Review: Magic of the Frogs

Magic of the Frogs by JJ Maro

http://www.authonomy.com/books/33971/magic-of-the-frogs/

I suppose it is time I wrote my first book review for Authonomy, hopefully this will be noticeable as it is a bit of effort to not be noticed.

For those just wanting to know the books’ score upfront, here it is. Out of 12 possible points (that’s including 2 possible bonus points) the story’s final score is 10.5 or 9.5 regular points plus 1 bonus for a winning memorable character, Bastion. Not a perfect score but definitely respectable.

Real quick, as to the objectionable rating, here’s the score. On my scale of 0 to -25 this story gets a comfortable score of -3 for a minimal display of blood for a story that involves war and violence that only really allows bad guys to die in scene. It is implied that some of the good characters MIGHT have died, but they probably didn’t just the same, the story doesn’t do much to confirm either way.

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This is an inviting and wonderful story that kept me coming back for more. I loved the main character of Bastion and actually was able to remember his name after putting the book down. The intended audience is definitely children and I would highly recommend it to them, however adults may enjoy it too. The story does not take itself too seriously and it is likely to make you feel pretty good by the end. This is a story that definitely earns it’s place and I can see why it has so many backers.

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Now that I’ve given the author a plug he can use if he likes, here’s the meat of the review.

Warning: Spoilers may be ahead.

Full scoring explanation.

Spelling/grammar

Score: ¾

I must apologize to the writer if he is reading this. I simply cannot pass over the fact that several times quotations were left open, paragraph separation was wrong on occasion, and sometimes the wrong words were used. Essentially it wasn’t a deal breaker though, in an over 20,000 word story, I might have come across some twenty mistakes, and of those, none kept a section from being readable. Remember folks, editors charge upwards of .042 cents per word, which here would have been around 850 dollars. If the author is reading this, yes, I would be willing to offer some help, but that would mean reading and finishing my story of Lost and Found (shameless plug!) first.

Plot

Score: 1

The plot of this story was well thought out and interesting. The crux is that a young talking frog must uncover the mystery behind what happened to his people to make them frogs and in the process defeat a great evil. The story execution isn’t incredibly unpredictable, but most of the ideas themselves are original and the author does succeed in creating an entirely new world for his characters that children will love.

Direction

Score: 1

Well here it is. Just because I say the direction in a story is good, doesn’t mean I agree with it. The story was eventually about a war between good and evil forces, as I’m sure many probably guessed. However the writing feels like the author was endeavoring very hard to avoid overt violence. Thus many scenes felt clunky as he dodged really talking about major battles at times, and ensured that no real blood was spilled. The bad guys died, but they were created by magic so technically they were never alive, and they turned into dust when they died instead of bleeding out. Essentially, if someone really doesn’t want to write about violence, why write a story that involves war in the first place? Why not just write about folks weathering a great storm, or performing a rescue mission of some form? However these points are personal opinion and the story is well done considering that it manages to pull off a number of rather intense and engaging battle scenes, without showing significant bloodshed. There were even a number of death “cop outs” where dead to rights individuals would come back just fine in the end.

Also I will note that while the end makes sense, nothing really feels final about it. The characters don’t seem to have made any real progress by the time you come to the last page save for individual character arcs.

Author interest

Score: 1

The author doesn’t reply to many comments on his story, but that is probably because it has so many. He is active on Authonomy, but usually talks on other people’s books more than his own.

Believable main characters

Score: ¾

As much as I loved Bastion I did not believe he was a real person and Larien felt much the same way. Both characters were meant to fill roles and while Bastion especially did so exceptionally well… Let’s put things this way. Larien felt like her scenes were mostly believable, despite being a fairy, until one HUGE scene at the end and discussions of a few subplots came along. She was her own character and had some interesting scenes, but events around her were often too magical to believe even in the story’s universe. The frog Bastion felt believable alright. He felt like a guinea bonafide nine-year-old boy turned into a frog. He loved to play fight while day dreaming of invisible bad guys, he was a huge show off and he was lazy but no one seemed that concerned about it. All this is great for a story written for little boys, and I don’t think most of them will pick up on the difference, but Bastion was supposed to be a man turned into a frog. One with a love interest even.

Likeable main character

Score: 1 +1 bonus

And here’s where my praise of the character Bastion comes in. Bastion loved to play and show off, he was skilled in his own head and cared very much about the people around him. He made for the perfect hero and young boys will probably be able to see themselves and their friends in his goofy demeanor. It’s great to see a kids story that understands its audience. Kids like to somehow see themselves as the heroes, even if their age group in particular isn’t represented. Like I said, Bastion felt like a real kid. Too bad he was supposed to be a man and that kinda clashed. Larien was decent and I liked her character too, but nothing especially stood out.

Likable supporting characters

Score: 1

The supporting characters were goofy and interesting in their own right each and every one, however I must note that they all felt like children in adult shoes. They were well characterized for this on purpose I’m sure, as this is a children’s story. None really stood out but their roles were interesting and well thought out.

Good scene description

Score: 1

The scenes in this story were well set and you could easily picture where these animals live. Even as I type this I can close my eyes and imagine the small city of Covington with its nearby marsh and the evil looming castle a few miles away.

Targeting

Score: 1

Like I think I’ve been HINTING at all along, this story is well aimed at children and probably especially little boys. Bastion IS a little boy in personality, if not in body and I’m pretty sure the little guys will like that.  There is also really nothing very objectionable for parents so reading it to children even as young as five or six shouldn’t be a problem.

Broad appeal

Score: 1

Like I said, this is a story for little boys, however I am NOT a little boy and I still found it enjoyable. I would also imagine that girls would like the story too and many adults may find it a good distraction. This definitely is not the next incarnation of Harry Potter, but there’s no real reason adults can’t enjoy it. The main problem most grownups will probably have is the overly gentle approach to violence.