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Affinity
Plagued by disturbing nightmares, Quent Wilcox, an all-around normal college student, starts to slowly lose his memory and begins to gain the memory of a dark individual who has otherworldly powers, which plunge him into a world of danger and lies where nothing is what it seems. Original.
361 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2001
39 people want to read
About the author
J.N. Williamson
99 books55 followersGerald Neal Williamson (April 17, 1932 - December 8, 2005) wrote and edited horror stories under the name J. N. Williamson. He also wrote under the name Julian Shock.
Born in Indianapolis, IN he graduated from Shortridge High School. He studied journalism at Butler University. He published his first novel in 1979 and went on to publish more than 40 novels and 150 short stories. In 2003 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Horror Writers of America. He edited the critically acclaimed How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction (1987) which covered the themes of such writing and cited the writings of such writers as Robert Bloch, Lee Prosser, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, William F. Nolan, and Stephen King. Many important writers in the genre contributed to the book. Williamson edited the popular anthology series, Masques. Some of his novels include The Ritual (1979), Playmates (1982), Noonspell (1991), The Haunt (1999), among others.
He was also a well known Sherlockian and received his investiture (The Illustrious Client) in the Baker Street Irregulars in 1950.
Source: Wikipedia
Born in Indianapolis, IN he graduated from Shortridge High School. He studied journalism at Butler University. He published his first novel in 1979 and went on to publish more than 40 novels and 150 short stories. In 2003 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Horror Writers of America. He edited the critically acclaimed How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction (1987) which covered the themes of such writing and cited the writings of such writers as Robert Bloch, Lee Prosser, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, William F. Nolan, and Stephen King. Many important writers in the genre contributed to the book. Williamson edited the popular anthology series, Masques. Some of his novels include The Ritual (1979), Playmates (1982), Noonspell (1991), The Haunt (1999), among others.
He was also a well known Sherlockian and received his investiture (The Illustrious Client) in the Baker Street Irregulars in 1950.
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 4, 2014
I bought this book years ago because I found the premise rather appealing and it was only 50 cents. Quent Wilcox is a college basketball player living with his aunt and uncle, who seem like decent people. He's been having some disturbing dreams and is unable to remember anything about his parents.
I've read several books with amnesia plots and thought this one would be more interesting. Unfortunately, I got only as far as 36 pages, breaking my 50-page rule. Cardboard characters, a meandering plot, and bad writing have made me finally set this book aside.
It's hard for me to believe this guy has written so many books.
I've read several books with amnesia plots and thought this one would be more interesting. Unfortunately, I got only as far as 36 pages, breaking my 50-page rule. Cardboard characters, a meandering plot, and bad writing have made me finally set this book aside.
It's hard for me to believe this guy has written so many books.
July 1, 2017
I am a philosophical materialist and I really have a hard time understanding how any grown adult could be anything else. Nevertheless, I do enjoy horror and fantasy fiction. The supernatural beings, powers and occurances are just in good fun and are entertaining. The authors don't expect the readers to take these supernatural imaginings seriously and few readers do take them seriously. When the author starts expecting me to believe in supernatural things, though, that is a different matter. It is offensive and makes me feel like I am having my intelligence insulted. That is what all books that push religion do and I detest them.
This book seemed to start out as a typical horror novel or low fantasy with a couple of lead characters with paranormal powers. It turns out that their powers are rather extensive, but at first they are mainly described as being able to heal injured people, especially each other, at a distance. I started to get uncomfortable with that when they accomplish their powers by praying. That was not fatal though. I am sure that if anyone actually found themselves with such powers they would start looking for explanations and would likely fall back on their cultural background and upbringing. But then it became worse. When they get together to discuss their powers they conclude together that they are not healing anyone, but that it is god doing the healing in response to their prayers. Again I could say that they were only grappling for an explanation, but this conclusion of theirs is never contradicted anywhere in the story. All of this was only occasionally mentioned, though, and I kept thinking that I just might forgive this as a minor flaw. But then the references to religion became not quite so vague. They started naming names and the name was Jesus Christ and never was there any indication that they might be mistaken.
Normally I will give any book that pushes religion one star and want to give it less. In this case I will have to admit that the religion was rather subtle in the context of the rest of the novel so I will give it a star for not beating me over the head with it. If it had not pushed religion, even if subtly, I might have given it three stars and if I was really feeling magnanimous I might have given it four stars. But there was not really anything spectacular about the story itself. It would have been really hard to rate it more than three stars. So because I am giving it a star just for not being obnoxiously preachy and because it doesn't have a whole lot else to redeem it I give it two stars.
This book seemed to start out as a typical horror novel or low fantasy with a couple of lead characters with paranormal powers. It turns out that their powers are rather extensive, but at first they are mainly described as being able to heal injured people, especially each other, at a distance. I started to get uncomfortable with that when they accomplish their powers by praying. That was not fatal though. I am sure that if anyone actually found themselves with such powers they would start looking for explanations and would likely fall back on their cultural background and upbringing. But then it became worse. When they get together to discuss their powers they conclude together that they are not healing anyone, but that it is god doing the healing in response to their prayers. Again I could say that they were only grappling for an explanation, but this conclusion of theirs is never contradicted anywhere in the story. All of this was only occasionally mentioned, though, and I kept thinking that I just might forgive this as a minor flaw. But then the references to religion became not quite so vague. They started naming names and the name was Jesus Christ and never was there any indication that they might be mistaken.
Normally I will give any book that pushes religion one star and want to give it less. In this case I will have to admit that the religion was rather subtle in the context of the rest of the novel so I will give it a star for not beating me over the head with it. If it had not pushed religion, even if subtly, I might have given it three stars and if I was really feeling magnanimous I might have given it four stars. But there was not really anything spectacular about the story itself. It would have been really hard to rate it more than three stars. So because I am giving it a star just for not being obnoxiously preachy and because it doesn't have a whole lot else to redeem it I give it two stars.
July 14, 2022
I’m glad I got this book for free because ANY amount of money spent on it would have been a waste.
Simply put, this novel is awful, from beginning to end. Even if you manage to ignore one of the ugliest covers ever made, Affinity is filled with dumb characters, a dumb plot, and an even dumber conclusion.
Really, everything about this novel is down right terrible.
Williamson has never been one of my favorite authors but this book takes the cake in pure stupidity and knocks him down even further on my list. Take my advice, fellow readers, and stay far away from Affinity.
Simply put, this novel is awful, from beginning to end. Even if you manage to ignore one of the ugliest covers ever made, Affinity is filled with dumb characters, a dumb plot, and an even dumber conclusion.
Really, everything about this novel is down right terrible.
Williamson has never been one of my favorite authors but this book takes the cake in pure stupidity and knocks him down even further on my list. Take my advice, fellow readers, and stay far away from Affinity.
July 16, 2009
Every book has it's own history and even if we don't mean to, we come to each and every book with some sort of expectation. In the case of Affinity I came to the book with two sets of misconceptions. The person who gave me the book via BookCrossing said it was a graphic novel, so I immediately thought of English language manga. Later the person explained that they meant "graphic" in the sense of being explicit and the words used were "sick shit." So when the book arrived with the cheesy cover art, I was disappointed that it wasn't a graphic novel and a little worried that it would be poorly written erotica.
Although Affinity is classified under the horror genre, it was neither "sick shit" or poorly written erotica. If anything, it was sort of a sweet paranormal love story without the benefit of a pink and purple cover art depicting shoes, purses or vampires. The book most reminded me of James Patterson's When the Wind Blows but better written.
Affinity is a love story and a mystery. Quent comes to realize his childhood has been a lie. His memories aren't his and he begins to realize he has powers that most people don't have. In steps the only woman to capture his heart, Feather, who seems to have powers like his. Why do they seem to know each other? What happened in their past and who is behind keeping all those memories a secret?
The book though flawed still captured my interest. I found it an entertaining read.
Although Affinity is classified under the horror genre, it was neither "sick shit" or poorly written erotica. If anything, it was sort of a sweet paranormal love story without the benefit of a pink and purple cover art depicting shoes, purses or vampires. The book most reminded me of James Patterson's When the Wind Blows but better written.
Affinity is a love story and a mystery. Quent comes to realize his childhood has been a lie. His memories aren't his and he begins to realize he has powers that most people don't have. In steps the only woman to capture his heart, Feather, who seems to have powers like his. Why do they seem to know each other? What happened in their past and who is behind keeping all those memories a secret?
The book though flawed still captured my interest. I found it an entertaining read.
April 5, 2011
Worst book EVER! It was full of bad grammer, awful punction and made NO sense. I don't know how it got past the editors. If I believed in burning books, this would be the first to go.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews