Colin Harvey was nice enough to review Staked over at Suite101.com and he's given me permission to quote a portion of the review:
"This debut novel is chock full of vampires, werewolves and witches in an imaginary city but the style and characterization set it apart from lesser competitors."
- Colin Harvey, Suite101.com
If you'd like to read the whole review, you'll have to jump on over here. He has some very kind things to say and he also calls 'em like he sees 'em. Colin takes me to task for an infodump at one point in the novel and he mentions some disatisfaction with Staked's ending, but all in all, I'd call it a good review and he obviously enjoyed the book.
A few days later, he made a very interesting post about "Cliffhangers vs Open Ended Books" which hits so close to the mark its scary on what I intended when I wrote Staked.
{Spoiler Alert: Some (okay almost every single person who has read the book) have interpretted the ending as a cliffhanger. I didn't intend it to be one, but I certainly understand that point of view.}
When I sold Staked, it was a one book deal. I wanted there to be more books about Eric, Tabitha, and Void City (and fortunately that dream comes true in March with the release of ReVamped... though Amazon is already shipping it) but I also wanted it to be able to stand alone if that dream never materialized... which brings me to a question: If you've already read Staked, how did you interpret the ending? Cliffhanger or Not.
I'd be interested to know. :)
Note: If you enjoy Colin's articles, you'll want to check out some of his fiction. I've linked to his website here.
5 comments:
Hello! I just read (and reviewed) Staked myself and liked it quite a bit. So I thought I'd chime in on an answer for your question. :)
"Cliffhanger" was not what immediately came to mind for the ending. "Surprising", definitely. Also "downer". But not really "cliffhanger"!
Well done and looking forward to ReVamped.
Cool! Thanks for the review and the answer. :)
You are quite welcome!
I bought this book on a whim, and could not have been happier with it. I have read it at least 3 times already in the 2 weeks I have had it. I was actually pleased with the ending. I didn't think of it as so much a cliffhanger as I did for the hopefulness of a second story. VERY thrilled to hear the new one will be out in a few days. Keep up the great work, and I hope this story continues for many more books, as I really like the plots and the characters. Thanks for giving this fan a new outlook on the genre.
Just read and reviewed and enjoyed it, but to answer your question, I don't see it as a stand-alone at all. Admittedly, I already knew there was a sequel, but if I'd finished it and not known, I would've immediately gone to the web to find out. It's not a cliff-hanger, but there's a lot of unanswered questions that don't feel right in a stand-alone, if that makes sense.
Here's the review: http://calico-reaction.livejournal.com/99761.html
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