Happy
new year everyone! Yes it's now nearly the end of January, but we made it into the year 2013 with no Apocalypse whatsoever.
And how shall I celebrate the new year? By reviewing a book. Yes I bet you
never thought that the Film Interpreter would be looking into literature. But
if you may recall from some of my December posts, I was helping to promote my
friend’s story, ‘Burning Secrets’, the first of The Burnwick Series.
I
also mentioned doing a review of the story, to help give you an idea whether or
not to buy her book. If you’re worried about me being biased do not worry, that
kind, beautiful, sexy, smart, funny woman has not bribed me to say anything
good.
Firstly,
the title of this book is a lie! At no point are any secrets set on fire.
Putting
that aside though let’s look at our plot. Before the story actually starts we
find an inside page, which states “They have returned”. Damn Death Eaters. But
anyway we find Nadia Stevens being woken up in the middle of the night by her
father, who takes her to her estranged Aunt Denise, saying that something has
happened and that bad people are after him. He is leaving Nadia with Aunt
Denise to protect her, but won’t tell her why and tells Denise not to say
either.
I
really don’t get this plot point. It’s been done before and I still don’t
understand it. When someone is in hiding, tell them why! That way they can
prepare for the worst. The best example to use is the ‘Let It Bleed’ episode
from ‘Supernatural’, where Dean asks the angel Castiel to wipe the memories of
his sweetheart Lisa and her son Ben. And I don’t get why. He seems to believe
that them not remembering Dean will automatically make them safe. But it wasn’t
what they knew that made them a target, it was what they meant to Dean, now
they should be in danger and they won’t know why. The same principle applies
here, whoever is after Nadia’s father, they are more likely to go after her to
get to him, and she won’t know why.
But
yes, she is sent away to be protected. And where’s the best place to hide? Why
a giant house of course! Yes, it’s in the middle of nowhere but it sticks out
like a sore thumb. Then again it is effectively a shed compared to the house
next door. But to be fair the inside page and the prologue do keep me intrigued
and eager to find out what’s happening.
An
obstacle however is the length of the chapters, most of which are 30 plus pages
long. Now, I don’t know about you, but it can be a bit of a strain to get
through these chapters. Most books, like ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone’, the chapters in those books are roughly half the length than the
typical chapter in ‘Burning Secrets’. For someone like me, I prefer short
chapters, as I like to finish a chapter before putting the book down. It felt
like a strain getting through the first chapter, well before I even got onto
the other nineteen.
Then
again, once you get going, the pages fly by. I soon found myself going through
two or three chapters at a time. There is so much detail, so much information,
the book drags you in, it consumes you. Actually, that’s why the pages are so
long, because there is so much detail, you can easily visualise it, the best
example being when Nadia describes Denise’s kitchen.
Although,
this book censors itself. Oh yeah, almost every time when a character is about
to use “foul language”, someone interrupts or the person sees that it isn’t the
appropriate time. Now, the reaction to this changes depending on a person’s
age, it teaches the younger audience to not use foul language in every
conversation and to respect your elders. But if you’re an adult, this feels
patronising. It’s weird because the words being censored, aren’t actually swear
words. Or curse words or whatever the kids are calling them these days. They’re
“bitch”, a female dog, and “bastard”, a child born out of wedlock. They’re not
really that terrible or offensive, at least it isn’t ****.
The
characters, are a mixed batch. They’re all well thought out, don’t get me
wrong, but they can be…what’s the word…well, read on and find out. Nadia
herself isn’t your stereotypical teenager. She doesn’t fall into a coma when
her mobile is destroyed. Aside from that Nadia is the strongest character
amongst the lot, she cares, she’s smart, she puts other before herself, and she
isn’t her mother. Which she will remind us of. Constantly.
Her
father, in all fairness is only there for one chapter but we do see that he
cares a lot for Nadia, that he is a strong individual. Though I do wonder what
Nadia’s thoughts are to the fact that the nickname her father gave her, “Nads”,
comes from a word which guys tend to say when they get caught doing their zip.
And there’s the point when he asks Nadia if she’s okay, to which I expected
Nadia to respond with:
“You woke me up
in the middle of the night, forced me to abandon everyone and everything I know
back home, and you're planning to dump me with a woman who I have not spoken to
in nine years while you go off on what sounds like a life or death mission. I'm
peachy”
Denise
also shows good qualities. She easily puts everything aside to care for Nadia
like she was Denise’s own daughter, she cares, she’s explain everything (But
the plot) to Nadia if needed, you can see why she’s probably the most respected
person in Burnwick.
We
then come across Cipher. Yes, that’s his name. When he and Nadia initially
meet, it can be safe to say that it could have gone better. For them, I don’t
mean it was written bad. Wait, they’re roughly the same age, they’re the
opposite sex, and they hate each other. Ladies and gentlemen, our cliché love
interest! That aside Cipher is shown to be quite the handyman, though there are
times when I forget that he’s a sixteen year old, because he’s acting like a
five year old. He’s also quite the saviour, as we see him save Nadia from a few
situations…situations which he is ultimately to blame for.
Speaking
of cliché characters, the villain sticks out like a…like a…it’s obvious who the
villain is. Initially he just serves as a possible love rival and is just
mainly boring, but once he flips the evil switch, he is a lot of fun. It is
actually a good change to see a somewhat recurring villain, rather than her/his
identity being revealed in the climax.
And
last but not least we have Cipher’s friends, Charm, Chance, Pro, Imp, and
Sybil. Yeah, apparently giving your child a normal name is uncool in this
village. Seriously, pretty much only the adults in this book have proper names;
Denise, Crystal, Eric, Richard, etc. Sybil is the only one who appears to
accept her normal name, heck Pro’s real name is William. Sooooo why doesn’t he
just call himself William? What’s Chance’s real name? Tom?
Maybe
this is why they say they’re on the receiving end of prejudice, not because
they live in a village where everyone looks out for each other, but because
their names are weird. Actually I’m pretty sure there’s another reason, but
that would be a major spoiler.
Of
course though there are meanings behind the names, Imp for example is a demon
originating from Germanic folklore, while Cipher’s name means ‘unimportant’.
Yeah his father’s a dick. Though I don’t quite understand why his father gave
him that name either, did he take one look at his newborn child and say “You
are not my son”? I mean, how would he know his son would mean so little to him?
Cipher’s
friends though are a great group of characters. They’re interesting, they’re
emotional, they have their own intriguing little plots, they offer a different
persona for Nadia to interact with. Sybil for example offers a great change of
pace to the characters Nadia can interact with, primarily because she’s the
only other girl that’s Nadia’s age. It’s good to see Nadia act like a normal
girl, rather than her being a loyal daughter-like character to Denise, or her
on-and-off relationship with Cipher. And from the way Nadia first describes
Sybil, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she was a third possible love
interest. Unfortunately Imp just seems to be a clone of Cipher, since most of
the time he also acts like a kid having a tantrum.
But
in the end, for a first proper attempt at releasing a book for the public, this
is really good. The story succeeds in sucking you in, it keeps you guessing and
intrigued throughout. The characters, yes there are flaws but that actually
adds to their personalities. They aren’t perfect, they aren’t God-like. In fact
any character who does act like they’re invincible are quickly brought back
down to reality and shown that they are vulnerable, they can be injured, they
are human.
Believe
me, I know how much hard work and how much research Miss Sturdgess put into
this, and it really does show how much she cares about her book. You can see
the passion and desire to see this book become the stepping stone to a
successful franchise, you can see how much she wants this to be a success.
And
if it’s as good as this, no doubt we’ll soon be seeing her books on best seller
lists. So please help support her and purchase her book from the following website:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/r-l-sturdgess/burning-secrets/paperback/product-20580235.html;jsessionid=5CEEF50AB6BCCE7044A1E58B10A84130
Besides, if you
don’t like it
Your cat might.
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