by Jason Joyner | Jun 20, 2007 | Blog, CSFF, fantasy, fiction
Well…
This was certainly an interesting CSFF tour. There were some opinions expressed that generated some heated discussion at times. I think overall most of the conversation has be productive and helpful. A little of the tone was not exactly what I would hope for in a group of Christians, but we are far from perfect and will hopefully grow from the experience.
My overall impression remains that Sharon Hinck’s The Restorer, the focus of the tour this week, is an ambitious work that really seems to resonate with a female audience in general. I wouldn’t say male readers shouldn’t approach the book, but I could not connect to the writing or the main character. It seems that one intention of the book is to open fantasy up to women who may not otherwise consider it. In this circumstance I think the book has great potential, and would be pleased to see this happen. I already know of one female friend I will give the book to.
I’ve made an effort to check all of the people listed in the tour at least once, and some I’ve visited multiple times. I’ve tried to pull some of the interesting content together. Please don’t be offended if your posts aren’t here: I had to stop at some point!
Marcus Goodyear wonders about the purpose of the tour.
John Otte (starting with 6/17 and following) provides a great interview with Sharon and is a guy who liked it.
John Ottinger brings things together with grace.
Karenee loved it and responds to a negative review.
D. G. D. Davidson (6/18-6/19) posts a critical review and some thought-provoking essays (to say the least). I may not agree with them, but they are an interesting read.
Wayne Thomas Batson (6/18-19) discusses blind praise versus flames, and challenges us to do everything in love.
Tina reviews the book and pulls questions from its discussion guide to answer on her blog. An unique approach to the tour!
I have all the links for the other tour participants on 6/18/07’s post. Check out the others (Hanna Sandvig’s is worth it for the art and pictures alone…)
by Jason Joyner | Jun 20, 2007 | Blog, CSFF, fantasy, fiction
Well…
This was certainly an interesting CSFF tour. There were some opinions expressed that generated some heated discussion at times. I think overall most of the conversation has be productive and helpful. A little of the tone was not exactly what I would hope for in a group of Christians, but we are far from perfect and will hopefully grow from the experience.
My overall impression remains that Sharon Hinck’s The Restorer, the focus of the tour this week, is an ambitious work that really seems to resonate with a female audience in general. I wouldn’t say male readers shouldn’t approach the book, but I could not connect to the writing or the main character. It seems that one intention of the book is to open fantasy up to women who may not otherwise consider it. In this circumstance I think the book has great potential, and would be pleased to see this happen. I already know of one female friend I will give the book to.
I’ve made an effort to check all of the people listed in the tour at least once, and some I’ve visited multiple times. I’ve tried to pull some of the interesting content together. Please don’t be offended if your posts aren’t here: I had to stop at some point!
Marcus Goodyear wonders about the purpose of the tour.
John Otte (starting with 6/17 and following) provides a great interview with Sharon and is a guy who liked it.
John Ottinger brings things together with grace.
Karenee loved it and responds to a negative review.
D. G. D. Davidson (6/18-6/19) posts a critical review and some thought-provoking essays (to say the least). I may not agree with them, but they are an interesting read.
Wayne Thomas Batson (6/18-19) discusses blind praise versus flames, and challenges us to do everything in love.
Tina reviews the book and pulls questions from its discussion guide to answer on her blog. An unique approach to the tour!
I have all the links for the other tour participants on 6/18/07’s post. Check out the others (Hanna Sandvig’s is worth it for the art and pictures alone…)
by Jason Joyner | Jun 19, 2007 | Blog, CSFF, fantasy, fiction, reviews
The Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy blog tour is highlighting The Restorer by Sharon Hinck this month. You can see yesterday’s post for an introduction of the book, as well as the links for my fellow tourmates. I promised that I would post my review today.
Becky commented yesterday that a slight trend was developing that the guys of the CSFF tour may be less enamoured by this book. Certainly Sharon has some good endorsements from true-blue guys like Robin Parrish, T.L. Hines, and Randy Ingermanson.
Unfortunately, my opinion is that this may be more of a ladies read.
As I said yesterday, and the author freely admits, it is hard to categorize this book. This can create problems, because people like their comfortable descriptions (“You like reading Lori Wick? Try Deeanne Gist.”) Like I posted recently, what would you think if Ted Dekker wrote a prairie romance (depends if it is written in true Dekker style, I suppose)?
I applaud Sharon’s creativity to do something new. Inherent in this are the risks that something may not work across the board.
The premise is intriguing: a discouraged soccer mom gets pulled into an alternate realm and finds her calling to help the people. The book is written in the classic “lit” style (mom-lit, chick-lit), which fits with Sharon’s two previous books. The mom-lit style tends to be a little light-hearted, which undermines the seriousness of the situation in the alternate realm in danger of being overwhelmed by enemies.
A couple of reviewers have noted that the main character spends a lot of time whining about her situation both in the real world and in her new locale. Some of this is to be expected in such a situation, but it does get grating after a while.
I’ve seen a lot of praise for her world-building, but honestly I felt quite disjointed by it all. It is a bit of “science fantasy”, where there are some things that are futuristic like the transports mentioned, but other aspects of life are standard fantasy (swords and such). I wasn’t able to picture the world very well-it seemed the description of different areas was either sparse or not very memorable. However, the preferred drink in the alternate world, clavo? I could almost taste it, as much as it is mentioned!
To be fair, there are some nice twists in the story. The major twist I didn’t see coming, and was pleasantly surprised by that development. In the middle of the story the heroine has an epiphany of a spiritual experience, and I thought it was very touching and well-written. That is one point where I really felt drawn into the whole experience of the book, and it was very enjoyable.
But overall, it was more of a chore to read this book for the review. I think the idea was clever and had a lot of potential, but in my opinion it falls apart in the voice and world-building aspects and never really gets me to a point of investing in the book or characters. This is just my opinion-many of the reviewers this time site what I’ve just said as strengths of the book. So tomorrow I’ll pull together a few of the reviews from the tour to give y’all a fair picture of The Restorer.
by Jason Joyner | Jun 19, 2007 | Blog, CSFF, fantasy, fiction, reviews
The Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy blog tour is highlighting The Restorer by Sharon Hinck this month. You can see yesterday’s post for an introduction of the book, as well as the links for my fellow tourmates. I promised that I would post my review today.
Becky commented yesterday that a slight trend was developing that the guys of the CSFF tour may be less enamoured by this book. Certainly Sharon has some good endorsements from true-blue guys like Robin Parrish, T.L. Hines, and Randy Ingermanson.
Unfortunately, my opinion is that this may be more of a ladies read.
As I said yesterday, and the author freely admits, it is hard to categorize this book. This can create problems, because people like their comfortable descriptions (“You like reading Lori Wick? Try Deeanne Gist.”) Like I posted recently, what would you think if Ted Dekker wrote a prairie romance (depends if it is written in true Dekker style, I suppose)?
I applaud Sharon’s creativity to do something new. Inherent in this are the risks that something may not work across the board.
The premise is intriguing: a discouraged soccer mom gets pulled into an alternate realm and finds her calling to help the people. The book is written in the classic “lit” style (mom-lit, chick-lit), which fits with Sharon’s two previous books. The mom-lit style tends to be a little light-hearted, which undermines the seriousness of the situation in the alternate realm in danger of being overwhelmed by enemies.
A couple of reviewers have noted that the main character spends a lot of time whining about her situation both in the real world and in her new locale. Some of this is to be expected in such a situation, but it does get grating after a while.
I’ve seen a lot of praise for her world-building, but honestly I felt quite disjointed by it all. It is a bit of “science fantasy”, where there are some things that are futuristic like the transports mentioned, but other aspects of life are standard fantasy (swords and such). I wasn’t able to picture the world very well-it seemed the description of different areas was either sparse or not very memorable. However, the preferred drink in the alternate world, clavo? I could almost taste it, as much as it is mentioned!
To be fair, there are some nice twists in the story. The major twist I didn’t see coming, and was pleasantly surprised by that development. In the middle of the story the heroine has an epiphany of a spiritual experience, and I thought it was very touching and well-written. That is one point where I really felt drawn into the whole experience of the book, and it was very enjoyable.
But overall, it was more of a chore to read this book for the review. I think the idea was clever and had a lot of potential, but in my opinion it falls apart in the voice and world-building aspects and never really gets me to a point of investing in the book or characters. This is just my opinion-many of the reviewers this time site what I’ve just said as strengths of the book. So tomorrow I’ll pull together a few of the reviews from the tour to give y’all a fair picture of The Restorer.
by Jason Joyner | Jun 18, 2007 | Blog, CSFF, fantasy, fiction
Here it is again, the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy blog tour. I always enjoy this tour, as there is more interaction with so way cool people. Some are writers, some are readers and fans of speculative fiction.
I definitely fall in the latter. I admire those who can think up whole worlds and all the logical outworkings of the details of these places. And I thought my imagination was active!
This group of fans tend to be more vocal and supportive of the types of work we enjoy. Our inner fanboy (or girl) must be satiated! We crave more. More good fiction to read. More opportunity to explore spiritual themes without the conventions/limitations of regular fiction.
This month we are focusing on Sharon Hinck’s new book, The Restorer. As I’ve seen her describe in an interview, it is not an easy book to label. For starters, think fantasy meets mom-lit. If that doesn’t catch your eye, nothing will.
Susan Mitchell is a believer and a harried soccer mom, keeping up with two teenagers and two younger kids. Feeling as though she’s missing out on the adventures the Lord has for her, she is wearing thin. When her husband Mark renovates the attic as a private place for her to steal away, she only anticipates a little peace and quiet. When she is pulled into a portal and falls in the dirt with a sword by her side, she is in for a lot more. Could she actually be the foretold Restorer?
I’ll check back in with my review tomorrow. I also plan on visiting my other tourmates and pulling together some of the insightful reviews and commentary. Check back on the 19th and 20th for more with the CSFF tour.
Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Russell Griffith
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Heather R. Hunt
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Robin Parrish
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Daniel I. Weaver
by Jason Joyner | Jun 18, 2007 | Blog, CSFF, fantasy, fiction
Here it is again, the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy blog tour. I always enjoy this tour, as there is more interaction with so way cool people. Some are writers, some are readers and fans of speculative fiction.
I definitely fall in the latter. I admire those who can think up whole worlds and all the logical outworkings of the details of these places. And I thought my imagination was active!
This group of fans tend to be more vocal and supportive of the types of work we enjoy. Our inner fanboy (or girl) must be satiated! We crave more. More good fiction to read. More opportunity to explore spiritual themes without the conventions/limitations of regular fiction.
This month we are focusing on Sharon Hinck’s new book, The Restorer. As I’ve seen her describe in an interview, it is not an easy book to label. For starters, think fantasy meets mom-lit. If that doesn’t catch your eye, nothing will.
Susan Mitchell is a believer and a harried soccer mom, keeping up with two teenagers and two younger kids. Feeling as though she’s missing out on the adventures the Lord has for her, she is wearing thin. When her husband Mark renovates the attic as a private place for her to steal away, she only anticipates a little peace and quiet. When she is pulled into a portal and falls in the dirt with a sword by her side, she is in for a lot more. Could she actually be the foretold Restorer?
I’ll check back in with my review tomorrow. I also plan on visiting my other tourmates and pulling together some of the insightful reviews and commentary. Check back on the 19th and 20th for more with the CSFF tour.
Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Russell Griffith
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Heather R. Hunt
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Robin Parrish
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Daniel I. Weaver
