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Wormhole #1
Down the Wormhole
Medusa is a nice girl, Aphrodite is empowering, Loki vanished on thin air, Isis doesn’t have a memory and Anubis is the only sane one. Join them all in an adventure that mixes the styles of ABC’s Once Upon A Time and Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson. What this can possibly mean? Why, chaos, of course!
173 pages, ebook
First published March 17, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
May 29, 2015
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to author Ana Franco.)
“Down the wormhole it is.”
This was a bit of a strange story, and I had a bit of a hard time working out what was going on.
I had a hard time keeping up with the characters in this book, because there seemed to be quite a few of them, and they all seemed to have two names; their ‘god’ name like Aphrodite, and then their everyday name like Anna.
The storyline in this really confused me. There was something going on in one world, and then we switched to something that was supposed to be set in our world, but then we had all these Greek? Gods turning up? I didn’t quite understand how something could be set in our world, but then feature a girl with snakes for hair and eyes that turned people to stone. I hoped that the story would become clearer as it went along, but it just didn’t, and I felt confused most of the way through.
There was a bit of romance, and questions over an unplanned pregnancy.
The ending to this as just as confusing as the rest of the book. I feel like I might understand this a bit more if I read it a second time, but I really can’t read it a second time right away.
6 out of 10
“Down the wormhole it is.”
This was a bit of a strange story, and I had a bit of a hard time working out what was going on.
I had a hard time keeping up with the characters in this book, because there seemed to be quite a few of them, and they all seemed to have two names; their ‘god’ name like Aphrodite, and then their everyday name like Anna.
The storyline in this really confused me. There was something going on in one world, and then we switched to something that was supposed to be set in our world, but then we had all these Greek? Gods turning up? I didn’t quite understand how something could be set in our world, but then feature a girl with snakes for hair and eyes that turned people to stone. I hoped that the story would become clearer as it went along, but it just didn’t, and I felt confused most of the way through.
There was a bit of romance, and questions over an unplanned pregnancy.
The ending to this as just as confusing as the rest of the book. I feel like I might understand this a bit more if I read it a second time, but I really can’t read it a second time right away.
6 out of 10
April 20, 2015
Okay, this is a tough one. I received the book for free in exchange for an honest review. I'm always grateful for being able to read such diverse books and in awe of what autors achieve across the world...
...but "Down the wormhole" needs to be worked on a lot.
1) The language: Considering that Ana Franco does not speak English as a native language, she does a good job. Still, if you write a book, this might not be enough. There were countless words missing or misspelled, a lot of wrong prepositions and some constructions just made no sense or didn't sound English. Aaaand I wasn't too crazy about the writing. To give a few examples:
Tomas' face fell. Andrew shrugged, smiling at Kitty. He patted her back, smiling.
She showed her tongue to Eris and ran to Tom's side, kneeling by his body.
[Small addition: I read the ARC and have been told that a lot of these errors are dealt with in the final version, so I wouldn't emphasize my language criticism.]
Anyway, there were quite some sentences that made me question the view on women communicated by "Down the Wormhole" (and the sanity of the characters).
2) The characters: Mixing the mythologies of different cultures might be your cup of tea or not, it made the book interesting for sure. While I cannot say how a teenage Anubis would behave, I can say how normal people behave. And at least Kitty is a normal person. We don't know anthing about her past (and neither learn anything about it later on). She just pops into the story and - contrary to the other human Colin - is immediately the center of attention. Why? No clue. Her actions are random. She has sudden outbursts of anger. She's not consistent in what she wants. At some point she blames her PMS for everything (like, four times - twice would have been enough). In fact, she seems to have PMS 80% of the time. Kitty is witty and cheeky, yes. But other than that, I didn't get her.
3) The story: Same issue here. I didn't get it. Things happened just because. And sometimes the stupidity of the character's actions made me wince. So, the whole story did not add up for me. There were plot holes that could comfortably house a small city. In the end, it was basically a teen love story with a few magical frills and a superevil "witchbitch" to add to the fun.
4) The superpowers: Here as well. Random. Eris is basically God with three times the ability of the others combined.
And now to the two twinkling stars on my review:
- Ana Franco definitely did her homework when it came to mythology. I didn't know anything about Amergin, for example.
- The Land Above All Clouds. That's one of the best names I've ever heard for a parallel universe. Also, up there things made more sense. Maybe it was just a mistake to write a story taking place in reality.
- The "independent novel " bonus. I know quite well that "Down the wormhole" had a somewhat smaller budget than any other book I might pick up at the bookstore. Proof readers are expensive (though eventually worth the cost).
So, a note to Ms Franco: I have the feeling the writing process involved a lot of "oh, this could be the next thing to happen!". It is always a good idea to check whether the direction the story goes in actually makes sense (for an imaginary reader). Think about the whole thing. Where did the characters come from? Why are they the way they are? What does the reader have to know in order to understand this world you created? Where are loose ends? If I need this to happen, how can I make it happen in a way that it makes sense?
I feel kinda bad. Honesty isn't always fun.
...but "Down the wormhole" needs to be worked on a lot.
1) The language: Considering that Ana Franco does not speak English as a native language, she does a good job. Still, if you write a book, this might not be enough. There were countless words missing or misspelled, a lot of wrong prepositions and some constructions just made no sense or didn't sound English. Aaaand I wasn't too crazy about the writing. To give a few examples:
Tomas' face fell. Andrew shrugged, smiling at Kitty. He patted her back, smiling.
She showed her tongue to Eris and ran to Tom's side, kneeling by his body.
[Small addition: I read the ARC and have been told that a lot of these errors are dealt with in the final version, so I wouldn't emphasize my language criticism.]
Anyway, there were quite some sentences that made me question the view on women communicated by "Down the Wormhole" (and the sanity of the characters).
2) The characters: Mixing the mythologies of different cultures might be your cup of tea or not, it made the book interesting for sure. While I cannot say how a teenage Anubis would behave, I can say how normal people behave. And at least Kitty is a normal person. We don't know anthing about her past (and neither learn anything about it later on). She just pops into the story and - contrary to the other human Colin - is immediately the center of attention. Why? No clue. Her actions are random. She has sudden outbursts of anger. She's not consistent in what she wants. At some point she blames her PMS for everything (like, four times - twice would have been enough). In fact, she seems to have PMS 80% of the time. Kitty is witty and cheeky, yes. But other than that, I didn't get her.
3) The story: Same issue here. I didn't get it. Things happened just because. And sometimes the stupidity of the character's actions made me wince. So, the whole story did not add up for me. There were plot holes that could comfortably house a small city. In the end, it was basically a teen love story with a few magical frills and a superevil "witchbitch" to add to the fun.
4) The superpowers: Here as well. Random. Eris is basically God with three times the ability of the others combined.
And now to the two twinkling stars on my review:
- Ana Franco definitely did her homework when it came to mythology. I didn't know anything about Amergin, for example.
- The Land Above All Clouds. That's one of the best names I've ever heard for a parallel universe. Also, up there things made more sense. Maybe it was just a mistake to write a story taking place in reality.
- The "independent novel " bonus. I know quite well that "Down the wormhole" had a somewhat smaller budget than any other book I might pick up at the bookstore. Proof readers are expensive (though eventually worth the cost).
So, a note to Ms Franco: I have the feeling the writing process involved a lot of "oh, this could be the next thing to happen!". It is always a good idea to check whether the direction the story goes in actually makes sense (for an imaginary reader). Think about the whole thing. Where did the characters come from? Why are they the way they are? What does the reader have to know in order to understand this world you created? Where are loose ends? If I need this to happen, how can I make it happen in a way that it makes sense?
I feel kinda bad. Honesty isn't always fun.
May 30, 2015
*I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.*
This story has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it fell short of the mark for me. I expected more connection to the modern world than there was, so that was surprising. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I felt that it was all mythological gods and things when I was expecting more connections to reality.
The author, Ana Franco, from what I understand, is not a native English speaker or writer and still wrote this novel in English! The language usage was confusing through a lot of the novel and the switch from perspective to perspective could be a bit abrupt, but I think with some more polish the story would flow much more smoothly.
The story itself deals with Celtic and Norse gods. The mythological aspect was quite interesting, but I don't think things tied together very well. There would be strange bouts of conflict that would suddenly end or be ignored for a while before popping back up again. I found this both confusing and rather off putting.
The characters were likable in most cases, but I didn't feel that they were very developed. And relationships were rushed. Along those lines, the passage of time didn't seem to make any sense at times. Sometimes it seemed like only a few minutes were supposed to have passed and then it would be a week or two. It left me rather confused.
I think the story has a lot of potential and could be a fun mythological tale with romance and humor, but it needs more polish and some development to be really enjoyable.
This story has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it fell short of the mark for me. I expected more connection to the modern world than there was, so that was surprising. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I felt that it was all mythological gods and things when I was expecting more connections to reality.
The author, Ana Franco, from what I understand, is not a native English speaker or writer and still wrote this novel in English! The language usage was confusing through a lot of the novel and the switch from perspective to perspective could be a bit abrupt, but I think with some more polish the story would flow much more smoothly.
The story itself deals with Celtic and Norse gods. The mythological aspect was quite interesting, but I don't think things tied together very well. There would be strange bouts of conflict that would suddenly end or be ignored for a while before popping back up again. I found this both confusing and rather off putting.
The characters were likable in most cases, but I didn't feel that they were very developed. And relationships were rushed. Along those lines, the passage of time didn't seem to make any sense at times. Sometimes it seemed like only a few minutes were supposed to have passed and then it would be a week or two. It left me rather confused.
I think the story has a lot of potential and could be a fun mythological tale with romance and humor, but it needs more polish and some development to be really enjoyable.
March 30, 2015
I received an ARC of Down The Wormhole from the author, Ana Franco, in return for an honest review. So, a huge thanks to Ana for allowing me to read her debut novel.
Down The Wormhole is a modern fantasy story for teenagers/young adults (I would say for 16+ years given some of the content) and is a story of love, revenge, friendship and mythology.
Chapter one opens with Eris, Goddess of Chaos, entering the prison in The Land Above All Clouds in order to free an ally, Set. She encounters the legendary Norse warrior, Sif, and battle commences. This concludes when Eris and Set escape through a wormhole and travel through to another realm. This start to the book showed real promise and I started chapter two interested to read more.
In chapter two, we are transported to the modern day world where we see Kitty arriving at an orphanage, looking for a bed. From this point on, the story is set almost exclusively at two neighbouring orphanages, one for girls and one for boys. Due to unanticipated circumstances, Kitty quickly learns that her roommates are actually mythological gods in hiding from their former lives. Trouble arrives and the gods/teenagers have to work together to defeat the enemy.
I think the overall premise of the story is very imaginative and show real potential and whilst I found the overlapping mix of Celtic, Nordic and Egyptian mythology to be slightly unusual, I liked the element of mythology in the book.
The story was fast paced and the author managed to fit a lot into a short number of pages which, at times, left me feeling somewhat confused as information was thrown at me. The plot sped along at such a rate that the reader has no time to get bored with the story, however the pace and size of the book allowed little time to properly get to know the characters. As such, I found it difficult to warm to any of the characters as I really did not feel as though I knew them well-enough to care much about them.
With regards to the characters, I found Kitty, and her over-dramatised teenage strops, to be intensely irritating at times. Given the very adult nature of the relationship that develops between her and Amergin, God of Magic, I felt that this was not a good example of someone ready to take that leap into an adult relationship. I also failed to understand why the teenagers felt it reasonable to allow Anna to remain incapacitated. There seemed to be little explanation for this, other than her being a thoroughly unlikeable individual.
My main issue with the book was the lack of explanation given as to who the characters are, why they are hiding in those orphanages, how they ended up there together bearing in mind their backgrounds as gods/mythological creatures from different pantheons (sets of gods). I found the book difficult to follow in sections, partially due to this lack of information/explanation.
At certain moments in the story, I had to remind myself to suspend my disbelief and simply accept what the author was telling me, however unlikely. This is a YA fantasy book and therefore will have some elements of the impossible about it.
Overall, the story contained a promising plot and some interesting characters. The synopsis sounded great and I noted before reading that it had garnered some good reviews. As such, I was fully expecting to enjoy the book, however I found it very difficult to get involved with the story and I found it hard to relate to the characters.
I am aware that there may be a lot of people who disagree with my assessment of the book and certainly no disrespect is meant to Ms Franco, who shows promise as a YA author. Certainly she demonstrates a creative and imaginative mind and I imagine we will see more of her writing in the future.
On a side note, the copy I read contained quite a few typographical errors which I found to be quite distracting. However, I am aware that this was an ARC and I am sure that the finished version has been edited to correct those mistakes. (I almost gave this book a 2.5* rating because of the typographical errors but decided that would be unfair based on an ARC).
Down The Wormhole is a modern fantasy story for teenagers/young adults (I would say for 16+ years given some of the content) and is a story of love, revenge, friendship and mythology.
Chapter one opens with Eris, Goddess of Chaos, entering the prison in The Land Above All Clouds in order to free an ally, Set. She encounters the legendary Norse warrior, Sif, and battle commences. This concludes when Eris and Set escape through a wormhole and travel through to another realm. This start to the book showed real promise and I started chapter two interested to read more.
In chapter two, we are transported to the modern day world where we see Kitty arriving at an orphanage, looking for a bed. From this point on, the story is set almost exclusively at two neighbouring orphanages, one for girls and one for boys. Due to unanticipated circumstances, Kitty quickly learns that her roommates are actually mythological gods in hiding from their former lives. Trouble arrives and the gods/teenagers have to work together to defeat the enemy.
I think the overall premise of the story is very imaginative and show real potential and whilst I found the overlapping mix of Celtic, Nordic and Egyptian mythology to be slightly unusual, I liked the element of mythology in the book.
The story was fast paced and the author managed to fit a lot into a short number of pages which, at times, left me feeling somewhat confused as information was thrown at me. The plot sped along at such a rate that the reader has no time to get bored with the story, however the pace and size of the book allowed little time to properly get to know the characters. As such, I found it difficult to warm to any of the characters as I really did not feel as though I knew them well-enough to care much about them.
With regards to the characters, I found Kitty, and her over-dramatised teenage strops, to be intensely irritating at times. Given the very adult nature of the relationship that develops between her and Amergin, God of Magic, I felt that this was not a good example of someone ready to take that leap into an adult relationship. I also failed to understand why the teenagers felt it reasonable to allow Anna to remain incapacitated. There seemed to be little explanation for this, other than her being a thoroughly unlikeable individual.
My main issue with the book was the lack of explanation given as to who the characters are, why they are hiding in those orphanages, how they ended up there together bearing in mind their backgrounds as gods/mythological creatures from different pantheons (sets of gods). I found the book difficult to follow in sections, partially due to this lack of information/explanation.
At certain moments in the story, I had to remind myself to suspend my disbelief and simply accept what the author was telling me, however unlikely. This is a YA fantasy book and therefore will have some elements of the impossible about it.
Overall, the story contained a promising plot and some interesting characters. The synopsis sounded great and I noted before reading that it had garnered some good reviews. As such, I was fully expecting to enjoy the book, however I found it very difficult to get involved with the story and I found it hard to relate to the characters.
I am aware that there may be a lot of people who disagree with my assessment of the book and certainly no disrespect is meant to Ms Franco, who shows promise as a YA author. Certainly she demonstrates a creative and imaginative mind and I imagine we will see more of her writing in the future.
On a side note, the copy I read contained quite a few typographical errors which I found to be quite distracting. However, I am aware that this was an ARC and I am sure that the finished version has been edited to correct those mistakes. (I almost gave this book a 2.5* rating because of the typographical errors but decided that would be unfair based on an ARC).
May 8, 2015
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I often do this to experience new authors work because sometimes until you try a new author you never know of their hidden talents, I have to say I didn't realise that the author wasn't used to writing in English but this explains a few of the problems I had with the book. Some of the sentences were very stilted and abrupt and sometimes even a little backward now understandably this could be corrected by an editor so no real big issue, I just found it harder to read due to that.
A lot of the views in this book were a little well not medieval but condescending almost eg
Some of the situations were very hard to believe the characters would act so well unrealistically but I guess this is a fantasy so I should expect that a little but when
The characters within this story were sometimes hard to follow because they flipped between their mythological times and the present day it was hard to work out what was a vision from them and what was not. We have rather an abrupt introduction well to all the characters really, Kitty runs through the rain into the orphanage for shelter randomly and happens to be sharing a room with an Aphrodite and Medusa who mysteriously don't just gradually show their powers or control but rather all at once in a second it seems! Kitty is a sarcastic smart arse and I liked that about her, as well as her explosive temper it made her feisty and unpredictable which I'm sure most readers love but she seemed to in one scene blame her anger on PMS ok us girls understand what that is and how it can make you react a little crazy there was no need to emphasise that as much as the writer did in one scene. I like the close relationship that holds throughout the story between Andrew and Thomas but then right at the end Andrew just leaves after finding out that supposedly that "Kitty" is his lost sister, wouldn't you stay around to work out whether she is or not and not just immediately jump back into the role of big brother when you actually thought she was dead. The playful banter and sexual tension between Thomas and Kitty throughout the book was annoying at times but very likeable it made them relate-able because they were so unsure of each other although in that room it did become insta-love.
The plot ok, so it was intriguing and mysterious at times but a lot of coincidences happened, Natalie got kidnapped to hear the plan but then randomly let go because she agreed to be a spy for Set which is a brilliant plan except as soon as Natalie/ Medusa walked back into the room Kitty knew and avoided her for the next month or so. There we little leaps in the story and it didn't completely flow for me.
Overall despite its grammatical errors and the way it was quite fast paced and choppy at times I didn't hate reading it but I do think it would be worth maybe basing a story so mythologically set not in our reality where details can muddle and get confusing for a reader.
A lot of the views in this book were a little well not medieval but condescending almost eg
Some of the situations were very hard to believe the characters would act so well unrealistically but I guess this is a fantasy so I should expect that a little but when
The characters within this story were sometimes hard to follow because they flipped between their mythological times and the present day it was hard to work out what was a vision from them and what was not. We have rather an abrupt introduction well to all the characters really, Kitty runs through the rain into the orphanage for shelter randomly and happens to be sharing a room with an Aphrodite and Medusa who mysteriously don't just gradually show their powers or control but rather all at once in a second it seems! Kitty is a sarcastic smart arse and I liked that about her, as well as her explosive temper it made her feisty and unpredictable which I'm sure most readers love but she seemed to in one scene blame her anger on PMS ok us girls understand what that is and how it can make you react a little crazy there was no need to emphasise that as much as the writer did in one scene. I like the close relationship that holds throughout the story between Andrew and Thomas but then right at the end Andrew just leaves after finding out that supposedly that "Kitty" is his lost sister, wouldn't you stay around to work out whether she is or not and not just immediately jump back into the role of big brother when you actually thought she was dead. The playful banter and sexual tension between Thomas and Kitty throughout the book was annoying at times but very likeable it made them relate-able because they were so unsure of each other although in that room it did become insta-love.
The plot ok, so it was intriguing and mysterious at times but a lot of coincidences happened, Natalie got kidnapped to hear the plan but then randomly let go because she agreed to be a spy for Set which is a brilliant plan except as soon as Natalie/ Medusa walked back into the room Kitty knew and avoided her for the next month or so. There we little leaps in the story and it didn't completely flow for me.
Overall despite its grammatical errors and the way it was quite fast paced and choppy at times I didn't hate reading it but I do think it would be worth maybe basing a story so mythologically set not in our reality where details can muddle and get confusing for a reader.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2015
*I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*
Can we start off by saying I respect Ana Franco? Writing an entire novel in another language...hell, I wouldn't even consider it. So I can forgive most of the grammar errors in this book.
That aside, however, I did have a few problems with Down the Wormhole - but there were also parts I liked. I'll start with the good stuff.
The mythology was perfect. You are allowed to change things in retellings, and everything that was changed worked very well. I mean, combining mythologies? Yes, please. In the next book I hope for more Celtic stuff because from the mention of their prisons at the start of the book, they sound like badass archers/rangers, and I adore badass archers/rangers (please, Ana Franco? Pretty please?).
For the first part of the book, I also enjoyed the plot and the characters, to a point. Kitty intrigued me right away. Despite everything that was happening to her, she still behaved like a relatively normal teen, and I liked that. The concept of all the gods living in an orphanage also intrigued me. And I wanted to know more about Eris' motivations. There was enough action in other parts of the book to at least keep me reading. But a lot of it didn't make sense, as I will discuss.
First off, the orphanage. What exactly do they do there? There are no mentions of food, or school, or anything other than the teens goofing around in their rooms. Um, hello? Not every kid is seventeen. Some of them, I assume, are five. They're obviously not old enough to be left alone, but what happens to them here? And what was with Colin for this whole thing? He was just conveniently shoved aside and didn't tell any of the orphanage leaders that he was being harassed by his roommates.
Speaking of plot holes, there was hardly any context to the story. I don't think Thomas/Amergin ever explained why he and the other gods are still at the orphanage, even though they're technically too old, or why all of the gods except for Eris and Set are teens. Kitty didn't have any backstory until the slight explanation at the end which still didn't answer my questions.
Toward the end and middle of the book, the plot started to become nonsensical. Events were not led up to - they felt like random ideas that suddenly popped into existence. In fact, this whole book felt like a string of ideas - a good start, but in need of editing and additions to get it all the way there.
I know I said earlier I could forgive the grammar. I can, and it didn't deduct any stars, but did anyone edit this? If Ana Franco had found an english editor, this book could have been so much more enjoyable to read. A lot of events and lead-ups needed to be added, and it could have gotten a four star, maybe even five star rating from me.
The end of the book was too dragged out after the climax, and while this can be done and be interesting, not in this case. I think most of the stuff after the climax should have been moved to the next book because it would leave more loose ends and, therefore, give me another reason to continue this series.
I liked the reference to the title near the end of the book - it gave the book a sense of completeness and, had other things been better, may have gotten it a five star rating. But again, I admire Ana Franco and I definitely think she should continue with this series - I will want to read the sequel(s)!
Can we start off by saying I respect Ana Franco? Writing an entire novel in another language...hell, I wouldn't even consider it. So I can forgive most of the grammar errors in this book.
That aside, however, I did have a few problems with Down the Wormhole - but there were also parts I liked. I'll start with the good stuff.
The mythology was perfect. You are allowed to change things in retellings, and everything that was changed worked very well. I mean, combining mythologies? Yes, please. In the next book I hope for more Celtic stuff because from the mention of their prisons at the start of the book, they sound like badass archers/rangers, and I adore badass archers/rangers (please, Ana Franco? Pretty please?).
For the first part of the book, I also enjoyed the plot and the characters, to a point. Kitty intrigued me right away. Despite everything that was happening to her, she still behaved like a relatively normal teen, and I liked that. The concept of all the gods living in an orphanage also intrigued me. And I wanted to know more about Eris' motivations. There was enough action in other parts of the book to at least keep me reading. But a lot of it didn't make sense, as I will discuss.
First off, the orphanage. What exactly do they do there? There are no mentions of food, or school, or anything other than the teens goofing around in their rooms. Um, hello? Not every kid is seventeen. Some of them, I assume, are five. They're obviously not old enough to be left alone, but what happens to them here? And what was with Colin for this whole thing? He was just conveniently shoved aside and didn't tell any of the orphanage leaders that he was being harassed by his roommates.
Speaking of plot holes, there was hardly any context to the story. I don't think Thomas/Amergin ever explained why he and the other gods are still at the orphanage, even though they're technically too old, or why all of the gods except for Eris and Set are teens. Kitty didn't have any backstory until the slight explanation at the end which still didn't answer my questions.
Toward the end and middle of the book, the plot started to become nonsensical. Events were not led up to - they felt like random ideas that suddenly popped into existence. In fact, this whole book felt like a string of ideas - a good start, but in need of editing and additions to get it all the way there.
I know I said earlier I could forgive the grammar. I can, and it didn't deduct any stars, but did anyone edit this? If Ana Franco had found an english editor, this book could have been so much more enjoyable to read. A lot of events and lead-ups needed to be added, and it could have gotten a four star, maybe even five star rating from me.
The end of the book was too dragged out after the climax, and while this can be done and be interesting, not in this case. I think most of the stuff after the climax should have been moved to the next book because it would leave more loose ends and, therefore, give me another reason to continue this series.
I liked the reference to the title near the end of the book - it gave the book a sense of completeness and, had other things been better, may have gotten it a five star rating. But again, I admire Ana Franco and I definitely think she should continue with this series - I will want to read the sequel(s)!
July 8, 2015
*The author provided me a copy of this book in exchange of an honest opinion*
I've actually never DNF'd a book before, mostly because I wasn't brave enough or strong willed enough. I tried to finish this book, I really did, but I just couldn't keep going. I really hated not finishing this, because it started out with such promise, with a really cool idea of the ancient Nordic, Egyptian and Greco-Roman gods running around as teenagers.
My problems start with Kitty, our protagonist, and Thomas (a.k.a the god Amergin, god of magic), who is (in an almost painfully obvious way) the love interest. Here's a quote from the book, a dialogue between Thomas and Kitty.
"Andrew, will tell this girl that I'm dead already?"
"No, Andrew, tell this baby boy that this woman here is sick of his voice."
"No! If that's the case, tell her that I died because of her voice!"
"Oh, yeah? What a gentleman of you!"
"You haven't seen anything yet!"
Now if this was a kid's book, I'd find this argument acceptable. In fact, if I were about eight or nine, I'd think that these two were being quite witty or snarky to each other. But no. Kitty is around seventeen. SEVENTEEN. And Thomas is a thousand-year-old god in a nineteen-year-old's body! "I died because of your voice"? Seriously? That's the best he can come up with?! It's ridiculous! Their immature shouting-sessions were incredibly annoying. Most of the time, it was hard to believe Kitty was seventeen and not seven.
Most of what I read involved these childish arguments. And why? Because Kitty wanted to join Tom and his other pals (who are also gods) in their age-old crusade, and Tom felt too "protective" of her. Ugh! Let the girl make her own decisions! And you know what irritated me the most? Tom wanted to keep Kitty out of his "war", because he (apparently) wants her to be safe, but is still a perfect jerk towards her. Either he likes her, or not. He needs to make up his mind!
The plot was rickety. Yes, rickety. There was action, but it was written poorly. Most of the time, everything went too fast and left me thinking...huh? Set would turn up, they'd have an argument/small fight and suddenly someone disappears and everything's fine again. These escapes were too abrupt for me to keep up with. Any time where Set was not plotting revenge on Tom, I had to suffer through more of Tom's and Kitty's pathetic arguments.
And finally, the dialogue. I'm going to be honest here and say I internally winced at it. Dialogue in a book needs to flow and sound natural. The characters in this book sound practically robotic! Their dialogue feels stilted, forced and unnatural. I think that's what finally destroyed the book for me. I just couldn't put up with anymore of it. Oh, and Kitty complaining about her period. That was the last straw.
"You should let someone help you," Kitty said, softly, trying to calm him. Maybe his period was worse than hers.
...Like, what?!
I actually don't know who I recommend this for. I certainly didn't like it. If you can get past the dialogue and the childishness of the characters, I think someone could find the makings of a good book in this. The idea the book is based on is something I've never heard before, and could have been quite amazing. Unfortunately, the book just didn't do it for me
I've actually never DNF'd a book before, mostly because I wasn't brave enough or strong willed enough. I tried to finish this book, I really did, but I just couldn't keep going. I really hated not finishing this, because it started out with such promise, with a really cool idea of the ancient Nordic, Egyptian and Greco-Roman gods running around as teenagers.
My problems start with Kitty, our protagonist, and Thomas (a.k.a the god Amergin, god of magic), who is (in an almost painfully obvious way) the love interest. Here's a quote from the book, a dialogue between Thomas and Kitty.
"Andrew, will tell this girl that I'm dead already?"
"No, Andrew, tell this baby boy that this woman here is sick of his voice."
"No! If that's the case, tell her that I died because of her voice!"
"Oh, yeah? What a gentleman of you!"
"You haven't seen anything yet!"
Now if this was a kid's book, I'd find this argument acceptable. In fact, if I were about eight or nine, I'd think that these two were being quite witty or snarky to each other. But no. Kitty is around seventeen. SEVENTEEN. And Thomas is a thousand-year-old god in a nineteen-year-old's body! "I died because of your voice"? Seriously? That's the best he can come up with?! It's ridiculous! Their immature shouting-sessions were incredibly annoying. Most of the time, it was hard to believe Kitty was seventeen and not seven.
Most of what I read involved these childish arguments. And why? Because Kitty wanted to join Tom and his other pals (who are also gods) in their age-old crusade, and Tom felt too "protective" of her. Ugh! Let the girl make her own decisions! And you know what irritated me the most? Tom wanted to keep Kitty out of his "war", because he (apparently) wants her to be safe, but is still a perfect jerk towards her. Either he likes her, or not. He needs to make up his mind!
The plot was rickety. Yes, rickety. There was action, but it was written poorly. Most of the time, everything went too fast and left me thinking...huh? Set would turn up, they'd have an argument/small fight and suddenly someone disappears and everything's fine again. These escapes were too abrupt for me to keep up with. Any time where Set was not plotting revenge on Tom, I had to suffer through more of Tom's and Kitty's pathetic arguments.
And finally, the dialogue. I'm going to be honest here and say I internally winced at it. Dialogue in a book needs to flow and sound natural. The characters in this book sound practically robotic! Their dialogue feels stilted, forced and unnatural. I think that's what finally destroyed the book for me. I just couldn't put up with anymore of it. Oh, and Kitty complaining about her period. That was the last straw.
"You should let someone help you," Kitty said, softly, trying to calm him. Maybe his period was worse than hers.
...Like, what?!
I actually don't know who I recommend this for. I certainly didn't like it. If you can get past the dialogue and the childishness of the characters, I think someone could find the makings of a good book in this. The idea the book is based on is something I've never heard before, and could have been quite amazing. Unfortunately, the book just didn't do it for me
November 19, 2015
I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
One day, a girl named Kitty (no last name) arrives at an orphanage for teens who live double lives. In fact, these teens are gods and goddess straight out of a variety of mythologies - Greek, Celtic, and Egyptian. Before she has time to be surprised by their identities, she is taken into a magical world that slowly reveals the truth about herself. She'll have to come to terms quickly because there are bigger secrets about to be revealed.
Generally, I'm a fan of mixed mythologies if it's presented well and clearly. I particularly liked the sound of Lewis Carroll meets Rick Riordan which is what Down the Wormhole tries for. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to either of those. While reading I was perpetually in a state of mild confusion just trying to keep the characters straight, which is really saying something coming from me. The characters seemed to randomly jump back and forth between their "human" names and their "real" names needlessly.
As for the characters themselves, our leading lady was not fleshed out much at all. She pops into the story and things just seem to happen randomly with little explanation. Random seems to be a pretty good word choice when it comes to this story actually. The characters also behave in the same way. It really bugged me that Kitty was all over the place when it comes to actions and reactions. Although the fast-paced main plot has potential and generally held my interest, the grammar errors, plot jumps, and character whiplash prevent it from flowing evenly and organically. With some substantial work this could be the great beginning of a new series.
One day, a girl named Kitty (no last name) arrives at an orphanage for teens who live double lives. In fact, these teens are gods and goddess straight out of a variety of mythologies - Greek, Celtic, and Egyptian. Before she has time to be surprised by their identities, she is taken into a magical world that slowly reveals the truth about herself. She'll have to come to terms quickly because there are bigger secrets about to be revealed.
Generally, I'm a fan of mixed mythologies if it's presented well and clearly. I particularly liked the sound of Lewis Carroll meets Rick Riordan which is what Down the Wormhole tries for. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to either of those. While reading I was perpetually in a state of mild confusion just trying to keep the characters straight, which is really saying something coming from me. The characters seemed to randomly jump back and forth between their "human" names and their "real" names needlessly.
As for the characters themselves, our leading lady was not fleshed out much at all. She pops into the story and things just seem to happen randomly with little explanation. Random seems to be a pretty good word choice when it comes to this story actually. The characters also behave in the same way. It really bugged me that Kitty was all over the place when it comes to actions and reactions. Although the fast-paced main plot has potential and generally held my interest, the grammar errors, plot jumps, and character whiplash prevent it from flowing evenly and organically. With some substantial work this could be the great beginning of a new series.
January 6, 2016
I so want to love this book but am having a difficult time with it. First about what is good in this book. Overall it has a very lively pace. The characters are intriguing and as much developed as you can when covering quite a few of them. The story is unique and has a ton of potential. How can you go wrong when mixing Greek mythology, Norse mythology, Egyptian mythology and throw in some Alice in Wonderland? Well bottom line you can't. I really like on the incredible potential this book has. It has some nice twists in it that are unexpected.
Now to the bad. It has a lot of errors throughout, grammar, spelling errors as well as just using the wrong word all together. This makes it difficult to read and frustrating. The book has good bones but the execution of it falls flat because of all the errors. There were a times when it felt like a teen wrote this book.
I think with some editing and fine tuning this book can be really good, it would just takes some time to roll up the sleeves and fix all the errors.
I have received this book from the author for an honest review.
Now to the bad. It has a lot of errors throughout, grammar, spelling errors as well as just using the wrong word all together. This makes it difficult to read and frustrating. The book has good bones but the execution of it falls flat because of all the errors. There were a times when it felt like a teen wrote this book.
I think with some editing and fine tuning this book can be really good, it would just takes some time to roll up the sleeves and fix all the errors.
I have received this book from the author for an honest review.
April 13, 2015
This book was sent to me by the author for an honest review.
Just by reading the title of the book you instantly think "Alice in Wonderland" and in part this book is in a sense like Alice in Wonderland, Except with time wormholes! What i especially loved about this book was how the author was able to make Norse, Celtic and Egyptian gods work. Time travel and gods totally won me over.
"Down the Wormhole" was a quick read not to many chapters and unnecessary parts that make you want to skip the chapter all together. At first i had to stop and reread what i just finished reading because of how fast the story was written. it would have helped more if the author wrote a little more background on what was going on.
Overall though, Down the Wormhole is filled with action, romance, and a lot of chaos!
Just by reading the title of the book you instantly think "Alice in Wonderland" and in part this book is in a sense like Alice in Wonderland, Except with time wormholes! What i especially loved about this book was how the author was able to make Norse, Celtic and Egyptian gods work. Time travel and gods totally won me over.
"Down the Wormhole" was a quick read not to many chapters and unnecessary parts that make you want to skip the chapter all together. At first i had to stop and reread what i just finished reading because of how fast the story was written. it would have helped more if the author wrote a little more background on what was going on.
Overall though, Down the Wormhole is filled with action, romance, and a lot of chaos!
May 7, 2015
I received a copy of the ePub from the Goodreads author Ana Franco in exchange for an honest review.
Fans of Alice in Wonderland and mythology will enjoy this unique read. The setting is two orphanages that house an interesting group of teenagers. They are separated by gender and they all have one of a kind talent. Kitty moves into the orphanage for females and is exposed to a mysterious world. It is a place where secrets remain hidden. Kitty’s character adds a distinct layer to this quick moving action packed story. As well, the blending of the mythology throughout is clever. The twists and turns along with the fantastical elements make it a page-turner. Franco is a talented first time author. Is Kitty’s journey over? Looking forward to the sequel to Down the Wormhole.
Fans of Alice in Wonderland and mythology will enjoy this unique read. The setting is two orphanages that house an interesting group of teenagers. They are separated by gender and they all have one of a kind talent. Kitty moves into the orphanage for females and is exposed to a mysterious world. It is a place where secrets remain hidden. Kitty’s character adds a distinct layer to this quick moving action packed story. As well, the blending of the mythology throughout is clever. The twists and turns along with the fantastical elements make it a page-turner. Franco is a talented first time author. Is Kitty’s journey over? Looking forward to the sequel to Down the Wormhole.
May 30, 2015
(I received a copy from the author, In exchange for an honest review.)
Actual rating - 2.5
This started out very confusing. I was hoping it would get easier to follow as the story went on, but unfortunately, it never did. I spent most of the book confused, so it made it really difficult to get into the story.
I can't say I liked any of the characters in this. Just like the story, I found them hard to keep track of.
Overall, Not an awful read, but I didn't really enjoy it.
Actual rating - 2.5
This started out very confusing. I was hoping it would get easier to follow as the story went on, but unfortunately, it never did. I spent most of the book confused, so it made it really difficult to get into the story.
I can't say I liked any of the characters in this. Just like the story, I found them hard to keep track of.
Overall, Not an awful read, but I didn't really enjoy it.
Read
July 27, 2015DNF 30% I'm truly sorry. I just can't do this anymore.
August 24, 2015
Thank you to Ana Franco for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Review originally posted here
3 STARS!
Summary:
Seventeen year-old Kitty arrives to live for a year in the orphanage. Here she meets other teenagers, Natalie and Anna, and Thomas and Andrew across the road in the orphanage for boys.
However, they're not normal teenagers but Gods from another world, like Medusa and Amergin, hiding in today's reality. Soon, Kitty finds herself swept up in their worlds and fighting a magical battle against other evil Gods whilst also discovering love.
My Thoughts:
It's been difficult to formulate clear thoughts on how I want to review this novel. There were some definite pros and cons throughout so I'll just split it up that way...
Negatives (to get them out of the way!):
Characters: I didn't connect with any of them to start... We never found out anything about Kitty or why she was so special that the others wanted to keep her around. She also seemed quite naive and immature considering her age at times and a lot of her dialogue/reactions were quite childish. Same goes for the Gods, although they were hiding in our world, they were hiding as teenagers so it was possible that that was their true acting age or they could've been adults in younger bodies- but they too acted well younger than 17/18 years old at times and didn't seem to possess the maturity and sophistication one would expect from Norse/Greek etc Gods. At the start there was also too much flipping back and forth between their "human" name and their "God" name for me to keep up as to who was who.
Writing: Okay, this isn't a major negative- there were some brief typos, I believe a lot less than there were but I was reading an ARC so I don't expect a fully cultivated typo free story. Also, Franco's first language is not English so writing in a literary fashion to a standard of high degree is much harder to achieve. But, I felt there was way too much dialogue at times that skimmed over opportunities to insert a paragraph or sentence or two to just briefly explain what was happening in more detail/ describe the scene. The pace was rather fast and I often had to read back a page to double check where the scene was set and who was actually present at that time as the transitions weren't definitively clear.
Romance: I liked the little romance tied into all of this action and suspense but again, it was too suddenly thrown at us with little indication as to why. I didn't gauge from Kitty at all that she'd true feelings for Tom until towards the end after certain events, but felt the reader missed out on the build up of their flirting and chasing and seeing them slowly fall for each other.
Positives:
Research: What really made this work was the amount of knowledge behind all of the various Gods. I knew very basic amounts re Medusa and Aphrodite and it was quite interesting to learn more about others and how they were all intertwined and brought into the one realm. Franco definitely did research into the mythology behind the characters she included and this was a huge aspect to making the story alive. Put the time in before a word is written and it's a huge bonus to the finished product.
Setting: Although at times I was faced with confusion as to where the story was actually taking place, I liked how it opened in The Land Above All Clouds and then took place in our world with parts back in the other realm- down the wormhole! The different worlds really worked and I felt the story fitted together more nicely when in The Land Above All Clouds. It just had more appeal than the drama down in our world.
Characters: Although this appeared in negatives, it also deserves to be a positive. I may not have understood Kitty, but I liked the mix of the different Gods, good and bad, and then seemingly regular human Kitty. I think it would've been great if Colin, the other human, had more of a presence just to compare how they integrate with these great Mythological Gods. As an Irish reader, nice having an Irish God thrown in there too to mix up the Greek scene!
Story: Throwing away analysing writing techniques, there was a solid story wrapped up in this. It definitely wins for being original and unique and such a good take on Alice in Wonderland. There was a great mix of casual story with moments of action and suspense and that's what keeps a reader turning the page.
Overall:
I don't want this to be a negative review, and any negatives I hope came across constructively. I really want to see this novel and Franco do well and I think she's achieved a lot in publishing this piece of work. I'd say the main improvement is just to analyse the pace and pad out the dialogue slightly, whilst also really knowing the characters and what drives them. This would easily be a 5 star novel if those two aspects were improved.
Review originally posted here
3 STARS!
Summary:
Seventeen year-old Kitty arrives to live for a year in the orphanage. Here she meets other teenagers, Natalie and Anna, and Thomas and Andrew across the road in the orphanage for boys.
However, they're not normal teenagers but Gods from another world, like Medusa and Amergin, hiding in today's reality. Soon, Kitty finds herself swept up in their worlds and fighting a magical battle against other evil Gods whilst also discovering love.
My Thoughts:
It's been difficult to formulate clear thoughts on how I want to review this novel. There were some definite pros and cons throughout so I'll just split it up that way...
Negatives (to get them out of the way!):
Characters: I didn't connect with any of them to start... We never found out anything about Kitty or why she was so special that the others wanted to keep her around. She also seemed quite naive and immature considering her age at times and a lot of her dialogue/reactions were quite childish. Same goes for the Gods, although they were hiding in our world, they were hiding as teenagers so it was possible that that was their true acting age or they could've been adults in younger bodies- but they too acted well younger than 17/18 years old at times and didn't seem to possess the maturity and sophistication one would expect from Norse/Greek etc Gods. At the start there was also too much flipping back and forth between their "human" name and their "God" name for me to keep up as to who was who.
Writing: Okay, this isn't a major negative- there were some brief typos, I believe a lot less than there were but I was reading an ARC so I don't expect a fully cultivated typo free story. Also, Franco's first language is not English so writing in a literary fashion to a standard of high degree is much harder to achieve. But, I felt there was way too much dialogue at times that skimmed over opportunities to insert a paragraph or sentence or two to just briefly explain what was happening in more detail/ describe the scene. The pace was rather fast and I often had to read back a page to double check where the scene was set and who was actually present at that time as the transitions weren't definitively clear.
Romance: I liked the little romance tied into all of this action and suspense but again, it was too suddenly thrown at us with little indication as to why. I didn't gauge from Kitty at all that she'd true feelings for Tom until towards the end after certain events, but felt the reader missed out on the build up of their flirting and chasing and seeing them slowly fall for each other.
Positives:
Research: What really made this work was the amount of knowledge behind all of the various Gods. I knew very basic amounts re Medusa and Aphrodite and it was quite interesting to learn more about others and how they were all intertwined and brought into the one realm. Franco definitely did research into the mythology behind the characters she included and this was a huge aspect to making the story alive. Put the time in before a word is written and it's a huge bonus to the finished product.
Setting: Although at times I was faced with confusion as to where the story was actually taking place, I liked how it opened in The Land Above All Clouds and then took place in our world with parts back in the other realm- down the wormhole! The different worlds really worked and I felt the story fitted together more nicely when in The Land Above All Clouds. It just had more appeal than the drama down in our world.
Characters: Although this appeared in negatives, it also deserves to be a positive. I may not have understood Kitty, but I liked the mix of the different Gods, good and bad, and then seemingly regular human Kitty. I think it would've been great if Colin, the other human, had more of a presence just to compare how they integrate with these great Mythological Gods. As an Irish reader, nice having an Irish God thrown in there too to mix up the Greek scene!
Story: Throwing away analysing writing techniques, there was a solid story wrapped up in this. It definitely wins for being original and unique and such a good take on Alice in Wonderland. There was a great mix of casual story with moments of action and suspense and that's what keeps a reader turning the page.
Overall:
I don't want this to be a negative review, and any negatives I hope came across constructively. I really want to see this novel and Franco do well and I think she's achieved a lot in publishing this piece of work. I'd say the main improvement is just to analyse the pace and pad out the dialogue slightly, whilst also really knowing the characters and what drives them. This would easily be a 5 star novel if those two aspects were improved.
May 4, 2015
I received a free copy of this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I rated this book a 1.5 out of 5 stars.
Things to keep in mind:
(1) This is Franco's debut novel
(2) This is an advanced reader copy meaning all the grammatical issues and syntax problems have yet to be fixed
(3) English is not Franco's first language
That being said I gave an extra 0.5 stars considering these facts.
The Plot:
Orphan teenagers who happen to be Greek, Norse and Egyptian gods manage to get entangled in the plans of a Greek and Egyptian God's plan for revenge. There is spying and betrayal and even an evil plan to steal a baby. That being said, the plot was often swallowed up by dialogue. Whenever the plot did show up, it was always a surprise and very blatant.
The Characters:
One of the things I look for most in a book is character development. I need to feel some sort of connection to the character whether I sympathize or empathize with them, even if I hate them, I do need to feel something for a character. In this case, I felt nothing for any of the characters in the book. There were too many characters, too many viewpoints, too much dialogue that did nothing for the plot or character development and too little of everything else.
I have no idea why any of the characters acted the way they did. There seemed to be no motives for the characters. Kitty went from being sweet and loving to Thomas to constantly hating him and yelling. Their voices went from quiet to yelling and back to quiet without much reaction from anyone or anything nearby.
I also had an issue with the power allotted to the characters. Some had no powers (Kitty and Anubis), some had far too many powers (Eris) and some had powers but they weren't clearly defined (Gin and Set). It was almost as if the powers were added in because of who the characters were, not because they were essential to the plot. Eris, with seemingly limitless powers would sometimes not use those powers for no purpose other than furthering the plot.
The Writing:
I had a hard time with the writing style because it was very direct while being fairly directionless. I usually finish a book with an impression of (at the very least) the main character and what they look like, how they carry themselves and how they act. I can honestly say I have no idea what any of these characters look like. Lady Sif I liken to the one in the Marvel Thor movies and Medusa I know from Greek mythology has snakes for hair (though this is mentioned in the book), but other than that I have no idea what any of these people look like.
I was also bogged down by the flashbacks. The transitions were entirely too obvious. "The memory floating to him" [insert flashback]. I feel it would have been better to just start the flashback and using queues, let the reader know we are not in the present day.
While the concept of blending Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythology together is appealing, I think it comes off a little like fan fiction. I think this could simply be because none of the characters were utilized to their full potential. Also, the fast paced plot and unnatural dialogue made for a fan fiction kind of feel.
In all honesty, I think this book should really be two books. There is a lot of character development, character description and world building that needs to be done. Most people don't walk into an orphanage and say "I'm going to live here," like Kitty did. There is paper work and legal issues that need to be dealt with. Finding out your room mates and neighbors are the Gods of myth and Kitty goes "okay, I can handle that" is not normal. Kitty should be developed into a relatable, believable character who makes decisions based on a moral code or set of beliefs, even if the reader doesn't know that code yet.
Also, I would suggest limiting the characters. People like Colin, Anna and Set are practically useless. They don't do much to move the plot along. They are not crucial to the plot and without them, maybe there could be more focus on the main characters.
All and all, I did like the book, I just think it needs more work ad polishing before becoming a shiny gem.
I rated this book a 1.5 out of 5 stars.
Things to keep in mind:
(1) This is Franco's debut novel
(2) This is an advanced reader copy meaning all the grammatical issues and syntax problems have yet to be fixed
(3) English is not Franco's first language
That being said I gave an extra 0.5 stars considering these facts.
The Plot:
Orphan teenagers who happen to be Greek, Norse and Egyptian gods manage to get entangled in the plans of a Greek and Egyptian God's plan for revenge. There is spying and betrayal and even an evil plan to steal a baby. That being said, the plot was often swallowed up by dialogue. Whenever the plot did show up, it was always a surprise and very blatant.
The Characters:
One of the things I look for most in a book is character development. I need to feel some sort of connection to the character whether I sympathize or empathize with them, even if I hate them, I do need to feel something for a character. In this case, I felt nothing for any of the characters in the book. There were too many characters, too many viewpoints, too much dialogue that did nothing for the plot or character development and too little of everything else.
I have no idea why any of the characters acted the way they did. There seemed to be no motives for the characters. Kitty went from being sweet and loving to Thomas to constantly hating him and yelling. Their voices went from quiet to yelling and back to quiet without much reaction from anyone or anything nearby.
I also had an issue with the power allotted to the characters. Some had no powers (Kitty and Anubis), some had far too many powers (Eris) and some had powers but they weren't clearly defined (Gin and Set). It was almost as if the powers were added in because of who the characters were, not because they were essential to the plot. Eris, with seemingly limitless powers would sometimes not use those powers for no purpose other than furthering the plot.
The Writing:
I had a hard time with the writing style because it was very direct while being fairly directionless. I usually finish a book with an impression of (at the very least) the main character and what they look like, how they carry themselves and how they act. I can honestly say I have no idea what any of these characters look like. Lady Sif I liken to the one in the Marvel Thor movies and Medusa I know from Greek mythology has snakes for hair (though this is mentioned in the book), but other than that I have no idea what any of these people look like.
I was also bogged down by the flashbacks. The transitions were entirely too obvious. "The memory floating to him" [insert flashback]. I feel it would have been better to just start the flashback and using queues, let the reader know we are not in the present day.
While the concept of blending Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythology together is appealing, I think it comes off a little like fan fiction. I think this could simply be because none of the characters were utilized to their full potential. Also, the fast paced plot and unnatural dialogue made for a fan fiction kind of feel.
In all honesty, I think this book should really be two books. There is a lot of character development, character description and world building that needs to be done. Most people don't walk into an orphanage and say "I'm going to live here," like Kitty did. There is paper work and legal issues that need to be dealt with. Finding out your room mates and neighbors are the Gods of myth and Kitty goes "okay, I can handle that" is not normal. Kitty should be developed into a relatable, believable character who makes decisions based on a moral code or set of beliefs, even if the reader doesn't know that code yet.
Also, I would suggest limiting the characters. People like Colin, Anna and Set are practically useless. They don't do much to move the plot along. They are not crucial to the plot and without them, maybe there could be more focus on the main characters.
All and all, I did like the book, I just think it needs more work ad polishing before becoming a shiny gem.
July 25, 2015
For more visit http://reading-is-dreaming-with-open-...
I'd like to thank the author for providing me with a digital copy for an honest review.
When I said yes to the author's request, I have to admit, my expectations were quite high. I was excitedly waiting for an action-packed, edge of your seat novel with likeable characters and a decent Alice in Wonderland resemblance, since it was advertised as a retelling. After starting the novel I slowly started to lower my expectations, but there were no low enough expectations that could have spared me from the disappointment Down the Wormhole was.
First thing I would like to say is that there is absolutely no Alice in Wonderland retelling feeling to the novel - so do not search for it. I tried and it just made me feel even more betrayed. Secondly, this is more of a romance, (a not even half decent one but more on that later) than the mythological fantasy the blurb suggests. This could have been alright - I mean you know how much I love The Selection, even though it's not high on the dystopia level - but was it? No.
The romance was acceptable and plainly boring at its best, and was intolerable and annoying at its worst. There was zero chemistry between Thomas and Kitty. Actually their interactions were the worst thing in the novel by far. The author tried to create a banter between them, but it did not work. At all.
"Andrew, will tell this girl that I'm dead already?"
"No, Andrew, tell this baby boy that this woman here is sick of his voice."
"No! If that's the case, tell her that I died because of her voice!"
"Oh, yeah? What a gentleman of you!"
I was debating between crying and laughing while reading this. I mean, does this sound sassy to you? To me it sounds like an argument between two children who heard some clever sentences on the television and are trying to recreate it. This takes me to the characters who, despite what you might think, are all above 17.
There are characters who sound immature, and then, there's the cast of Down the Wormhole. Kitty has absolutely no common sense, thus she has the strangest reaction to everything. She acts illogical and without thinking things through. Frankly, some of her reactions were ones of a madwoman and she was surprised because no one took her seriously... Jeez, I don't understand why! Don't get me wrong, the others weren't much better either. Thomas is the king of mixed signals. He loves Kitty (instalove, of course) but acts like a complete asshole with her and constantly tells her what she should do. Andrew on the other hand, seemed normal for a while but by the end he was the craziest of them all. I could tell you other illogical decisions of the characters but it doesn't get worse than this.
The whole novel is pretty simple. There are the bad guys (Eris and Set) whose chapters are all about either Eris making fun of Set or them inventing an "evil plan" that is destined to fail. Then they capture some of the characters, only to let them escape or be freed later on. If I want to simplify Down the Wormhole, I'd say it consists of three types of scenes:
- Eris and Set capturing the characters, just so a few pages later they escape
- the main characters trying to work out a plan to defeat Eris and Set
- the worst kind of relationship drama
Would I recommend this novel to my friends? No. Do I think it might work for someone? Yes, it's light and if you don't think at all hard about it while reading you might actually enjoy it. I'm totally bulshitting you.
I'd like to thank the author for providing me with a digital copy for an honest review.
When I said yes to the author's request, I have to admit, my expectations were quite high. I was excitedly waiting for an action-packed, edge of your seat novel with likeable characters and a decent Alice in Wonderland resemblance, since it was advertised as a retelling. After starting the novel I slowly started to lower my expectations, but there were no low enough expectations that could have spared me from the disappointment Down the Wormhole was.
First thing I would like to say is that there is absolutely no Alice in Wonderland retelling feeling to the novel - so do not search for it. I tried and it just made me feel even more betrayed. Secondly, this is more of a romance, (a not even half decent one but more on that later) than the mythological fantasy the blurb suggests. This could have been alright - I mean you know how much I love The Selection, even though it's not high on the dystopia level - but was it? No.
The romance was acceptable and plainly boring at its best, and was intolerable and annoying at its worst. There was zero chemistry between Thomas and Kitty. Actually their interactions were the worst thing in the novel by far. The author tried to create a banter between them, but it did not work. At all.
"Andrew, will tell this girl that I'm dead already?"
"No, Andrew, tell this baby boy that this woman here is sick of his voice."
"No! If that's the case, tell her that I died because of her voice!"
"Oh, yeah? What a gentleman of you!"
I was debating between crying and laughing while reading this. I mean, does this sound sassy to you? To me it sounds like an argument between two children who heard some clever sentences on the television and are trying to recreate it. This takes me to the characters who, despite what you might think, are all above 17.
There are characters who sound immature, and then, there's the cast of Down the Wormhole. Kitty has absolutely no common sense, thus she has the strangest reaction to everything. She acts illogical and without thinking things through. Frankly, some of her reactions were ones of a madwoman and she was surprised because no one took her seriously... Jeez, I don't understand why! Don't get me wrong, the others weren't much better either. Thomas is the king of mixed signals. He loves Kitty (instalove, of course) but acts like a complete asshole with her and constantly tells her what she should do. Andrew on the other hand, seemed normal for a while but by the end he was the craziest of them all. I could tell you other illogical decisions of the characters but it doesn't get worse than this.
The whole novel is pretty simple. There are the bad guys (Eris and Set) whose chapters are all about either Eris making fun of Set or them inventing an "evil plan" that is destined to fail. Then they capture some of the characters, only to let them escape or be freed later on. If I want to simplify Down the Wormhole, I'd say it consists of three types of scenes:
- Eris and Set capturing the characters, just so a few pages later they escape
- the main characters trying to work out a plan to defeat Eris and Set
- the worst kind of relationship drama
Would I recommend this novel to my friends? No. Do I think it might work for someone? Yes, it's light and if you don't think at all hard about it while reading you might actually enjoy it.
June 20, 2015
Challenge- Jumanji Challenge
I received a copy from the author exchange for a review
3.5 stars.
From what I read of the blurb, I wasn’t expecting what ‘Down the Wormhole’ is. It was straight into the story, starting in the past at The Land above all Clouds were Eris is breaking out a needed allied -Set- for her future plans. Then we enter the Modern day where are main character –Kitty- enters a orphanage, that is separate into two (2) orphanages- one for girls and other for boys- to spend her last year before she has to find cover elsewhere. This is where Kitty becomes exposed to the mythology world of Gods and Goddess.
The novel was rather fast pace and felt rushed, the story could have been expanded to 350-400 pages and could contain more background, characters development, slower developed romance and necessary information without becoming slow or boring; just feel like we miss out some interesting depth of the story, which it could of have. I loved the whole mythological Gods/Goddess of Norse, Celtic and Egyptian, the author intertwined the mythological brilliantly; with great research on the Gods/Goddess.
I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships; they were fun, interesting with personal characteristics. There were a few characters, which at first it was confusing and hard to remember with both their God and modern day names yet, as the story continues it become easier. The author’s writing give readers clear emotions, thoughts and understanding of each character; using third POV (point of view) to obtain this.
I had no trouble imagining ‘The Land above all Cloud’, it had great detail of the surrounding however I had trouble locating where the present time was located, it was kind of left to the readers to place; It felt like it could be England (Something like this:- )
Overall, I really enjoyed the novel, it was fun, interesting and easy read (most of the time). Only containing a few mistakes; typos, missing words, spelling mistakes and a bit too much romance at the end (for me). I hope the author revisits the book to elongate the story and fix the small mistakes; this book has a lot of potential to be great. I wonder what going to happen in the next sequel!
I received a copy from the author exchange for a review
3.5 stars.
From what I read of the blurb, I wasn’t expecting what ‘Down the Wormhole’ is. It was straight into the story, starting in the past at The Land above all Clouds were Eris is breaking out a needed allied -Set- for her future plans. Then we enter the Modern day where are main character –Kitty- enters a orphanage, that is separate into two (2) orphanages- one for girls and other for boys- to spend her last year before she has to find cover elsewhere. This is where Kitty becomes exposed to the mythology world of Gods and Goddess.
The novel was rather fast pace and felt rushed, the story could have been expanded to 350-400 pages and could contain more background, characters development, slower developed romance and necessary information without becoming slow or boring; just feel like we miss out some interesting depth of the story, which it could of have. I loved the whole mythological Gods/Goddess of Norse, Celtic and Egyptian, the author intertwined the mythological brilliantly; with great research on the Gods/Goddess.
I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships; they were fun, interesting with personal characteristics. There were a few characters, which at first it was confusing and hard to remember with both their God and modern day names yet, as the story continues it become easier. The author’s writing give readers clear emotions, thoughts and understanding of each character; using third POV (point of view) to obtain this.
I had no trouble imagining ‘The Land above all Cloud’, it had great detail of the surrounding however I had trouble locating where the present time was located, it was kind of left to the readers to place; It felt like it could be England (Something like this:- )
Overall, I really enjoyed the novel, it was fun, interesting and easy read (most of the time). Only containing a few mistakes; typos, missing words, spelling mistakes and a bit too much romance at the end (for me). I hope the author revisits the book to elongate the story and fix the small mistakes; this book has a lot of potential to be great. I wonder what going to happen in the next sequel!
February 9, 2015
I received an ARC from the author to read and review, so thank Ana Franco.
To start off with we get a Lewis Carroll Alice in wonderland quote to set the mood:
“Alice laughed: ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said; ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’
‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’”
Alice in Wonderland is one of my all times favourites, so I was very nervous here – Was this going to be a copycat sort of thing?
I realised very quickly that Ms Franco has her own strong voice and has created a unique story using a blend of Nordic, Celtic and Egyptian mythology with modern day teenagers in all their overreacting drama filled glory.
The beginning was so strong. The first chapter of Eris and Sif fighting in The Land Above All Clouds was fantastic; I would have loved to have read a whole story up there about those two.
Once we swapped from Sif’s to Kitty’s life it lost a little bit of it luster for me. I had to keep reminding myself thought-out the story to stop being an adult and enjoy the impossible happening.
My favourite character was the villain of the story, the Goddess of Chaos, Eris. But I think the aim was for people to love Kitty, Oops my bad. My least favourite character was Anna. Anna’s treatment of Kitty during labor put her right up there with the likes of Dolores Umbridge in my hatred of book characters.
The writing was choppy with a furious pace and to her credit Ms Franco fitted a hell of a lot of story into very few pages. I really wanted to love this story. It had some of my favourite things in it – mythology, magic, love and revenge. The synopsis sounded interesting and it had gotten a few good reviews. But I just couldn't get into it. I read an ARC so I can’t comment on what the finished product will be once it is buffed and polished, but this version had a lot of mistakes (sentences with words out of order, misspelled words). I’m normally not one to nit-pick at grammar and spelling as my skills are very poor – if it doesn't affect the story then I really don’t care. But I found it very hard to read this at times and I really do think that is what lowered my enjoyment. Once it is published I will buy a copy and re-evaluate, because there was real potential for an awesome story under it all and Ms Franco has a wonderful vision of a fantastic new fantasy world.
To start off with we get a Lewis Carroll Alice in wonderland quote to set the mood:
“Alice laughed: ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said; ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’
‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’”
Alice in Wonderland is one of my all times favourites, so I was very nervous here – Was this going to be a copycat sort of thing?
I realised very quickly that Ms Franco has her own strong voice and has created a unique story using a blend of Nordic, Celtic and Egyptian mythology with modern day teenagers in all their overreacting drama filled glory.
The beginning was so strong. The first chapter of Eris and Sif fighting in The Land Above All Clouds was fantastic; I would have loved to have read a whole story up there about those two.
Once we swapped from Sif’s to Kitty’s life it lost a little bit of it luster for me. I had to keep reminding myself thought-out the story to stop being an adult and enjoy the impossible happening.
My favourite character was the villain of the story, the Goddess of Chaos, Eris. But I think the aim was for people to love Kitty, Oops my bad. My least favourite character was Anna. Anna’s treatment of Kitty during labor put her right up there with the likes of Dolores Umbridge in my hatred of book characters.
The writing was choppy with a furious pace and to her credit Ms Franco fitted a hell of a lot of story into very few pages. I really wanted to love this story. It had some of my favourite things in it – mythology, magic, love and revenge. The synopsis sounded interesting and it had gotten a few good reviews. But I just couldn't get into it. I read an ARC so I can’t comment on what the finished product will be once it is buffed and polished, but this version had a lot of mistakes (sentences with words out of order, misspelled words). I’m normally not one to nit-pick at grammar and spelling as my skills are very poor – if it doesn't affect the story then I really don’t care. But I found it very hard to read this at times and I really do think that is what lowered my enjoyment. Once it is published I will buy a copy and re-evaluate, because there was real potential for an awesome story under it all and Ms Franco has a wonderful vision of a fantastic new fantasy world.
May 9, 2015
I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Seventeen year old Kitty arrives at an orphanage and discovers that her new friends are actually gods and goddesses in hiding. Kitty enters a mysterious world full of romance, friendship, deceit, magic and revenge.
The title of this book and the quotes by Lewis Carroll used in the book led me to believe that this story may have an “Alice In Wonderland” feel to it, but I was wrong. This is an interesting story with a unique concept where several different mythologies were merged in with magic, love and revenge. The main characters are gods and goddesses from the Nordic, Egyptian and Celtic mythologies but as teenagers in modern day. If you’re not familiar with these mythologies, such as myself, it can be a bit hard to understand.
The first chapter of the book is action packed and captured my attention from the outset, with gods and goddesses in the Land Above All Clouds and with the fighting between them and the escape of Set and Eris. Then the second chapter is set in the modern world beginning with Kitty’s arrival at the orphanage and the story seemed to lose something from here on.
I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters in this story, maybe because of the fast paced writing which didn’t allow time to really get to know and understand them. Kitty, who is the main character, was quite irritating and seemed to over react quite a lot. Kitty also seemed to all too easily accept the fact that her new found friends were actually gods and goddesses and with super powers. And I am unsure how or why Kitty ended up at the orphanage and it seemed a bit odd that she simply presented herself to the office admin and was immediately admitted, no paperwork and no questions asked.
The book was reasonably well written and fast paced with an original concept, however, there was excessive dialogue, a lot of it being unnecessary, and the characters’ names alternated between their god names and human names which made it a bit confusing at times.
This is the first instalment of a new series by the author, however, I don’t think I will be continuing this series.
I would recommend this book to those who like fast paced fantasy stories and are interested in and have knowledge of Nordic, Celtic and Egyptian mythology.
Seventeen year old Kitty arrives at an orphanage and discovers that her new friends are actually gods and goddesses in hiding. Kitty enters a mysterious world full of romance, friendship, deceit, magic and revenge.
The title of this book and the quotes by Lewis Carroll used in the book led me to believe that this story may have an “Alice In Wonderland” feel to it, but I was wrong. This is an interesting story with a unique concept where several different mythologies were merged in with magic, love and revenge. The main characters are gods and goddesses from the Nordic, Egyptian and Celtic mythologies but as teenagers in modern day. If you’re not familiar with these mythologies, such as myself, it can be a bit hard to understand.
The first chapter of the book is action packed and captured my attention from the outset, with gods and goddesses in the Land Above All Clouds and with the fighting between them and the escape of Set and Eris. Then the second chapter is set in the modern world beginning with Kitty’s arrival at the orphanage and the story seemed to lose something from here on.
I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters in this story, maybe because of the fast paced writing which didn’t allow time to really get to know and understand them. Kitty, who is the main character, was quite irritating and seemed to over react quite a lot. Kitty also seemed to all too easily accept the fact that her new found friends were actually gods and goddesses and with super powers. And I am unsure how or why Kitty ended up at the orphanage and it seemed a bit odd that she simply presented herself to the office admin and was immediately admitted, no paperwork and no questions asked.
The book was reasonably well written and fast paced with an original concept, however, there was excessive dialogue, a lot of it being unnecessary, and the characters’ names alternated between their god names and human names which made it a bit confusing at times.
This is the first instalment of a new series by the author, however, I don’t think I will be continuing this series.
I would recommend this book to those who like fast paced fantasy stories and are interested in and have knowledge of Nordic, Celtic and Egyptian mythology.
July 22, 2015
This review and many other reviews and features can be found at www.thebookeaters.co.uk
Ancient gods are alive and well, and are fighting each other just as much as they ever did. Eris, the Greek Goddess of Chaos breaks into the Land above the Clouds to set free Set, the Egyptian God of Disorder and Violence. The pair aren’t friends but Eris has a plan and needs his help to execute it. Apart from his freedom Eris is also giving Set an opportunity to settle an old score.
As the story continues, it weaves mythology with modern life. The gods Eris and Set have in their sites are living as teenage orphans in our world. Andrew, the mythological Anubis; and Thomas, a Celtic prince, live on one side of the orphanage, directly opposite the room that houses two goddesses. Natalie hides her identity as Medusa extremely carefully, but her room-mate Rose is Aphrodite and her beauty is impossible to hide. Although both the boys and the girls have long suspected each other of being gods, they’ve never made contact, preferring to lie as low a possible.
All this changes when a new girl is assigned to the young Goddesses room. She goes by the only name of “Kitty” and soon she is caught up in a supernatural battle as the young gods band together to fight against Eris and Set.
It’s an entertaining tale with magic, mischief and romance. Although it progresses quickly there is plenty going on to keep readers on their toes, and it doesn’t take long to start rooting for the ‘good guys’. It’s aimed at the Young Adult market and I’m sure most teens would enjoy it, but it would also be suitable for those aged a little younger too. The romance in it does get physical but isn’t described or in any way explicit so I can’t see it causing issues for over 10’s.
My only criticism is that I would have liked a bit more of the characters back stories, we have no idea how or why Kitty ended up in the orphanage and not much more knowledge about the Gods. But I understand the author has more books planned for this series so maybe we’ll find out more then.
3 Bites
P.S Review based on an author review copy kindly sent so we could be brutally honest about it!
Ancient gods are alive and well, and are fighting each other just as much as they ever did. Eris, the Greek Goddess of Chaos breaks into the Land above the Clouds to set free Set, the Egyptian God of Disorder and Violence. The pair aren’t friends but Eris has a plan and needs his help to execute it. Apart from his freedom Eris is also giving Set an opportunity to settle an old score.
As the story continues, it weaves mythology with modern life. The gods Eris and Set have in their sites are living as teenage orphans in our world. Andrew, the mythological Anubis; and Thomas, a Celtic prince, live on one side of the orphanage, directly opposite the room that houses two goddesses. Natalie hides her identity as Medusa extremely carefully, but her room-mate Rose is Aphrodite and her beauty is impossible to hide. Although both the boys and the girls have long suspected each other of being gods, they’ve never made contact, preferring to lie as low a possible.
All this changes when a new girl is assigned to the young Goddesses room. She goes by the only name of “Kitty” and soon she is caught up in a supernatural battle as the young gods band together to fight against Eris and Set.
It’s an entertaining tale with magic, mischief and romance. Although it progresses quickly there is plenty going on to keep readers on their toes, and it doesn’t take long to start rooting for the ‘good guys’. It’s aimed at the Young Adult market and I’m sure most teens would enjoy it, but it would also be suitable for those aged a little younger too. The romance in it does get physical but isn’t described or in any way explicit so I can’t see it causing issues for over 10’s.
My only criticism is that I would have liked a bit more of the characters back stories, we have no idea how or why Kitty ended up in the orphanage and not much more knowledge about the Gods. But I understand the author has more books planned for this series so maybe we’ll find out more then.
3 Bites
P.S Review based on an author review copy kindly sent so we could be brutally honest about it!
May 18, 2015
** I received an advance copy of this book for review**
Many thanks to author Ana Franco for requesting I review her novel. It was an honor to read her work.
I finished Down the Wormhole over the course of a few days, and much of my experience with the advance copy echoes other reviews. I do understand that many of the grammatical issues I encountered with the novel may have been corrected in the final copy and so I won't go into detail there.
Down the Wormhole was interesting, although it isn't typically the kind of book I normally read. It did keep me engaged, and I looked forward to seeing where Franco was taking the story with each chapter. As others have noted, the pace of this book is very quick and I did have difficulty at some points judging if days, weeks or months had passed between chapters.
The blending of Norse, Egyptian and Roman mythos was difficult to keep track of at times, as the main character (Kitty) also noted in the book. All in all the main characters did work together well to resolve dangerous situations. As a first work, I give Down the Wormhole 3 stars and look forward to seeing what Ana Franco's next installment.
Those who enjoy works like Franco's Down the Wormhole may also enjoy Michael Scott's "The Alchemyst" series.
Many thanks to author Ana Franco for requesting I review her novel. It was an honor to read her work.
I finished Down the Wormhole over the course of a few days, and much of my experience with the advance copy echoes other reviews. I do understand that many of the grammatical issues I encountered with the novel may have been corrected in the final copy and so I won't go into detail there.
Down the Wormhole was interesting, although it isn't typically the kind of book I normally read. It did keep me engaged, and I looked forward to seeing where Franco was taking the story with each chapter. As others have noted, the pace of this book is very quick and I did have difficulty at some points judging if days, weeks or months had passed between chapters.
The blending of Norse, Egyptian and Roman mythos was difficult to keep track of at times, as the main character (Kitty) also noted in the book. All in all the main characters did work together well to resolve dangerous situations. As a first work, I give Down the Wormhole 3 stars and look forward to seeing what Ana Franco's next installment.
Those who enjoy works like Franco's Down the Wormhole may also enjoy Michael Scott's "The Alchemyst" series.
October 10, 2015
I received this book in exchange for a honest review.
2.5 stars out of 5 in goodreads
5 stars out of 10 in my blog
I really have mixed thoughts about this book. 1st is that the book is fast paced. But since its fast paced it lacks some information (at some parts). Most of the scenes in the book is somehow confusing and I just can't picture out some point just like what I said it also lack some information resulting to confusion. Also, sometimes the Dialogues are confusing I cannot pinpoint who is saying which. And one last thing that is confusing me is that Characters are confusing too some of them don't explain their purpose of doing such action. Somehow I find it very boring because of confusion.
But the good thing about this book is that I find it unique in my perpectives. Its my first time to read a book with mythological gods and goddessess that originates at different locations. I also liked Anna she reminds me of Rosalie from Twilight (I know). I can picture her out as a Aphrodite instead of a vampire.
2.5 stars out of 5 in goodreads
5 stars out of 10 in my blog
I really have mixed thoughts about this book. 1st is that the book is fast paced. But since its fast paced it lacks some information (at some parts). Most of the scenes in the book is somehow confusing and I just can't picture out some point just like what I said it also lack some information resulting to confusion. Also, sometimes the Dialogues are confusing I cannot pinpoint who is saying which. And one last thing that is confusing me is that Characters are confusing too some of them don't explain their purpose of doing such action. Somehow I find it very boring because of confusion.
But the good thing about this book is that I find it unique in my perpectives. Its my first time to read a book with mythological gods and goddessess that originates at different locations. I also liked Anna she reminds me of Rosalie from Twilight (I know). I can picture her out as a Aphrodite instead of a vampire.
April 16, 2015
I can't say that I liked this book, it wasn't completely terrible neither, but I just couldn't get into it.
The characters were annoying and childish most of the time, they are supposed to be gods that were exiled to this earth for whatever reason that is never explained, and they are living under the human bodies of teenagers.
Their human shapes, that I assumed are meant to disguise themselves as gods are teenagers, but not them, they are still gods, and they should act like that. Instead, they act like spoiled teens that don't have a clue of what they want.
I had to skip several paragraphs trying to find something exciting but I couldn't.
The writing style isn't one that helps the story flows, and the dialogues are not natural from my point of view.
The story has potential and if you think about it there could be countless adventures in a world where gods walk among us, with or without their powers.
The characters were annoying and childish most of the time, they are supposed to be gods that were exiled to this earth for whatever reason that is never explained, and they are living under the human bodies of teenagers.
Their human shapes, that I assumed are meant to disguise themselves as gods are teenagers, but not them, they are still gods, and they should act like that. Instead, they act like spoiled teens that don't have a clue of what they want.
I had to skip several paragraphs trying to find something exciting but I couldn't.
The writing style isn't one that helps the story flows, and the dialogues are not natural from my point of view.
The story has potential and if you think about it there could be countless adventures in a world where gods walk among us, with or without their powers.
November 6, 2015
Down the Wormhole by Ana Franco
This story is about teens living in separate orphanages, one for girls one for boys. Inside these walls hold many secrets. When Kitty joins the girls, things begin to change. She learns of the secrets of the orphans and what she learns is quite surprising. She becomes friends with Anna and Natalie, and finds out they are not ordinary girls. She also finds love.
A fast paced fun adventure. Kitty is very likable and I enjoyed watching her learn of her destiny. Her friends are likable as well. Of course there are some who are not likable, and are enemies. There is magic, Celtic, Egyptian & Nordic Mythology, and Gods of each.
The blend of these three cultures and their Gods makes the story unique and fascinating. There is also a bit of romance. I loved the originality, the blending of mythology, magic and modern day "teen problems". Overall I enjoyed this read and recommend to Y/A (18+)and adults as well.
This story is about teens living in separate orphanages, one for girls one for boys. Inside these walls hold many secrets. When Kitty joins the girls, things begin to change. She learns of the secrets of the orphans and what she learns is quite surprising. She becomes friends with Anna and Natalie, and finds out they are not ordinary girls. She also finds love.
A fast paced fun adventure. Kitty is very likable and I enjoyed watching her learn of her destiny. Her friends are likable as well. Of course there are some who are not likable, and are enemies. There is magic, Celtic, Egyptian & Nordic Mythology, and Gods of each.
The blend of these three cultures and their Gods makes the story unique and fascinating. There is also a bit of romance. I loved the originality, the blending of mythology, magic and modern day "teen problems". Overall I enjoyed this read and recommend to Y/A (18+)and adults as well.
May 31, 2015
I received this ebook for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
2/5 stars from me.
This book definitely had it's twists and turns. For a while I was quite confused and couldn't understand what was happening. The scenes moved too quickly for a proper picture to form. Near the end of the book though I began to understand and actually liked it quite a bit.
Kitty ends up at an orphanage just being 'Kitty' and soon is in for a wild ride. There were certain aspects I didn't agree with but that was all part of the story. I believe the plot has some potential and it took me a while to see that.
This book was definitely a different take on mythology. I haven't come across another like it. I'm glad I ended up enjoying it near the end. My only regret is that it took so long for me to 'get into it'.
2/5 stars from me.
This book definitely had it's twists and turns. For a while I was quite confused and couldn't understand what was happening. The scenes moved too quickly for a proper picture to form. Near the end of the book though I began to understand and actually liked it quite a bit.
Kitty ends up at an orphanage just being 'Kitty' and soon is in for a wild ride. There were certain aspects I didn't agree with but that was all part of the story. I believe the plot has some potential and it took me a while to see that.
This book was definitely a different take on mythology. I haven't come across another like it. I'm glad I ended up enjoying it near the end. My only regret is that it took so long for me to 'get into it'.
May 30, 2015
Down The Wormhole was quite difficult to understand. A couple of the chapters at the start had me intrigued about the Celtic and Nordic Gods and eager to read on. The mythology aspects of the story were interesting but quite loose. As someone who is not familiar with Celtic and Nordic mythology, I was left confused. As the story progressed, it plummeted downhill. The characters became one dimensional and hateful. I found Kitty to be a very stupid character (stupid name too). I just couldn't stand her. At eighteen, I would've thought she'd known better about the consequences of her actions. Andrew seemed to be the only sane and mature one, but he couldn't make up for the others. Overall, I just didn't like it.
October 7, 2015
I received a copy from the author, in exchange for an honest review.
Actual Rating: 2.5
This was a strange read. Throughout the story, I was confused. The storyline seemed less engaging and difficult to get into. The world was cool. However, I still don't get .
The characters were okay. None of the really stood out to me. I can't believe that . I didn't like the way that .
The ending was more confusing that the other parts of the book. I didn't know what was going on. Overall, an okay read.
Actual Rating: 2.5
This was a strange read. Throughout the story, I was confused. The storyline seemed less engaging and difficult to get into. The world was cool. However, I still don't get .
The characters were okay. None of the really stood out to me. I can't believe that . I didn't like the way that .
The ending was more confusing that the other parts of the book. I didn't know what was going on. Overall, an okay read.
December 23, 2015
Know what? It was a really cool story.
It just worked- the mythological gods meddling on Earth- it always makes for a good adventure, doesn't it?
Good succinct descriptions and nice dialogues... even though Kitty and Thomas bickering was making me annoyed, as it annoyed Anubis... All in all, I repeat, a cool story!
It just worked- the mythological gods meddling on Earth- it always makes for a good adventure, doesn't it?
Good succinct descriptions and nice dialogues... even though Kitty and Thomas bickering was making me annoyed, as it annoyed Anubis... All in all, I repeat, a cool story!
May 20, 2015
This was a very interesting book for me. I enjoyed the special teenagers part of the book. This book has both mythology and fantasy and I enjoyed the authors take on the story and the twists and turns in this book. I think this book was good. * I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*
June 13, 2015
I have never read a book like this before and I have to say at first I was a bit leery of the content, but as I read on I was quite impressed with this authors ability to suck you into her world. The mind of an author is always different in every book you read, but this authors story telling was inspirational. I really enjoyed it.
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