The Dying of the Light: End has a great premise, i.e. that the government knows all about the existence of zombies and has even formed a special military unit to deal with the problem. Unfortunately the book goes completely wrong everything it tries to deal with the romantic lives of the members of this elite unit or there individual metal issues related to zombie induced PTSD.
– Craig Vitter
Mr. Vitter was kind enough to leave a review for me about my book, and I greatly appreciate that (read the review on Amazon’s site here). I want to make that absolutely clear: I do truly appreciate any review that clearly indicates that the reviewer has actually read the book, and especially those that provide constructive criticism. And so I thank Mr. Vitter for leaving the review.
As to his comments, I think perhaps Mr. Vitter was hoping for more action than the book provided. Clearly, he wasn’t a fan of the more esoteric parts of the story. That’s fine, and I would never fault anyone for that. After all, you can’t please everyone all of the time. So a three-star review here seems appropriate. I’m glad he liked the book at least enough to finish it.
I always knew that I would eventually get a review from someone who didn’t love the book or think it was great; that’s a given, in this industry. It would be foolish to believe that everything you write and publish will only get 4- and 5-star reviews. I know we’d all like to see that, knowing that our work is, of course, better than everyone else’s, even if that simply isn’t true.
So yeah, I was a bit bummed when I saw that, but I think it’s understandable, and to a large extent, I was prepared for it. Until now, the buzz has all been great, which gives my ego a nice boost, but I’m enough of a realist to know that eventually the other shoe had to drop, and so it has. The important thing here, though, is not that someone liked my book a little less than everyone else, but rather to look at it as someone liked my book enough to give it three stars. The important thing is to stay humble, and to know that I can’t please everyone all the time.
The important thing is to keep writing. Not that I think I could stop myself, now.
– Jason
Hmm, I actually read that as he thinks you got the action right, but the characterization or realism of the characters right.
Considering several other reviews specifically mention they like the depth of the characters, this is a pretty subjective area.
Reviews are, or should be, subjective by their very nature. I got the impression that he didn’t like the character depth, and would have rather seen more of them hacking and slashing, so to speak, their way through the zombie hordes.