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| Book Cover via Amazon.com |
Opinion
I want to take a moment to thank Marisa Mohdi for her patience and sweetness while I read her book. She sent me this beautiful novel to my home, and I was floored by how beautiful the cover is. It’s just amazing, and I enjoy the presentation of it. I do appreciate when an author can send me a book, so Marisa thank you so much for your kindness to me. But as you all know, I do love to cover all aspects of a novel where I can, especially the e-copy, so I did also pick this up on Kindle Unlimited so that I could give a proper review of both.
I want to go into the first impressions of this book, and I’m starting with the paper copy. It’s beautiful, the weight and size are reasonable, and the pages turn very well. I love to tell the world when pages turn with ease. The font isn’t too bad, and it’s just right, however, please see below regarding some style choices regarding some of the italics. That said, this book is beautiful and would make an excellent addition to your shelf if you decide to pick up the physical copy.
As for the e-book, the margins are clean and beautiful, and the font changes and features work great. Where I am not as happy, it doesn’t show the page numbers on the book for the e-copy, but this by no means is a scoring portion of my reviews, just something I noticed.
Let’s go into the critiques, and I’m going to start with the “Story Structure, Foundation, and Presentation” portion of my reviews. The first part of the book is about one character, and his written correspondence with a loved one, along with some reports. The issue I have with them is that on occasion, there is a letter entirely written in italics. Take for example “Dracula” by Brahm Stoker. There are a lot of letters in that novel, but they aren't usually presented in italics in most editions. I realize that I cannot vouch for every single copy of the novel, but the ones I’ve read, the letters are consistent and are in the proper font. I am probably a broken record here, but italics use should be used minimally because of what it does to the reader. When it’s used in big stretches, the reader’s eyes bend and ache through the process of reading it. It’s okay for a writer to keep the letters written consistently and in the same style regardless of who writes them. Additionally, the change from the correspondence in the beginning to the narrative in the second part has a tonal shift. It felt a bit jarring to go from one style to another, but once in the second part, reading the book was perfectly fine.
I also have a nonscoring caution that I feel the need to bring it up because I am aware some readers may get triggered by these kinds of things. One of the characters in this story is an underage minor in a compromising situation and series of conflicts. I caution you to be aware this book has a couple of things that may spark some feelings that you do not like. I’m only writing this to write it; it’s not going to change my score; it’s merely a warning to a reader because I care.
Lastly, for the same category of “Story Structure, Foundation, and Presentation,” there are no spaces between paragraphs. However, I want to note a very positive thing. The chapter markers and shifts between the sections are very well spaced and beautiful. This especially is noticed on the physical copy, though on the e-copy it’s quite lovely.
So now let me go into what I did enjoy about “Shroud.”
I felt the story had a very classical vein of villainy in it and was a beautiful homage to one of the masters of horror novels. “Shroud” was so very Stoker like in how it presents the creatures and world we are coming to. There are aching and longing, mixed with real evil and things that the main characters cannot stop. Seriously, I’m a huge fan of Stoker’s work. I love what he did to make Vampires dangerous and terrifying. I do feel that is what Marisa did here with her antagonists. Not only are they utterly terrifying that there are chilling and vile things going on that make your skin crawl to read. The main antagonist in the story, dare I say, villain, is foul in every form of the word. Every time I read him on the page I shivered, and that’s the sign of excellent writing.
I loved the action sequences in this book. I think the fighting stances, the weaponry used and even the abilities some of the characters had were done with precision. It’s rare that I have the opportunity to glow upon the deep love I have for fighting sequences and action, let alone dance, but it was wonderfully done in “Shroud.” The physical movements, space, taste, smells and touch was expertly detailed. I seriously believe that if you are working on a novel on how to write some sequences, you should read “Shroud” for ideas on how to better scope a fight or series of battles.
Overall, this was a wickedly entertaining novel that is packed with action, magic, mystery, and cautionary tales. I’m a superstitious person by nature, and I have a deep cautious streak. This book pinged every single one of my “No way, don’t go in there” buttons. Like a tourist watching the Scooby Doo bus drive toward the spooky mansion, I was shaking my head in awe at some of the things the main character did to try to bring safety to themselves in the first part of their story.
I found the character of “Richard” to be a perfect embodiment of corporate corruption and blue-blooded fools. I feel that what happened to him and his entire story arch are well worth it and make the plot better. He’s not just some aimless distraction, he’s necessary, and I loved what happened with his arch.
There is a twist in this book, but I’m not saying where or how, but it was SO good. It was Kiser Soze levels of good, and it should be applauded. It takes a lot of work for a writer to come up with twists this unexpected, well layered and able to be sprung so nicely.
I will admit I was reading the book and torn with the choice the main protagonist had at the end. Deep down I don’t know that I would have made a different choice given the circumstances, but I would like to believe I’d be a good person. I do think the character of “Norm” should be soundly slapped in his dumb face for the foolery he had.
In case any of you who read my reviews are wondering why I am so passionate about these minor details for a change, please understand just how wrapped up into this book I was. I don’t get this excited for books at this level very often, but I did for “Shroud.” Yes, there were some critiques I gave above, but I am passionate about how I feel the entire book came out and what the characters endured.
Lastly, and I’m sure I could be argued with on this point, I felt personally this was a full story. I felt that the very ending itself made it a full story. For the points that were presented in the narrative, I felt there was indeed a complete ending. That said, there was a cliffhanger to it, that I’m sure could easily transition into a sequel or even series. It was done well, it was a rewarding sort of cliffhanger, it does leave me wanting more, but it didn’t cheapen anything. Marisa did a fantastic job with the book through all the processes, and that ending was fantastic.
Score
With the math taken into consideration, “Shroud” has earned 95/100 which is a five-star review on Goodreads and Amazon.com. If you want something dark with skin-crawling elements, this is the kind of book for you.
Until tomorrow my friends, have a beautiful day.
