for the brain bleach! Quickly!!!! 😀
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I wish I could find a bleach emoji!
oh well…
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As we get older our ability to withstand BS books gets lower…
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Isn’t that the truth? And this particular young lady pumps books out like they are candy. I think I saw something like 15 in the series? This is the type of quality that I see put out on fanfic sites.
It just boggles my mind that someone can put this stuff out there and not die of embarrassment…
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Henceforth you shall be known as The Gatekeeper. It’s a heavy mantle to carry. I think you can do it though 😀
Lynn
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Ok, where’s my paycheck? 😉
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Yay surviving a bad book is back!! You are definitely old man feelz 😉 hehehehe oh my goodness that “wanted” sign!! See this is why I why I use samples for self pub books (on the rare occasion that I bother to pick them up at all) It’s not even remotely worth being a gatekeeper- I just so happen to have just had a conversation about how ridiculously touchy indie authors are nowadays and how there seems to be more trends of authors going after reviewers/writing these posts telling reviewers how to review. Ugh- and on top of all that, the likelihood of me even wanting to read some random indie author is close to zero anyway- they’re really not doing themselves any favours.
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“they’re really not doing themselves any favours.”
Yep. And even the decent ones are pretty much swamped out by the noise of the all the bad ones.
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Yeah that’s very true. I should probably reiterate that most of my firsthand experience of indie authors has been fine- but then I only ever read a couple a year 😉
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Yeah, if you can cherry pick, you’ll get some good stuff. It’s when you step off that tiny narrow tight rope that all the “fun” begins…
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hahahaha yes, I can imagine, I’ve come across a few of those “gems” before, but don’t normally finish them (I’ve learnt to beware free indie books 😉 )
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Lol, that was funny.
But I do agree with you about this book. I DNF’d it a few pages in and was pissed that I’d bought the e-book. I saw it on a list of fantasy book recommendations and thought it was good.
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Thankfully, I got it through a promotion thread at Mobileread where the author was handing it for free.
So all I wasted was my time :-\
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