When a detective investigating her case is murdered inexplicably, her situation begins to get more and more dangerous until finally it is revealed to her that she is in truth Victoria, the Chosen One destined to fight off a group of evil aliens called the Ones who are trying to take over the Earth for themselves. But are her newly-discovered gifts, and her new bodyguard (and lover) Trevor, enough to win the battle for the human race?
The book has an interesting premise, and the story has potential, if only it had a bit more depth. The plot is fast-moving and the Ones have a sinister creepiness to them that is very appealing in a villain. Claire is an appealing character, and it would be nice to learn a bit more about her before her transformation to Victoria.
However, the book really needs a good editor, particularly with respect to punctuation and word usage. Commas, in particular, are too frequently left out of sentences, and where they are used, it is often in places where a period would be more appropriate. The author too often mistakes one word for another (“conscious” for “conscience,” for example, or, more disturbingly, “crotching” for “crouching”).
Additionally, the plot is rather abrupt in its shifts and turns, in particular with respect to Claire’s near-instantaneous offstage transformation to Victoria. We are even left wondering about the fate of her pets, who are never mentioned again. Her relationship with Trevor is likewise sudden and unexplained – one moment he’s her bodyguard, the next her soulmate, with little time spent on the development of their relationship. The story could be substantially improved by more depth and complexity to the characters, particularly Victoria and the Ones. As it is, the characters seem flat, black-and-white, and without much personality other than “good” or “evil”.
With a substantial edit, however, and a bit more patient attention to background and character development, this has potential to be a very interesting science fiction tale.
Reviewed by Catherine Langrehr for IndieReader