J.E. Ensis reviews The Silver Ninja

Here is a short preview of a book review by J.E. Ensis on my book, The Silver Ninja.

Read below.

Things I Like

There’s a lot of good stuff going on here, which is what kept me reading.

Tension – Wilmar builds tension and exploits it well. He promises readers that an event WILL happen, lets the characters do the boring-but-necessary stuff while fretting about the event, then releases the tension in the event and hooks us again by promising something new. That’s how you do it and it kept me hooked until the end!

Could Be Better

Excess of Figurative Language – This was my biggest issue with Silver Ninja early on. Mixed metaphors, rapid fire metaphors, etc. Things like the “sadness gushing from his eyes” in place of tears. It happens a lot early on, but I think I got used to it because I noticed it didn’t bother me by the time I finished the book.

Read the rest at his website here: http://dontreadbooks.com/2014/01/17/frugal-friday-followup-the-silver-ninja/

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I’m actually very excited to see what people will think of The Silver Ninja 2: Indoctrination. Where I follow my own advice and do everything I can to fix what was wrong with the first book in a brand new story. The editing process is a lot more brutal this time around and a lot harder to swallow. Hopefully it will be worth the pain I’m going through to get it ready!

Before I forget:

Make sure to check out some of J.E.’s writing projects. I read some of his chapters and found myself enjoying the ride, you might enjoy it too.

How to Reverse the Polarity: http://howtoreversethepolarity.com/2014/01/03/how-to-reverse-the-polarity-read-online/

and if you’re a Jukepop member: http://dontreadbooks.com/2014/01/10/new-h2rtp-chapters-out/

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Also, I did want to comment on one section of the book he mentioned in the spoilers section:

[SPOILER]

**Okay, in the ending there are two “boss fights” in which our MC, who is clearly stated earlier to have a functional rail gun, does not use it and instead gets her ass kicked when the fight could have been either ended or curtailed had she just shot the bastard. Also, I had issues with the fact that the MC gets knifed to the point she is bleeding out on the sidewalk, but goes back to work the next day. Then, after she’s got a super suit which has regenerative capability, and she’s got to re-learn how to walk and do martial arts in an info-dump mentioned above.**

-I love how he calls them boss fights, that is exactly what I intended. The rail guns are a technology I probably should have done a little bit more homework on. She totally should have shot the bastard, even though shooting him with those guns would have blown him and Michael into smithereens. But I wanted to have an ‘epic’ boss battle and forgot to write my way around the fact that she had rail guns to shoot him with. (This is what happens when you don’t write with an outline, you forget the little things.)

Also, after Cindy was knifed, it was supposed to be weeks after the incident that we pick up the story. Unfortunately, I failed to convey time progression and confused a lot of readers because of it. The training section was another 1st time writing fail on my part. Technically, I just wanted Mack to show her some new moves and get her back into tip top shape for the upcoming conflict. It was too much info dump and needed to be much shorter.

I was also very disappointed with how the pacing for the end of the book came out. I mean, Chapter 8 takes up almost a quarter of the book! So how can you avoid making the same mistakes I did with pacing and continuity issues? It’s very simple.

Plot out your events so that you are in full control of the pacing. If you fly by the seat of your pants like a certain popular author, you may end up in the same situation I was in. Yes, I know, there is a certain freedom you get from just writing as everything comes to you. Unfortunately, doing this method makes it entirely possible for you to write yourself into a hole, which is what happened to me. I caught the issues in the editing phase, but the changes needed would require rewrites and more editing that I didn’t have time for.

A proper outline will keep you on track. You’ll notice the continuity issues, plot holes, and pacing issues way before you get deep into the editing process.

[END SPOILER]

 

Wilmar Luna

Wilmar Luna

Couldn't be a superhero in real life so he decided to write his own. When he's not creating empowered female characters he can be found watching films, reading books, and playing lots of video games. Buy his books here: https://www.thesilverninja.com/purchase/