Ronnie G. (frenchgiant) reviewed City of the Gods: The Return of Quetzalcoatl on + 22 more book reviews
A ginormous UFO appears over Mexico City broadcasting the long lost language of the Aztecs? After reading the synopsis of the book how could I not read it? As a fan of all thing odd & peculiar I was instantly intrigued. It also didn't hurt that I had recently returned from a trip to Mexico where I had obtained a new found appreciation for Mexican history & culture. With that said I cracked open "City of the Gods" and crossed my fingers, hoping my current grueling streak of reading sub-par novels would come to an end. Sadly, the streak continues.
Near the start of the novel I was pleasantly surprised with its pace and high level of intrigue. I was genuinely curious about what type of beings inhabited the ship. Why had they come? What would happen when the main characters made contact with them? My list of questions went on and on. Garone had me hooked.
Then something changed. I'm not sure if my lack of expertise in Mexico's history and deep rooted mythology is to blame, but as Quetzalcoatl awoke from his slumber I began losing interest in the story. I found myself having a hard time following (and in turn remaining interested) in some of the lengthier passages that attempted to explain Mexico's history and mythological philosophies. It's clear that Garone has an extensive level of knowledge in these areas and I think he could have done a better job of translating this material into a format that would make sense to someone with little to no knowledge in the subject matter.
Despite this, I continued on as I'm not one to leave a book half finished. As the book continued to progress I began to become more and more aware of a ridiculous amount of grammatical errors. Now, I don't claim to have completely mastered the English language and I'm certain if you comb through this review you could point out numerous errors of my own, but I'm also not publishing a novel. By the look of the book's cover and binding it was most likely published on a low budget, which I can appreciate. With that said, that's still no excuse for the amount of errors present on these pages. Have your family and friends proofread it. Read it over and over again yourself. Do everything you can to expose the errors prior to publication...because (and perhaps this is just my anal-ness coming through) as I noticed each error I had a harder time taking the novel seriously. I imagined myself a school teacher reading through a student's book report, shaking my head at what should have been obvious errors.
Nevertheless, I soldiered on and finished the book. I felt the fighting between Quetzalcoatl and the visitors came to a somewhat abrupt and anticlimactic end, although I did enjoy the interesting twist that takes place with Samantha. I won't say any more in fear of ruining the story for those who decide to read the book.
All in all I realize I sounded rather harsh in this review, but there is a silver lining my friends. The book is a relatively quick read and sheds some light on the history of Mexico that many people may not be aware of. Upon completion, it's also prompted me to do some additional research of my own to become more familiar with the complexities of Mexican mythology. I think Garone has some potential and while I wouldn't necessary recommend this book to anyone, I am curious to see what he comes up with next.
Near the start of the novel I was pleasantly surprised with its pace and high level of intrigue. I was genuinely curious about what type of beings inhabited the ship. Why had they come? What would happen when the main characters made contact with them? My list of questions went on and on. Garone had me hooked.
Then something changed. I'm not sure if my lack of expertise in Mexico's history and deep rooted mythology is to blame, but as Quetzalcoatl awoke from his slumber I began losing interest in the story. I found myself having a hard time following (and in turn remaining interested) in some of the lengthier passages that attempted to explain Mexico's history and mythological philosophies. It's clear that Garone has an extensive level of knowledge in these areas and I think he could have done a better job of translating this material into a format that would make sense to someone with little to no knowledge in the subject matter.
Despite this, I continued on as I'm not one to leave a book half finished. As the book continued to progress I began to become more and more aware of a ridiculous amount of grammatical errors. Now, I don't claim to have completely mastered the English language and I'm certain if you comb through this review you could point out numerous errors of my own, but I'm also not publishing a novel. By the look of the book's cover and binding it was most likely published on a low budget, which I can appreciate. With that said, that's still no excuse for the amount of errors present on these pages. Have your family and friends proofread it. Read it over and over again yourself. Do everything you can to expose the errors prior to publication...because (and perhaps this is just my anal-ness coming through) as I noticed each error I had a harder time taking the novel seriously. I imagined myself a school teacher reading through a student's book report, shaking my head at what should have been obvious errors.
Nevertheless, I soldiered on and finished the book. I felt the fighting between Quetzalcoatl and the visitors came to a somewhat abrupt and anticlimactic end, although I did enjoy the interesting twist that takes place with Samantha. I won't say any more in fear of ruining the story for those who decide to read the book.
All in all I realize I sounded rather harsh in this review, but there is a silver lining my friends. The book is a relatively quick read and sheds some light on the history of Mexico that many people may not be aware of. Upon completion, it's also prompted me to do some additional research of my own to become more familiar with the complexities of Mexican mythology. I think Garone has some potential and while I wouldn't necessary recommend this book to anyone, I am curious to see what he comes up with next.
