All That Glitters is a paranormal/urban fantasy novel that focuses on an undetectable thief looking for ways to enhance his power. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review; as always, what follows is my honest assessment of the work.
I give this book 2.5/5 stars. Here is my breakdown.
Characters: 2/5. Early on, I found no reason to care about the characters in this story. The point of view changed often, and a whole host of people were introduced. Unfortunately, those people did not ring true to me, and their interactions often seemed like a falsetto note in a song.
Plot: 4/5. This is a strength for this book. I think that Sonnenberg's idea is fascinating - a thief with magical powers terrorizing a town for reasons of his own. With some more work on making the story more fluid, this plot idea could be developed into a truly fantastic novel. As an urban fantasy author myself, I know how hard it is to make the storyline work, and Sonnenberg has a good start in this area.
Flow: 2/5. The language is...well, the language is not fun to read. The dialogue was stilted in many places, unrealistic. The narration was excessive - I prefer for my world to be described to me in small bits and through the actions of the characters rather than through exposition and loads of description.
Spelling/Grammar: 3.5/5. I didn't notice much in the way of spelling/grammar problems, although the odd structure of some sentences (especially in dialogue) did strike me on occasion. Another proofread/edit session would probably clear up anything I noticed.
Summary: 2.5/5. This book builds slowly. Very slowly. Some people (my sister in law included!) like slow build-ups. I do not. The first few dozen pages of this book are spent introducing more and more new characters without giving me a reason to become invested in any of them. Some people may like this book very much, but I did not. I would not recommend it to others unless I knew that they were interested in the subject matter or the style.
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