Tell what you like or dislike about the current chapter or the book and why. Be specific.
Grapes of Wrath: (Chapters 1-3)
The chapters seem to be written in a two-part pattern, alternating between general descriptions of the countryside and a narrative following a character called Tom Joad. The first chapter is very descriptive, giving the reader a general overview of the farmlands and cornfields as they wither from drought and dust storms and how men, women, and children look on over their crops. The first chapter was fine as it gave a sort of backdrop to the story and a sense of the time period. I liked how it gave details about the weather and the geography to really give the reader an impression of what it might be like to witness the Dust Bowl. However, I didn't really like the segway into the second and third chapters. The second chapter deals with the quick-thinking Joad hitchhiking with a lonely truck driver. It isn't introduced until the end of the chapter that Joad is heading to his father's farm because he was just released from "McAlester" prison for homicide. It is interesting how the author places this information as it adds a plot twist. However, much of the dialogue is written in a dialect with "somepin" instead of something which can sometimes seem overdone. I also don't like the random details added in chapter three about a truck driver running over a turtle. I know it is supposed to be symbolic, but I fail to see how this represents anything significant about the era other than the fact that there is some lunatic truck driver attempting to run over poor animals. I expected the book to be centered on a specific family as they try to leave Oklahoma for better farmlands. This is not what I expected, but I am waiting to see how the characters and storyline develop.
Eternal Knight: (Chapters 1-2)
I like how the book starts off right into the action instead of slowly building up like how a lot of other stories do. It makes the story more interesting as readers see Hadde sneak through the forest with her companions, Belor and Calen, on the lookout for foreigner travelers and defend her village from the enemy, the Kiremi. However, the first few pages were kind of confusing since the author coined a lot of new vocabulary or phrases like "Dromost take them" or "Isn't the Wasting enough?" or “Don’t be an akinos” (Heppe 1-2). The meaning of some of these phrases can be guessed at or inferred from the blurb on the back cover but a little more background information about the setting and the characters so far introduced might have made it clearer. For some reason, I think of fantasy-type novels using very proper English, so some of the words used in the dialogue seem anachronistic or too modern to me. However, for the most part, I like how the story is set so far. The writing level is really impressive for a self-published first novel. Also, I like how Mr. Heppe uses words from archery like "knocking the arrow" and martial art terms like rolling in towards a hit to lessen the blow. It makes it seem more real and life-like, even if the storyline is embedded into fantasy.
Grapes of Wrath: (Chapters 1-3)
The chapters seem to be written in a two-part pattern, alternating between general descriptions of the countryside and a narrative following a character called Tom Joad. The first chapter is very descriptive, giving the reader a general overview of the farmlands and cornfields as they wither from drought and dust storms and how men, women, and children look on over their crops. The first chapter was fine as it gave a sort of backdrop to the story and a sense of the time period. I liked how it gave details about the weather and the geography to really give the reader an impression of what it might be like to witness the Dust Bowl. However, I didn't really like the segway into the second and third chapters. The second chapter deals with the quick-thinking Joad hitchhiking with a lonely truck driver. It isn't introduced until the end of the chapter that Joad is heading to his father's farm because he was just released from "McAlester" prison for homicide. It is interesting how the author places this information as it adds a plot twist. However, much of the dialogue is written in a dialect with "somepin" instead of something which can sometimes seem overdone. I also don't like the random details added in chapter three about a truck driver running over a turtle. I know it is supposed to be symbolic, but I fail to see how this represents anything significant about the era other than the fact that there is some lunatic truck driver attempting to run over poor animals. I expected the book to be centered on a specific family as they try to leave Oklahoma for better farmlands. This is not what I expected, but I am waiting to see how the characters and storyline develop.
Eternal Knight: (Chapters 1-2)
I like how the book starts off right into the action instead of slowly building up like how a lot of other stories do. It makes the story more interesting as readers see Hadde sneak through the forest with her companions, Belor and Calen, on the lookout for foreigner travelers and defend her village from the enemy, the Kiremi. However, the first few pages were kind of confusing since the author coined a lot of new vocabulary or phrases like "Dromost take them" or "Isn't the Wasting enough?" or “Don’t be an akinos” (Heppe 1-2). The meaning of some of these phrases can be guessed at or inferred from the blurb on the back cover but a little more background information about the setting and the characters so far introduced might have made it clearer. For some reason, I think of fantasy-type novels using very proper English, so some of the words used in the dialogue seem anachronistic or too modern to me. However, for the most part, I like how the story is set so far. The writing level is really impressive for a self-published first novel. Also, I like how Mr. Heppe uses words from archery like "knocking the arrow" and martial art terms like rolling in towards a hit to lessen the blow. It makes it seem more real and life-like, even if the storyline is embedded into fantasy.
