Book Review: "The Shattered Vigil" by Patrick W. Carr

The Shattered Vigil by Patrick W. Carr

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


First thing: Read the first book first. I started this book (the second in the series) without realizing how horrible it was going to be as a stand-alone. I’ve read the second book in several series and, though it would have been nice to know what happened before, those stories were able to be picked up and enjoyed without any trouble. This is not that kind of series! This second book was full of common words used in completely uncommon ways - and meaning completely different things - than usual. That’s okay, just as long as the author gives the reader his story’s definitions and usages of those words in the beginning. I can only hope that the first book explains what’s going on, and gives the reader a good sense of context.

Aside from the confusion over word usage, I found this book rather difficult reading. For starters, the print was very small. I’d much rather have a thick book with normal-sized print, than a book of ordinary thickness with a font size that you need a magnifying glass for.

Also, the story seemed to move in spurts. Either I seemed to be struggling to get through the tedium of a scene, or things were moving so fast that I could barely read quickly enough to keep up.

The ‘religious’ elements seemed very weak for the strength of the story itself. There were some thought-provoking points made, and concern was expressed in a couple of places for the spiritual well-being of some of the characters. But much of their ‘theology’ was just off, and the dangerous war-like atmosphere of the setting called for some death to happen, in which cases much of the solemnity and concern was largely passed over, and sometimes lost altogether.

Though the story was interesting and the author obviously has a great imagination (the book is a creative mix of allegory, fantasy, mystery, and sci-fi), I would only be able to say it was “okay” if someone asked me whether I would recommend it.

I received a free copy from the publisher. No review, positive or otherwise, was required—all opinions are my own.

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