Originally read November 27, 2013

 

I have mixed feelings about this book. For one thing, it was pretty depressing. The main character is a former detective who is dying of cancer.  The story is written in the first-person perspective of this character who, despite the fact that he's near death, finds himself trying to solve one last mystery. It seemed to me like the vast majority of the book wasn’t really spent on the mystery itself but rather on the main character’s thoughts about his current physical condition, his life, his relationships, and his regrets. Things were occasionally lightened up a bit by humorous interactions with other characters.

 

This story felt to me like a very real portrayal of what might be going through somebody’s head in that situation. Sometimes, it felt a little too real. The book is quite short, but there was a lot of repetition of the character’s thoughts and observations which sometimes got tiresome. However, I felt like that repetition was done intentionally to reflect the state of the character’s mind.

 

While reading, I often found myself exhausted right along with the main character. I read this book in short spurts, because I just couldn’t stick with it for too long. One reason I enjoy reading is because it gives me a chance to escape from the mundane and experience something that I wouldn't normally expect to experience. With this book, however, I felt like I needed to escape from the book into real life!

My Rating – 2 3/4 Stars

 

I received a free digital copy of this novel from Netgalley on behalf of Diversion Books in exchange for a fair review

 

Portia Griffin can’t speak. She has never been able to speak though doctors can’t figure out why. She has been able to lead a pretty normal life, despite her disability; she has loving parents and an amazing best friend, Felix (Actually, she’s pretty perfect in every way except the no voice thing). She is completely obsessed with music and Apple (Apple as in Steve Jobs) and Harry Potter.

 

The start of her sophomore year things start to change. There is a strange and painful tightening in her throat, an ache in her back, and sudden mood swings.

 

She also meets Max Hunter, a gorgeous musical prodigy new to her school and of course immediately interested in Portia. He writes her (bad, very bad) songs and they have a bit of an insta-love story (even though she occasionally dreams about murdering him). Poor Felix is friendzoned (in the very sense of the word. He’s a bit of a dick). It’s very clear from their first interaction that he is totally head over heels in love with Portia and her complete blindness to it is downright annoying.

 

Every time she starts to feel one of these attacks coming on, she visits the school nurse Ms. Leucosia, who gives her cryptic messages about how she’ll always be there for Portia whenever she needs her.

 

One day during the bus ride home, Portia is hit with one of these attacks and she is so terrified she hops off the bus and runs to her neighbor and former friend Charlotte’s house. She hears yelling and barges in to find Charlotte’s stepfather beating Charlotte’s mom. Portia suddenly understands why Charlotte became so distant and she is so overcome with emotion she begins to sing.

 

Her voice is the most beautiful sound in the world and also hypnotic, she convinces the step-dad to jump down a well (He survives unfortunately). Portia is so confused by her new voice and the incident at Charlotte’s house that for weeks she hides the fact that she can finally speak.

 

Finally one night at a club where Max is performing, a fight breaks out between Max and Felix and Portia is convinced that the only way to stop the fight is to sing. Everyone is transfixed, except Felix, because he can’t hear her.

 

Ms. Leucosia comes to the rescue and reveals that Portia is a Siren. A mythical being with a beautiful voice and special powers. Leucosia is one of the Sirens from the Odyssey and that her two sisters are evil and are plotting to pull Portia to the dark side. The dark side includes killing men for fun and eating them (which explains the dreams about Max). Portia must decide if she is going to use her powers for good or evil.

 

I wanted to like this book, it has to do with Mythology after all, but it fell flat. Really flat. Mostly because of the poetry and song lyrics. They were terrible. And cheesy. Portia even raps at one point. The overall writing was too…flowery. Portia describes Max’s voice as chocolate wrapped in sandpaper (what?!).

 

I didn’t like Felix, like at all. He was getting mad at Portia for not realizing he loved her, for dating another guy even though he was dating another girl, and for not loving him. He was a douche.

 

Also the insta-live and the triangle bothered me. The random pop culture references seemed strange and forced. What kind of teenage girl uses “stevejobs” as her password? Portia compares herself to Bella. She uses the term “RPatz”. Also Leucosia is supposed to be her mentor and guide her through this transition and she does nothing to actually help Portia. She comes off as useless to me.

 

And authors, can we stop with this – “If we don’t stop now, I won’t be able to stop later.” That translates to “If we don’t stop fooling around before I get too horny, I’m going to rape you later.” It’s not hot, it’s creepy.

 

This book just didn’t do it for me.

Read this review and more at <a href="http://punkshouse.wordpress.com/">Punk's House of Books</a> and <a href="http://ficcentral.com/">FicCentral</a>

   Silent Echo

   Author: J R Rain

   Performed by Phil Gigante

   Released: December 2013 by Brilliance Audio

   Category: Crime/Thriller/Suspense

 

 

  

 

This book was given to me from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I need to disclose that this was NOT A FINISHED COPY! Some of this book could have changed by the publishing date.That being said, I will go on with my review. First off, I did not finish this book. Normally I don't review books I haven't finished, but as it was an ARC I need to explain my reasons for not liking or finishing it.Second, a lot of people WILL love this book, I'm sure of that, but I didn't and couldn't finish it and here are my reasons why.

 

1. The Characters

 

Simply put - I despised the characters. If they were real people, they'd be the kind that I would keep away from. The main problem with the characters was Portia, who incidentally is the main character. I find that if I can't connect with the main character and the plot is sketchy then the book falls out of favor with me. If I don't connect with a character, when they act bitchy, even as a part of the plot, I can't stand them.

 

And Portia was just 'ugh'.

 

And even though I have trouble providing quotes, I found some, because to be quite honest, once Max (her love interest) came into the picture, she started treating the only person who had had her back like dirt. What's worse was she knew he was developing feelings for her, but she tended to forget him whenever Max was on the scene. I mean, what is that teaching the reader? That it's okay to mess with your best friend, male or female, if you get a hot boyfriend or girlfriend. No, it's not. It's in no way cool.

 

So anyway these are some of the quotes I came up with. The first one is before Max and the last two are after Max.

 

'What?" she mouthed silently.'Nothing, I'm just happy that Zachary Wilson pummeled you that day,"'Me too, Felix." Though her words were silent, she hoped that they resonated in the deaf ears of her best friend.

 

Haha in case you were thinking Felix was a douche about being happy about Zachary beating Portia up, the back story shows that it was the beginning of their friendship and it happened when they were very young.So, anyway now Post-Max - keep in mind that Felix and Portia had never argued before, not to a mean degree anyway.

 

"You don't own me Felix." She mouthed the words harshly, momentarily satisfied by the look of hurt on his face. 14%

 

She said that because Max walked off in a huff after he caught Felix rubbing her aching back. He was teasing her and that was her response. She was glad she hurt him. Why would anyone be glad they hurt their best friend? Seriously? Turning bitchy because your boyfriend walked off in a huff? Yeah, that makes me like you, Portia.And this following one was the last straw for me.

 

'So why was it that at the sight of Felix's new love interest, the rage that had been sweeping over her in vibrant spurts returned so fiercely that all she could do was turn around. If not the words that were creeping up in her throat would surely have broken the surface."Hey Parker - stay the hell away from him..." 29%

 

Now maybe you're wondering why that would upset me? Obviously, she likes him a lot more then she lets on. No, unfortunately, she's totally hooked on Max. What this is, is a case of 'I don't want you, but I don't want anyone else to have you either', with maybe a little bit of 'you're my best friend and you have to be there for me, even though I know you like me and I rub it in your face that I'm with Max.' And he writes the most amazing songs in the whole wide world because (of course) he's a musician. Not to mention my boyfriend eggs on my best friend so much that they end up in a fist fight. Ugh! No, just no!

 

She just came across as totally self-absorbed and awful!I could go on about Max, but this review is getting long enough and I still have other points to go over. Let's just say that I wasn't happy with any of them.

 

2. Writing Style

 

So the book actually started off all right, even though Portia was already starting to rub me the wrong way. It's written in third voice and the story was basically told around Portia, with her thoughts and feelings. And then, bam, suddenly it changes so you've suddenly got Max's Felix's and Leto's perspective. There were probably even more characters' perspectives, but I stopped reading around the 42% mark. so I don't know.

 

Now don't get me wrong - I love third voice and getting into the heads of other characters, but this was just so poorly executed that all I could think was, 'What the hell is going on?" Suddenly, instead of having to focus on one or two characters, I had to get inside the head of several. When it's executed well, it can be a wonderful experience. This, sadly, was just painful.

 

Another thing is that I couldn't experience anything the characters were going through. There just wasn't any depth. I felt like I was being told that this was happening, not experiencing what was happening. When Portia almost killed an abusive man, I felt nothing. When Max sang a love song (at least I think it was a love song) to Portia at the nightclub, I felt nothing. And as much as I wanted to, I just couldn't find the connection I needed.

 

3. The Lyrics

 

Okay so this is actually the hardest part for me. As a writer, I know that your heart and soul can go into developing and writing lyrics. They end up being very personal and special. But, as a reader, I hated them. There were too many of them and I ended up just skimming over them. If they were there to act as part of the plot, it didn't work for me. Maybe they were explained further into the book, but I didn't care enough about the story to find out. They didn't feel AT all necessary, even though Portia was a siren.

 

4. Plot

 

The story line was actually kind of interesting, but the execution of it just ruined it for me. Using a little 'poetic license' and changing mythology to suit your story doesn't bother me. But, I just couldn't connect to it and I absolutely ADORE mythology. There just wasn't enough to hold my interest and add that to the characters that I thought were just hideous just made my whole reading experience awful. The truth is that if I had forced myself to keep reading it - because it was an ARC (and I treasure them), I would have ended up an angry, bitter and tortured mess.

 

As much as I wanted to love this book, and I've read another book published by Diversion Books that I absolutely adored, I just couldn't.I can't recommend this to anyone the way I'm feeling about this book - the reader will need to decide for themselves.

 

Anyway, I'm sure you can guess what my rating is:-  One out of five stars.

Actual rating: 0.5 stars
This review is also posted on my blog at Thoughts and Pens

Before we proceed to the actual review, here's an attempt to put some accurace into the blurb!

Silent Echo, a wannabe Glee meets Greek Mythology parody tale, is the ultimate modern day coming-out-from-a-loony bin story. It is a thrilling ride that achieves that perfect blend of instalove, no action, absence of humor, psychotic teen angst, apple technology, and most importantly, horrible music-- the universal language of pathetic Sirens and sissy boys.

My Review:



Attention: If you hate spoilers, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW! But if you’re angry and want something to fuel it then by all means, go ahead and read it.

Warning: If you are a Percy Jackson fan, please do yourself a favor and do not even attempt to read this. Chances are you’ll gonna end up comparing a lot of things in this book to that of Rick’s work. I am not saying that Silent Echo is a PJ rip off but because it’s about Greek mythology, one can’t but make some comparisons. Unfortunately, it happened to me while reading this book. Perhaps, I was so invested with PJ that I can’t help but be frustrated with Silent Echo. So frustrated that by the end, I was near to shredding the whole thing into pieces. Luckily, I was reminded that I am reading an e-book and the worst that I can do is delete it.

Although I hated Silent Echo to the roots of my hair, I couldn’t deny the fact that its beginning managed to suck me in. Who wouldn’t when Portia’s handicap was really interesting? Silent Echo would be my first read about leads who can’t speak and who can’t hear. But my happiness was fleeting as the numerous flaws of this book gradually overwhelmed me.

It started with me realizing Portia’s true personality. She had my sympathy at first and then as the story evolved, I saw the real her. She’s a brat with little to no depth at all. She had this on and off hatred for her mother just because she could feel that her mother was disappointed with her having no voice. By the way, it wasn’t thoroughly explained, just mentioned ephemerally. The whole time I was reading Silent Echo, I am more inclined to see how her parents loved her. As a matter-of-fact, I can’t see Portia suffering from any kind of abuse just because she couldn’t speak. I understand that her mother might be a little disappointed and who knows, might be hurt because her daughter lives on silence, but there was more love there. Her bratiness increased when her powers as a Siren began developing. She became this b-tchy girl who I just want to slap. It might be because she was possessed by the evil sisters Parthenope and Ligeia but I couldn’t see that she was striving so hard to fight them. Instead, goddess that she might be, she depended on the gods to help her. Her attempts to shake off the evil that’s possessing her were futile. She always ended up in the nurse’s clinic for Leto to fix her up. Throughout the whole story, there was little development to Portia’s character unless you count how her made up songs were getting worse to worst. And the way she treated Felix and Max, that wasn’t cool. The story ended with her not really comprehending the breadth of what she’d done. Even her regrets were superficial.

When I thought that I was getting a reprieve from Portia’s bratiness with the introduction of Max Hunter and Felix Fein, I was in for another disappointing ride. Felix is Portia’s bestfriend whose handicap is hearing. I expected that I would root for him but he’s just gorgeous on the outside but on the inside, he’s a total meeh. And then there’s Max Hunter, the love interest. Honestly, he’s just a prop. His character development only extends to being good at singing and writing horrible songs apart from being unreasonably kidnapped at the end by Portia. That’s what you only need to know about him.

Just forget about the parents, Jacqueline and Charlotte. The latter might have some issues going here and there but for me, this review can still get the message across without mentioning her.

And now, for the gods. I was mortally wounded after it dawned on me that I’m gonna be meeting cardboard versions of my favorite mythology gods and goddesses on this book. They’re so crisp and flat that you can interchange all of them and it wouldn’t make a difference. Oh wait, did I mention that Athena suffered amnesia here and forgot that she’s the goddess of wisdom and battle tactics?

“My dearest sisters, a great victory have you won here today. I pray there will be much time to rejoice. But now, I beg you, tell me how we shall treat the mortals that have witnessed both the horrors and the miracles we have seen here today?”
If that is not stupidity, I don’t know what to call it. Don’t even ask me about Ares, Dionysus and Zeus. Frankly, Silent Echo has the lamest cast of Olympian gods evah. The ending had me laughing and foaming with rage at the same time. Imagine a whole entourage of powerful gods being rendered useless by three Sirens (2 dead, 1 alive) and a wannabe minor god in the person of Proteus. That’s just great.

Silent Echo didn’t stop there. The romance tortured me too. Instalove was another downfall of this book. It was so sudden that I felt I was momentarily unseated. After knowing each other for days (around 4-5 days), Max and Portia was literally eating each other’s mouth. And without even thoroughly enjoying their instalove relationship, Portia started to hurt Max because of the evil that possessed her. Surprisingly enough, she took to Felix whom she ignored when she was all over Max. Even more surprising was that she told Felix all her secrets but she never told Max even at the end of the story. But she’s still going out with him. Anyway, more on that later.

Next, Silent Echo talks a lot about songs. Duh! Singing is Portia’s power you know. Expect that you’ll be reading a lot of made up songs here. I have mixed feelings about it though because one of the songs was in a way good.

Like this one…

You have a way, you charge the air,

With cobalt eyes and chestnut hair.

And though your lips don’t make a sound,

They speak of being pleasure bound.



Can one moment produce this draw?

And do you feel it too?

A current filled with shock and awe.

I’ll search for truth in you.

But this one here along with many others had me facepalming and laughing…

I am blessed organological,

My powers are robotical.

I am your diametrical.

You’re no longer majestical!



We started antiphonical,

You thought your words demonical.

But my verse exorcistical—

The real Portia is mystical!

Moving on, there’s the weak plot. Basically, Portia existed to combat the two evil sisters of Leto/Leucosia. As in literally. And I can’t understand the logic behind that. Portia wasn’t even a descendant of Leto (Khloe mentioned that she might be cousins with Portia’s parents in the end but that’s really fleeting. By that time, you’ve pretty much ripped this book apart with great satisfaction). The two evil sisters are already dead and serving time in the Underworld when Portia was born. Surely, the gods can handle them without the help of a mediocre godling, isn’t it? The story is not even about saving the whole world thingy. The only point of the story is that Portia solely existed to defeat Parthenope, Legeia, and Proteus so that they cannot bother Leto anymore (these three are already dead, mind you). If you think about how Venus made a special effort in choosing the parents who will create Portia, you’d think that the girl will have a larger and more important role to play. Apparently, the author got lost on how to weave a solid story for Portia. I couldn’t believe that I’ve spent my time reading 330 pages for a weak story such as this one.

As much as I want to finish this review, I couldn’t. I am more than frustrated that I need to vent all these feelings. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Silent Echo has the creativity of a slug. The world building sucked so bad. Mytikas (the highest peak out of the 52 peaks of Olympus) is just like any other mountain. I’ll bet our mountains here are more impressive than the dwelling of the gods. Even the communication system of the gods, no way. I was really thinking along the lines of offering drachmas to communicate to the gods but NO. Instead the author settled for the good old internet and Macs to communicate to the gods. And by the way, before I forget, this book is an Apple advertiser. Brace yourself for the onslaught of unnecessary information about all the things that you can do with a Mac or with an iPhone. That. Was. Terrific. In. A. Sarcastic. Way!

Lastly, the ending, it was a totally BOOMING WTF moment! Seriously?! Honestly?! Really? WTH? For the love of —– Heavens, save me from this ordeal! Was that even conceivable? The almighty gods’ powers were rendered useless against two pathetic dead Sirens and one Mystique (X-men) wannabe minor god. How was that even possible? And then here comes an untrained (instead of training, she mostly spent her time flirting with boys and manipulating her friends) Portia whose only talent is singing awful verses. Suddenly, she became powerful (without transition because if she’s not b!tching around, she’s in her bed or in the clinic getting fixed up) and manages to vanquish the three lamest villains I have encountered in my whole life. As if this book was really determined to kill me by inducing a heart attack, Portia, Athena and Leto decided that Max should forget the whole episode on Olympus, thus, he was unknowingly forced to drink the Lotus flower whatever. But most surprising was that they let Felix decide whether or not he wants to forget what happened.

The last pages give us a scene where Portia and Max got back together as if nothing awful had happened. REALLY? Portia. Portia. Portia. Your mind must have been unhinged. Max is supposed to be your boyfriend and you can’t even trust him with the truth. You’ve HURT him emotionally and you almost killed him for crying out loud yet you have the nerve to hold hands with him without feeling disgust for yourself. What sensible characters would do is that they would call a time out and find themselves first. For the meantime, they would try to stay away from the ones they love especially if they knew the danger they could inflict to the latter. But you Portia, I can’t even… *sighs furiously & rubs temple* I just wish that you went with Parthenope and Ligeia to Tartarus so I would never see you again.

To conclude…

This book is recommended to:

- Fans of Apple Products

- People who appreciates awful verses

- People who doesn’t know anything about mythology

- People who have the patience of a turtle

- People who loves paper dolls for characters

NOT recommended to:

- Fans of Percy Jackson because you will most likely burn this book to the ground

- Fans of Homer’s Odyssey ( Tip: Go and re-read the Odyssey!)

- Fans of Greek Mythology (Chances are you’d pray to the gods to have this book obliterated to nothingness. Just stick with your good ol version of Greek mythology.)

- Fans of Android products (all the mention of the Apple products here would totally ruin your reading experience and might urge you to start writing a book that has a lot of references to Android. We don’t need that, do we?)

Ps. The only lesson that I learned from this book is how to write a bad verse.

Oh Portia, Portia, Portia!

What happened to ya?

Take some advice, will ya?

Didn’t you ever think of killing yourself, did ya?

Do us some favor & do it now, will ya?


Note: All quotes/verses used in this review are from an uncorrected ARC and are subject to changes. ARC was acquired from the Publisher through Netgalley. Thank you!