Mini-Review : Women of Power by J.R.Tomlin and C.R.Daems

I follow J.R.Tomlin on the Kindleboards forum, where she writes good and informational posts. Since her books also fall to that Fantasy genre I like, and since I also quite like strong female characters, I bought this ebook as soon as I noticed it on her signature line.

The buying impulse was of course eased by the price (less than 3$), the place (Smashwords), and no DRMs.

I read the book quickly and in its entirety. The style is quite alright, the characters and action too, especially at the beginning.

However, past the first half, I started to miss something. What ? I don't know how to express that. While there is some challenge to the hero, physical confrontations, and great battles, I didn't find any real emotion involvement in the hero. While it is part of the "concept", this lack lead to my not feeling any real interest in her or what happened to her. Additionally, while I mentioned battles, those were at best describe with troop movements, perhaps some close combat, but no real sense of epic-ness, despite the number of people in the confrontations.

*** could be SPOILER ***

Really, the book could have been much better, if the hero had at least been confronted to doubt, to some kind of "test of character", romantic attachment, anything that would have her evolve (or even be tempted to evolve) from her initial state.

From the start, her initial "direction" held true, without failings, without any direction of her part, any lingering "doubts" hidden behind the certainty of her unrightfulness and her non-responsibility.

Perhaps, simply, "perfection" doesn't suit me.

*** end of could be SPOILER ***

Overall, Women of Power was a pleasant and entertaining read, but was it really worth my time and money ? I'm not quite sure.

I may be tempted to buy other books by the authors, but this one was clearly a little bit sub-par, at best 2.5 stars.