One in the Same: Journey from Mortal to Sorcerer by Douglas Breeden: A Great Idea Hampered by Its Execution

Today, I am reviewing the Urban Fantasy novel One in the Same: Journey from Mortal to Sorcerer by Douglas Breeden. This book features a pair of autistic protagonists as the younger discovers he was born to be a Sorcerer Prince, also known as those who are One In the Same, a direct servant of God.

I give this book a 2/5. Here is my breakdown.

Characters: 1.5/5. At the beginning, the very beginning, I was interested in the main character Michael because he is autistic - specifically, he has Asperger's Syndrome - which is also true of my oldest son. For a short time, the internal monologues and perceptions of the character were interesting to me from that lens.

Then it all went downhill.

There are no female characters of consequence, except perhaps Satan. Every single female with the exception of mother figures are referenced immediately by their level of attractiveness. Waaaaay too many jokes are made about the protagonist's status as a virgin, and waaaaaay too many offers to relieve him of that same status. The mentor was not interesting - I could scarcely tell the difference between him and the younger, teenage protagonist. I simply was not invested in any of them, even by the end of the book. 

Plot/Storyline: 3/5. At its core, the story is not bad. I don't have anything against the Chosen One trope, or against religious-based fiction (my own uses religious mythologies heavily). The plot itself is serviceable if not unique. 

Flow: 0/5. Oh my dear. This is where the book falls apart. Far too much time spent on the mentor figure's childhood traumas as the result of him being autistic in an age where that wasn't understood. I know this is true, I know it was awful (and still is!), but I don't want to spend that many pages on it. Too much time diving into historical references that I didn't care about. Not enough time spent on exciting scenes, like the revelation of Michael's status as a sorcerer, or his conquering of his fears. One paragraph, done. The flow made no sense and kept me from deriving virtually any enjoyment from the book.

Spelling/Grammar: 3/5. There were some punctuation errors, mostly quotations, that I noted scattered throughout the book. It wasn't awful, wasn't too distracting, but I did notice.

Overall: 2/5. Breeden made an honest effort with this book but the execution is deeply flawed. I simply was not interested in most of what he wrote down as I went through the novel, and that feeling only got stronger as I continued. I hope that he will revisit the work, maybe read On Writing (as I recommend all fiction authors do!) and keep trying!

If you liked my review, check out my books over at my main site: www.jasonpatrickcrawford.com/bookstore.html

Thanks as always, and keep reading!