We Welcome with Vengeance - Review

 

I was offered an arc version of We Come to Vengeance by H.G Mura Lee. I was interested in the the futuristic concept and wanted to see how the author developed this world and characters. As I was reading there were moments that stood out  like when Sven goes to counseling. This scene was powerful because it showed that not everyone who goes to counseling responds to it. Even though this happens in real life in books this concept is not generally explored because its taboo in a sense. 

Most books have this constraint where the author creates ideal scenarios where people who attend counseling sessions immediately open up and improve.  Rarely do books go against the popular trope of people getting better and explore the darker side side of what happens to patients who do not want counseling or respond to it. There should be more exploration to this side because mental health is an issue today and not having more books is like only having  Disney's take on The Little Mermaid and The Grim Brother's version not existing. Below is an excerpt of Sven's time while he was in counseling so you can get an idea of how the scene unfolded. 

" It seemed to Sven his time there was unproductive. The thirty minutes were spent in silence that was broken when Sven squirmed on the couch."

It would have been great to know more about what Steven as thinking in the session to know more about why he did though therapy was a waste of time. What would he have thought would be better time spent? What did he think about the counselor? Since Steven though counseling was a waste of time did he believe the counselor's profession was a irrelevant as well? By answering some of these questions in their writing the author could have taken the scene up a notch.  

As the story progressed there were good ideas but I struggled to read it because the dialogue became choppy at times.  For example when  Akash and Felix where talking about where they stand in the war the dialogue jumped from place to place.

"A little birdie told me you don't support the war." Felix opened his mouth to protest, but Akash held up his hand. "Don't deny it. It would be unfair to Wilson."  Felix froze in place, her mouth open. He never expected Wilson to be the person to get something by him. "He was a traitor?"

"Oh no, no, no Wilson loved Kaier and everything in it. He was no traitor. There's one difference between him and the royal family..."

The dialogue above needed to be developed more in depth it would have helped if the following had been added to it. Why did it matter if Akash was against the war? Why was Felix for the war? Why did Felix mention Wilson? Why did it matter if Wilson was labeled a traitor? What was Wilson's relationship standing with Akash and Felix where they in good terms or bad? Even if the author mentioned Wilson in the book its important to re-emphasize certain points especially if its an aha moment where it has the potential to stand out. 

As I continued to read this dialogue I lamented the fact the scene lacked that spark and it failed to live up to its potential.  Not only in character dialogue did I experience this feeling it was also in descriptions through out the book. The concept was great a futuristic world it has a lot of workability in terms of scenery building however the author does not vividly describe their world in the book. Take for example the scene below that describes the sky and buildings around Felix.

"The sky wasn't contaminated from smog like in Pasidel. There were few factories and cars polluting in the sky. The stars were bright lanterns houses in the heavens. Felix didn't seem to notice them."

The sky was not contaminated but what color was it? Because the sky was contaminated in Pasidel who does it look? How did the factories that Felix was passing look like and where people still working in them at that time? What about the cars where there a lot of them and did the time Felix pass by was it traffic time or not? The brief description was a miss to something that could have added more richness to scenery and allowed the reader to feel like they were inside the book. Descriptions is something the author needs to work on to attract readers to their world and make them experience it.

Overall the author's concept is interesting and has potential however it needs a lot of improvement. Since this book is part of a series there is hope the author will improve since they will get to revisit their creation and hopefully make the much can needed changes to how they approach their story. There is some swag the author is offering in form of a raffle and the following is going to be given out to one  winner: a print copy of the book, map character art and an enamel pin. To enter the raffle and for more information please go to Rafflecopter.