Saturday, November 24, 2012

Nara's Review: Prince of Wolves by Quinn Loftis

Title: Prince of Wolves (The Grey Wolves #1)
Author: Quinn Loftis
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Fantasy
Goodreads

Jacque Pierce was just an ordinary 17 year old girl getting ready to start her senior year in high school in Coldspring, Texas. When a mysterious foreign exchange student from Romania moves in across the street, Jacque and her two best friends, Sally and Jen, don't realise the last two weeks of their summer was going to get a lot more interesting. From the moment Jacque sets eyes on Fane she feels an instant connection, a pull like a moth to a flame. Little does she know that the flame she is drawn to is actually a Canis lupis, a werewolf, and she just happens to be his mate; the other half of his soul. The problem is Fane is not the only wolf in Coldspring, Texas. Just as Fane and Jacque are getting to know each other, another wolf steps out to try and claim Jacque as his mate. Fane will now have to fight for the right to complete the mating bond, something that is his right by birth but is being denied him by a crazed Alpha. Will the love Fane has for Jacque be enough to give him the strength to defeat his enemy, will Jacque accept that she is Fane's mate and complete the bond between them?
Review by Nara


I apologise in advance for the ranting that will be included in this review. Hell, the entire review is a rant. Not a good one either.

First, let's get this out of the way. This book is an absolute monstrosity. This book is probably the worst book I have ever read. This book is probably one of the worst books ever written. Books like this should not be allowed to exist. How I felt when I realised I had wasted good minutes of my life reading Prince of Wolves:

There are so many problems with this book, that honestly, it's hard to gather my thoughts enough to actually start this review, but here goes:

Dumbass friends
Sally finally spoke up. "I don't think you're crazy, Jac. Really, you're not. There has to be some sort of explanation. We'll figure it out, we always do."
Okay. So the genre of this book is urban fantasy, right? Hence, the characters in the novel don't know that fantastical beasts exist, much like in reality. Think to yourself, if one of your friends called you, asked you to come over, and then proceeded to tell you that they heard a voice in their head, what would your reaction be? Here's what mine would likely be:
Friend: I hear a voice in my head.
Me:......
Friend: I'm serious. I know you think I'm crazy, but I really do. It's that foreign exchange student who lives across the road.
Me: Have you been doing drugs?/Have you been getting enough sleep?/I know that work/school has been stressful lately etc. etc.
Here's what wouldn't happen:
Friend: I hear a voice in my head.
Me: Oh, that's perfectly reasonable, I'm sure there's an explanation for it.

The writing. All of it. Burn it. BURN.
I was reading a number of reviews on Goodreads, where the reviewers gush about how real the characters sound, how they sound exactly like teenagers. NO. Just no. As a teenager, I think I know how teenagers speak, and it certainly isn't like this:
"You are so, so not comparing me to Dog the Bounty Hunter's daughter right now and why are we talking about this anyway because it is sooooo NOT the point!"
Yep, that's exactly the line as it appears in Prince of Wolves, right down to the number of 'o's in so. Even if some teenagers (although I don't know what planet these teenagers would come from) do speak like that, it isn't the sort of language that should be included in a novel. I have no idea who the editor/proofreader was, but quite honestly, they're doing a terrible job. The number of typing and grammatical errors in this book is phenomenal. I mean, I understand that this book was by an indie author, but have you never heard of spell check? Another thing that really annoyed me was that the writing didn't flow. Loftis rapidly changed the point of view in addition to backtracking, so we often got the same scene twice (once from Jacque's POV and once from Fane's). Jesus, the writing is bad enough without us having to revisit every goddamned scene twice.

And here are a few lines to show you why you should defenestrate your copy of Prince of Wolves:

Her last thought as she drifted off was of a full moon, whatever that meant.
Wow, whatever could the full moon mean? Why, Ms Loftis, is that your subtle attempt at hinting that there may be werewolves in this book?

Her long coffee-colored hair was striking against her mocha-colored skin.
-_-

"What the stink does that mean?"
Who says that?? What teenager would say that??

"I have a bad habit of mixing my native language with my English, I beg your pardon."
As if the love interest wasn't bland enough, now he has to be someone who speaks English perfectly well, yet feels like he has to show off his Romanian. And calls it a "bad habit".

"First impressions?" Jacque finally prompted.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe something like, OH MY, stutter, drool, FREAKING, pant, deep breathing, GOSH!" Jen spat.
Again, -_-

So, if the above didn't convince you not to read Prince of Wolves, I cry for you.

Similar Books:
@#^*^!^#$

If you're looking for something werewolf related:
1. Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
2. Destiny Binds by Tammy Blackwell
3. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
4. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
5. Moon Spell by Samatha Young
6. Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock
Look! There are so many other werewolf books you could read without having to resort to rags like Prince of Wolves!

Horcrux

Ratings
Overall: 0/10
Plot: N/A (honestly, did not read enough of this book to get a gauge of the plot, although from the blurb it looks pretty average)
Writing: 0/5
Characters: 0/5 (dumbass friends, pretentious male lead, idiotic protagonist)
Cover: 3/5

5 comments:

  1. This sounds absolutely awful. I hate it when authors try to write teenage dialogue by dispensing with proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Not only is it insulting to teenagers, it's extremely annoying to try to read!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's terrible. There is literally nothing good about this book. If you ever feel like a laugh (/want your eyes to burn in almost physical pain) I think the book's actually free on Amazon.

      Delete
  2. i happen to be a teenager and this book was not necessarily written with the best grammar and dialog but dumb ass friends- how old are you? obviously no a teenager because many of the things they said- i have friends who say things similar to it, it's not young adult but i read it in middle school several years ago and it had seemed pretty good, but the books you recommended were really good, so thanks for that
    truly i think you are over eggsaturating
    slightly annoying at times but iverall you are being dramartic and its not horrible

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, first of all, these are completely my personal opinions, and I'm entitled to feel however I wish. And I personally thought this was a horrible book. The worst book I have ever read, in fact. Just because you feel that I'm being "dramatic" and "annoying", doesn't mean my opinion of the book is going to change.

      At the time I read and reviewed this book, I was seventeen, so clearly that falls within the category of "teenager". Also, I express explicitly in the review "AS A TEENAGER" so you clearly haven't read my review properly. I am currently still a teenager, and my views on the book have not changed.

      And you say that this is not a YA book, but actually it is. It's classified under "teens and YA" on Amazon.

      Delete
    2. I'm enjoying this immensely, almost as much as I enjoy eggsaturating.

      Delete