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Note:
Merry Christmas to you all. This is the last book I had any chance to read before the COVID-19 outbreaks that started and the pandemic shutdowns. Since that time, my time has been extraordinarily limited. I'm an essential worker, and I haven't even had time to read a pamphlet, let alone a novel for reviewing properly. But I had finished K.D's novel the week before work went into overdrive. This is my review based on my notes, and I cobbled it together over several months.
I realize that some of you think "How difficult could it be to review a book?"
For me, it's a time-consuming process, where I make loads of notes and then craft together a review. I take it very seriously, I like to go back to read the book at times and make page marks in my notes, and I want to be as accurate as I can. That is why I know I cannot do a review to my standards right now. I don't want to cheat anyone out of a proper review.
I want to thank K.D for her extraordinary patience because I am sure she's been wondering what happened. K.D I am so sorry for the delays. I offer this as a Christmas Gift of sorts.
To everyone who reads this, may your season be merry and bright to you all, and I look forward to the days where I can sit and properly read and review again. Until then, please enjoy this review.
- Mrs. Y
Sometimes in life, the best way to get through a rough day is to be part of something big. Today's review is about a book of terrible days made better by a unified team of adventurers. I'm talking about K.D McNiven's book, the 2nd in the "Decker & Callie Adventures" series, "Shark Eater." Full disclosure, K.D asked me to do another honest review of her work, and I picked up "Shark Eater" on Kindle Unlimited to review it. I want to thank her for asking for the review!
The first impressions I have of "Shark Eater" are different from those I had for "Monkey Idol," in that it wasn't the same kind of hook. There was a hook, and it started with a well-done prologue and moved into Chapter 1 rather well. That said, I was slightly disappointed. The high-paced adrenaline rush that was "Monkey Idol" in its first pages was irresistible and had me at the go.
That said, I learned a lot about shipwrecks, and I do not want to spoil anything here. The amount of lore and mysterious nature to this hook was compelling and fun. I liked how everything moves into itself. "Shark Eater" had a good opening, and I hope you like it too.
With that in mind, let me go into the critiques I have for "Shark Eater," and I start with "Cliche Much." First, some explanation and a bit of a spoiler but hopefully not a large one. I noticed something reading this book, and I think K.D loves to name her bad guys in a similar fashion and give them similar traits. In "Monkey Idol," the villain was Bruno. In "Shark Eater," it is Lito. Lito's critique is not as fleshed out as Bruno in some respects, and at times in his most infamous of plots, is similar to a "Snidely Whiplash" villain. Unlike Whiplash, Lito is into real terrible things, but the way he deals with stuff is very much in the Whiplash fashion. I know this may sound a bit silly, but mustache-twirling villains are somewhat cliche, especially in Action Adventure stories. I didn't feel that Lito's story made a connection aside from 'this is the antagonist, he does bad things, people are going to get kidnapped,' and it came across like an overused idea that wasn't uniquely posted.
With that in mind, let me go into what I enjoyed about "Shark Eater," and to start, we go with "Whole Story." I'm starting here because I want to say how refreshing it is to get a fully functional stand-alone book in a series. You could step into this story without any idea who Callie or Decker is and have no problem following along or getting to the end. K.D has a masterful way of writing a book that makes sense for its initial story while tying into other stories. One does not have to read "Monkey Idol" to understand what is going on with the main characters, the plot, or the villain. I also love that she tied in elements for those readers who read "Monkey Idol" before "Shark Eater."
To which, no spoilers, but allow me a momentary rant.
"WHY?! Hasn't he suffered enough? He just found love again?!! Why would this happen??!"
Rant over. K.D ripped my heart out and bashed it into bits thanks to a couple of characters, and I'd like to point out that it hurt some to read it. Good job, K.D! Making the reviewer cry is a good way to get a good score.
Next, under "Story Structure, Foundation and Presentation," I want to give high praise to formatting changes on Kindle for "Shark Eater" as compared to "Monkey Idol." This time on default, I had no issues with the structure, or how the book moved along, italics, eye bending text, margins, etc. It was beautiful to read. I also didn't find crazy misspellings either. I loved the reading experience.
My next beloved thing about "Shark Eater" is under my category "Lost in Translation," which could have been an issue. "Callie & Decker" novels are more fun than Indiana Jones movies are to me and often reference history and bits of information about archeology. I never once felt the need to Google anything to understand it. Part of the hook helped to explain things, and also, the way that the characters talk about things answers a lot of questions in logical ways. The dialogue helps to bridge the adventure with realism and makes things easy to understand.
Overall, I enjoyed "Shark Eater," and I love K.D's adventure novels. I enjoyed this one so much. Reading it was a pleasure, and it took me on a beautiful adventure in the high-seas that blended some "Pirates of the Caribbean" with "Narcos" and "Indiana Jones" in such a fun way. I honestly believe in my heart that K.D's stories would be fun shows for any streaming service or even a great movie series. The novel has such rich descriptions of places and things and leads to so much fun for the reader.
Score
With all of my critiques and scoring in mind, I'm giving "Shark Eater" a 90/100 score, a 5-Star Review on Goodreads and Amazon. I highly recommend this for any action-adventure enthusiast!
