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Keridan's Journey

by Michelle Peterson (Goodreads Author)

2.5 of 5 stars 2.50 · rating details · 6 ratings · 4 reviews

Paperback, 266 pages

Published February 8th 2011 by Wbd Books (first published February 7th 2011)

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Dec 16, 2011 Majanka rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, paranormal-romance

Argh, what can I say about Keridan’s Journey? This is one of those books that leave you very conflicted by the end of it. On the one hand, I enjoyed the imaginative story that is going on, with shapeshifters, sirens and other magical creatures having to keep the peace between their world and ours. But on the other hand, this book just isn’t enjoyable. All characters lack depth, the story itself is rushed, relationships are built within hours, I couldn’t give less about the main character of this...more Argh, what can I say about Keridan’s Journey? This is one of those books that leave you very conflicted by the end of it. On the one hand, I enjoyed the imaginative story that is going on, with shapeshifters, sirens and other magical creatures having to keep the peace between their world and ours. But on the other hand, this book just isn’t enjoyable. All characters lack depth, the story itself is rushed, relationships are built within hours, I couldn’t give less about the main character of this book, there were more spelling errors than I could count on both of my hands and the pacing was just terribly confusing.

I want to give this book a high rating. Really, I want to. Because I have the feeling that the author put a lot of time and effort in coming up with the characters of this book, and to build a world that is intriguing to say the least. The problem is that this book doesn’t deliver. I mean, in chapter one a major bomb is dropped on the readers, saying that the main character’s Mom is dying in what is probably the most rushed and unbelievable death scene I’ve ever come across. Keridan’s Mom passes away, the doctors talk to her for a while, and then she goes for food. She even notices how a waiter who bumps into her start singing love songs right away or that the shop manager is hitting on her. Somehow I have the feeling that if my Mom passed away, I couldn’t care less about what was happening at the moment. Moreover, I wouldn’t bother stopping to get some Chinese. This is probably one of the most irrational and unlogical reactions to a parent’s death I’ve ever seen in a book. But hold on, it gets worse.

Before we very well realize it – a chapter later, I think – Keridan’s long lost father Alexo shows up out of the blue. The man went missing for twenty-five years, but now he shows up and happily informs Keridan that he’s a Siren, a mystical being belonging to another world. Moreover, Keridan is a half Siren. Now if it were me and some strange fellow I’ve never seen before comes and tells me that on the same tone Alexo does in this book, I wouldn’t hesitate to call the mental asylum right away. Keridan however accepts this as easily as if he told her he sold cars for a living. Moreover, in a matter of days she grows very much attached to her new-found father. She trusts him immediately, as if she’s still a little child instead of an adult and when he makes her float through the air, one of his many powers, she decides they’ve become buddies and she’ll call him Pops from now on. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. But what about her Mom? That poor woman who just died a couple of days ago – funeral is never mentioned by the way – and who raised Keridan for a total of twenty-five years? Well, I’m sorry to say it, but poor Mom is just forgotten. Apparently Keridan gets over people dying really fast. Really, really, really fast, which makes me wonder if she even has emotions to begin with. But hey, the fun isn’t over yet.

Her father Alexo introduces Keridan to her new ‘aunts’. Now I can get if it you want to love and trust your own father, but I don’t understand how Keridan can become so close and trusting with these ‘aunts’ practically overnight? On one page she just meets them, and on the next page they’re practically BFFs. This is just another example of how messed up the pacing of this story is. Some parts are dragged out when it’s completely unnecessary whereas important parts are left out completely. This leads to odd timeline jumps and character developments happening too quick for a reader to follow or deem believable.

Let me also introduce to you Keridan’s love interest: Sharaj. He’s not such a bad character. He’s actually pretty original, a prince from a foreign land once cursed to become a panther. When his beloved altered the curse so he would be able to switch between his panther and human side, priests cursed her as well. Now she is forced to kill him or he is forced to kill her, or something along those lines. Again, this was a bit too rushed for me to understand completely, but I thought Sharaj did have a very original background story. On the downside, he’s not such an interesting character. Compared to the others, he is fairly well developed – as opposed to Alexo who has absolutely no personality, or to the aunts whose names are only mentioned sporadically and who could be easily replaced with cardboard figures – but he lacks any outstanding quality. He falls in love with Keridan instantly. I hate it when that happens. When do you ever fall in love with someone right away? Sure, you can feel an attraction, but since you don’t even know the person, whatever your feeling can’t possibly be love. Additionally, he proclaims his love for her in every way imaginable, making him, at least in my opinion, rather pathetic. I didn’t hate him though, but I think he deserved a bit more backbone and a bit less sloppy love story. In my opinion, the other love interest, Robert, a university professor and long-time friend of Keridan was a much more believable option. I even liked him more.

The saddest thing is that the story, essentially, is great. It has so much potential. The setting is original, the storyline is intriguing, there are enough twists and turns to keep it interesting, but it just…lacks. If the book had been 400 pages instead of 250, the story was less rushed, the author had added more details giving us a more vivid setting and characters who actually have depth and personality and aren’t introduced seemingly at random, this book would have been amazing. Unfortunately this is one of those rare books that should’ve been longer. For the story Michelle Peterson is trying to tell, she simply needs more pages. Instead, she seemed to have rushed through most of it, leaving me with a very conflicted feeling. I like the story, I want to read more about this intriguing world, but I don’t want cardboard figures who get over their parent’s death in the blink of an eye and who immediately accept their newly-found father as a trustworthy figure. I want characters who behave like actual human beings. I want depth, personality, issues, troubles. I want this book, entirely rewritten, but longer and with all these aspects I just mentioned. And then, I would absolutely freaking love it. Now, I don’t. And it annoys me, because I want to.

And also, but this didn’t bother me that much, there are a lot of grammar and spelling errors in this book. The only trouble I had with them was that most of them seemed to just have been over-looked. I mean ‘wear’ instead of ‘where’ and those kind of things. This can happen once of course, especially with self-published books, but not as often as it happens here. I have the feeling this book wasn’t even proofread, and if it was, definitely not with enough attention for detail then.

All in all, I must say that this book leaves me with mixed feelings. I want to like it because I like the setting, the premises and the storyline, but it’s just not executed well. The characters have no real depth, the pacing is off, there are basically no descriptions and it just feels lacking in all those departments. I do see great potential in the author though – she has creativity and originality – but she shouldn’t try to rush it that much.(less)

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Dec 15, 2011 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: blog-tour, own, review-on-blog

I really liked the concept of this book. Sirens are fascinating and I have not read very much about them at all. Keridan finds out that she is half Siren right at the beginning of the book. While it is not a unique I idea to find out during your teenage years/early 20s that you are really some sort of mythical creature, it is a plot line that I love. So I was really excited to dive right into this book.

I loved the mystery surrounding Keridan's heritage, but it all seemed a little rushed to me....more I really liked the concept of this book. Sirens are fascinating and I have not read very much about them at all. Keridan finds out that she is half Siren right at the beginning of the book. While it is not a unique I idea to find out during your teenage years/early 20s that you are really some sort of mythical creature, it is a plot line that I love. So I was really excited to dive right into this book.

I loved the mystery surrounding Keridan's heritage, but it all seemed a little rushed to me. I was ok with the sudden-ness of her mom's death and her dad showing up out of no where after because it was required that way in his world, but then the other things did not have nearly as good of reasons. For example, Keridan's dad mentioned that Keridan should meet her aunts (that she had never heard of before) and then one page later, without any explanation or description, Keridan was rushing home to confide in her aunt's who had suddenly moved into her house. It was just a little rushed for me. I would have liked for a bit more foundation to have been laid in the earlier stages of the story.

I really liked the guys in Keridan's life. Her best friend was awesome and I totally wanted her to show some sort of interest in him. I just felt bad because he was such a good friend and so nice. Sahaj was a really interesting character and he was probably the best developed character in the whole book. He was the only one we got any sort of real backstory on. I enjoyed finding out about his past. For most of the book, I was wondering if he actually liked Keridan or if it was because of her Siren powers. It just all came on so suddenly.

Overall, I really liked the initial concept of the book but the execution of it fell short of my expectations. The elements of a good story are there- cool idea, and a good love interest element, and good mystery surrounding it all but it was not well developed as I had hoped. It was a little rushed and didn't hold my interest. I had a hard time finishing this book. However, the love story is something that people might really enjoy. So if you read this book and had a different opinion of it, or if you have a glowing review let me know in the comments and Ill put a link to it. :)(less)

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Dec 05, 2011 Rachel rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I stopped reading this book at page 88. I just could not stand the blatant lack of proper grammar and punctuation so prevalent on every page. Since I could not understand how something so bad could actually get published, I looked up the "book imprint" and realized that this is self-publishing at its worst. Michelle Peterson runs an art website and teaches art, then conceives of the idea to write her own book and create her own Imprint so that the book can be considered published. Really??
There...more I stopped reading this book at page 88. I just could not stand the blatant lack of proper grammar and punctuation so prevalent on every page. Since I could not understand how something so bad could actually get published, I looked up the "book imprint" and realized that this is self-publishing at its worst. Michelle Peterson runs an art website and teaches art, then conceives of the idea to write her own book and create her own Imprint so that the book can be considered published. Really??
There are so many examples of bad grammar in this book, I don't know where to begin. Commas are so lacking, I want to cry. Specifically, when using prepositions or preposition-like modifiers, commas are needed. Also, compound sentences require the use of a comma. You would be surprised at how much a simple comma allows the reader to garner the true meaning of a sentence. Another example that illustrates how badly this book needed an editor is found on page 86: "I was left to wonder wear my tough skin went." Yes, you read that correctly.
Another huge problem I had with the book is the author's complete disregard for the writer's tool of "show, don't tell." While I understand that sometimes the rule can be disregarded, this book lacks in "showing" so much that I have no connection to any of the characters, and none of the events transpiring can compel any interest or emotional response in me. For example, on page 13, Keridan is thrust into a dream to speak with her mother. It reads "The smells, the colors are only this vibrant in a dream." That's it. No description, no picture painted with words, nothing is detailed, except in the most basic of words, such as "forest grove with flowers", "fairy dress", etc. I don't know what any of the characters look like, nor can I tell the difference between any of them.
I usually love fantasy, especially because of the imaginative descriptions that defy reality and convention, but (see? Comma!) even with a great concept of using the Greek myths of Sirens to build a world, this book is too disappointing and frustrating to be worth my time and energy. In all honesty, this book reads like a first draft of a novel after NanoWrimo -- messy, disorderly, and badly in need of a rewrite.(less)

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Dec 09, 2011 Mary rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

My Opinion:
I thought the book was OK. It was a different perspective on magical beings and shape shifters. I wouldn’t say it was a draw you in and can’t put it down book but it was – OK. There were a lot of errors in the book i.e. spelling, grammar etc. But, I am not one to talk so I should shut up about that. I liked the premise of the book but thought it was to unbelievable how Keridan took to her father and pretty much forgot about her mom just dying. Like, it almost didn’t matter. That wasn’...more

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About Michelle Peterson

Michelle Peterson is an avid reader and artist and it is this love that has lead to writing and painting becoming her favorite obsessions though she loves all things creative. Being a ghost writer for years, her first published book, Keridan's Journey, not only bears her name but also her love of fantasy. She currently resides in Atlanta, GA.

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