Five Star Review for NEW YORK CITY LEGEND

Ever since I was accused of 'casual racism' in a review of this book on Goodreads, I've been waiting for a new review to see if others thought so (previous reviewers having not mentioned it).

That review is in and it's a lovely 5 star one that also makes no mention of it, so I'm not going to obsess over it. Honest.

5.0 out of 5 stars An engaging book, 21 Nov 2011

 

This review is from: New York City Legend (Kindle Edition)

This book was a true fantasy and a delightful idea, well executed. Magic exist still in the heart of New York (I think it exists in some form everywhere if you have the right outlook) and is endangered by hard-nosed businessmen engaging in shady deals. It is said that, for evil to thrive, it is only necessary for good men to do nothing. Ben Darkly is a good man and he is not prepared to stand back and see something wonderful destroyed without a fight.
The plot is active, engaging and in places, quite tense. I was gripped by the book and enjoyed it very much. No-one with a heart could do otherwise.

First poor review

I received my first really poor review recently for New York City Legend. It was posted on Goodreads along with a one star rating and is added here in its entirety.

"A strangely dated book, set as it was in, at a guess, the 1990s. The plot centres around a magical realm populated by sprites and a unicorn that's enclosed within a portal on the 26th floor of an office block in New York. The office block is scheduled for demolition, and it's kind of up to Ben Darkly, a ridiculously bland vague-businessman-type-person to save the day. Kind of.

The plot didn't make a whole lot of sense, the romance was kind of token, at best, and the description of magic was very poor. Also, some amazingly casual racism (a character is referred to as 'the most attractive coloured woman he'd ever met'), and just a failure to seriously connect with any character central to the story made this an unrewarding read.

I think other authors have done Urban Fantasy better - notably Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and Holly Black's Tithe/Valiant/Ironside trilogy."

I admit to being disappointed, especially with the comment about casual racism since that couldn't be further from my mind. Still, everyone's opinion is just as valid and so I repost it here.

It was also the first full length novel that I ever finished and I'm continuing to develop my style, so it's useful feedback.

New books available in paperback on Amazon.com

Others of my books are now available on Amazon.com in an attempt to stave off the silly advertising of Origin.

You can now get To Infinity (and maybe that's far enough), The Sword In The Tree, Stormwreck and New York City Legend all for prices that aren't even a tenth of the ridiculous asking price of the Origin listings.

It's only paperbacks that are listed, though. For the hardbacks you still have to go to www.lulu.com . I'd get the hardbacks listed as well but that $75 a shot and almost the price of buying one of the Origin books. Considering the amount that I sell, it really wouldn't be worth the effort.

If the paperbacks took off, however...

First sale on iBooks

New York City Legend is the first of my books that has been sold on the iBooks platform. I don't know who bought it or if there is more than one, but I did a check last night on iTunes and there was a 'people who bought this book also bought' listing which doesn't exist on any of the other books.

The iBooks listings are out of my control, having been made by lulu.com in conjuction with iBooks, but it's still a thrill to know that someone's taken the plunge on there.