The Book of Sam – Rob Shapiro (review!)

Title: The Book of Sam.

Author: Rob Shapiro.

Format: E-ARC (Thanks to Edelweiss, all opinions are my own!)

Publisher: Dundurn.

Page count: 284.

Release day: September 8^th 2020.

Genre: YA, fantasy.

Rating: 2 stars.

What is it about? (Summary from GoodReads)

A hell-bound fantasy starring demons, damsels, and an unlikely hero.

Sixteen-year-old Sam Sullinger lives in the shadow of adolescence. He’s lost among his overachieving siblings, constantly knocked down by his harsh father, and bullied daily. His only solace is his best friend and crush, Harper.

In a grand plan designed to help him confess his love to Harper, Sam accidentally sets off a series of events that lead to her being kidnapped and taken to Hell. Racked with guilt, Sam makes a bold decision for the first time in his life: He’s going to rescue his only friend.

Sam is thrust into a vivid world fraught with demons, vicious beasts, and a falling city. And every leg of his journey reminds him that he isn’t some brave knight on a quest — he’s an insecure teenager yearning to make his mark on at least one world.

Rating:
Characters: 5/10
Atmosphere: 4/10
Writing: 6/10
Plot: 4/10
Intrigue: 3/10
Logic: 4/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Average: 4.29 (which means 2 stars!)

My thoughts:

I thought the idea of this book sounded very good! Unfortunately I wasn’t a big fan of the execution..

There were so many interesting parts in this book, but most of them were brushed over so quickly.. I feel like the author should have chosen a couple of the scenes and should have expanded upon them. Because right now there were quite some action scenes but because they were all so short they felt a bit too easy?! All the ‘narrow’ escapes did not really feel too dangerous since it would only be like 2 paragraphs long.

I think Sam was an interesting character, and I enjoyed getting to know him. But he was the only character I enjoyed all the others felt so flat, also there were a bit too many for the size of the book. With almost each action scene there was some random character that would help them, and would add on to their group. And since there were quite some of these scenes the group was growing very quickly, and sometimes people would go away and such, which quickly became a bit confusing.

Again since with each of the action scenes there would be a character that would help them, often without wanting anything back, those scenes felt very easy. And you start to trust everyone without any problems.

I really think if there would be less action scenes, but the ones that stayed would have been bigger, and maybe with a bit more struggle, I would have enjoyed the book more!

I was really surprised by the ending! I didn’t really see it coming, but definitely in a good way!

I did enjoy the writing, so I would be interested in seeing what this author will write next!