Savannah Fire by Alan Chaput
http://www.authonomy.com/books/29730/savannah-fire/
Hello everyone again and welcome to my third review and coincidentally my
first time reviewing a book that made a perfect ten.
Let me explain what a perfect ten is. Technically some of my grading
points are not necessary to make a great story. For instance if your story is too
broad in appeal to nail down what your target audience is, technically it can
still be a pretty good book. However these are the standards most professors,
writers and readers have always told me were most important to them. This story
passed every basic category and met the standard. Again, I’m not a
professional, you can take my opinion or leave it. As implied this book has a
score of 10 out of twelve meaning 10 regular points and 0 bonus points.
Essentially I can’t help but feel that any flaws I see in this story are purely
opinion at this point, not something I can stipulate has to be changed. This is
probably why the story is currently on the Authonomy editor’s desk. I’m not
going to be dishonest and say the story was perfect, but it certainly has a lot
going for and shouldn’t be skipped.
As far as the rating for objectionable material, again, out of a possible
-25 I’m giving the story a 0. However just like the last story, I feel the need
to say that “so far” no one in the narrative has died and there is very little
violence. The story does feel like it’s building up to something. The mother of
one characters does die, however she is barely a character, the event happens
off scene and it is not portrayed as purposeful violence, rather she dies of a
heart attack. Again, so far as I saw there was no objectionable material in
this story. I do not mean to say there was no drama however, as many scenes
feel rather tense and there is a strong sense of either the potential or even guarantee
of violence at some point. (Again, I must reiterate, this is a rating meant to
tell people “what they’re getting into” not if the story is worth reading.)
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This is a very interesting entry into the contemporary Christian suspense
category. There are no deliberate attempts to force the Bible or doctrine into
the story in a way that seems awkward or unbelievable and actually I see nothing
about the way the story is written that would seem alienating to nonbelievers. The
story itself is about a young woman named Patricia who is trying to fix her
community in a very direct fashion, from helping the needy to rescuing abused
women and catching cheating husbands. The story takes a turn when Patricia’s
mother dies and a small powerful organization in the community is about to lose
a key member at the same time possibly upsetting the order of the small town.
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Plug for author out of the way, and here we go.
Warning: Spoilers may be ahead.
Full scoring explanation:
1.
Spelling/Grammar
Score: 1
Well well, see I’m not a grammar Nazi after all. Yes I must
have seen a total of two minor grammar errors in this entire production, almost
to the standard of a professional editor and I realized if I was ever going to
be able to give a full point in this section, this would be the story. The best
I could do at this point would be to do a full analysis and nit-pick, but this
isn’t the place for that.
2.
Interesting Plot
Score: 1
The plot for this story is very interesting as it deals with
a person who is taking a role in society that really has no official name. Patricia
helps victims of crime, puts her life on the line and even has a gun, but she
isn’t a crime fighter. She helps women find cheating husbands, but she isn’t a
private investigator. She even helps the homeless, but she isn’t a charity
worker. Patricia seems to just want to help people in her neighborhood in an direct
fashion and in the end, though she doesn’t seem to have an official job in any category,
how she behaves does make her feel real. She is nervous about approaching the
homeless, timid about pulling her gun and even unsure of her own methods. She
is not portrayed as an angel, but not also not a devil for the purpose of false
drama. Really it feels like everything in this story could happen in real life.
3.
Good direction
Score: 1
And this is probably where the author gains and loses the
most points with me personally. Objectively speaking I don’t think there is
anything specifically wrong with the direction of this story, but in some areas
I believed it showed through, while others seemed lacking.
One thing I really appreciated was despite the focus of the
story being often on cheating or abusive husbands, the story actually manages
to NOT employ politically correct sexism and portray all men as bad. PC sexism
is usually the reason I have a hard time reading stories involving such
material, despite that I morally agree men who abuse their wives need to be dealt
with. I think it’ actually best to show at least one GOOD man even if he’s in a
town full of awful disgraces to the gender. I feel much the same way when
reading stories that involve cheating wives. Trey seems genuinely devoted to
his wife and although he is human, he’s never portrayed as a villain or paraded
as a further example of male short comings.
On the other hand what bothered me was something I mentioned
in my promo. The powerful organization about to lose one of its leaders, never
has its exact roll in the community clarified. The Cotton Coalition, as it’s
called, sounds important, mostly sounding like a law firm… but somehow not. I don’t
know how not because it’s never clarified exactly what it is. I know some might
say that that sounds like a serious misstep in direction, however not knowing
how long the story is, maybe it was better explained later on and I’m just
disagreeing with the timing of the information’s release. In any case, the
story goes on and the lack of definition is distracting, but doesn’t keep you
from enjoying it.
4.
Author Interest
Score: 1
The author shows interest in this story to a very good
degree, even responding to critiques and questions on it in a timely fashion.
5.
Believable Main Characters
Score: 1
Except in one category, the main characters of Patricia and
Trey (I think he’s meant to be a main character, though he doesn’t show up in
person until chapter 4) felt like real people. The circumstances around them
felt a little engineered, like the Cotton Coalition’s unexplained desire not to
allow women and the coincidence that Patricia isn’t caught by a security guard when
she straight up botches an undercover snatching of evidence on a cheating
husband, but really these aren’t deal breakers. Stories often exaggerate
circumstances for effect, that’s not unusual, what matters is that we believe
the characters are acting in a fashion that real people could or would in their
shoes. Of course extraordinary circumstances a ting outside of what happens in
the real world are present, but both characters feel like real people.
This next objection is completely personal opinion. To me
personally, the death of the mother in the story felt mellow dramatic. This
comes from someone who actually lost his mother in real life. Losing a parent
has got to be one of the most disorienting things that can happen to a person,
you don’t even know if you should cry or not. Instructing others on how to help
you, feeling a sudden (albeit not complete) release after reading a single
Bible passage, having the presence of mind to actually understand what you need
to do at all except in the most basic ways… I don’t know, maybe that’s just how
a different person deals with things. That’s why I’m not saying it’s definitely
mellow dramatic, it just feels that way. Like the emotions were simplified and
exaggerated in certain areas for the benefit of the plot. It’s a realistic
enough portrayal, and it doesn’t feel impossible, it’s just very different from
my experience and what I saw in my family. I’m no expert though, maybe a
different person would react in a more organized fashion and that’s just how
their personality works. Like I said, nothing feels impossible, or even silly,
just different from my experience. In all reality it’s entirely possible that
such a powerful experience biases a person for life and I’ll always, whether it’s
fair or not, judge scenes like this in stories by my own experience. I could completely
understand someone else calling the reactions in the story realistic, I just
can’t.
6.
Likable Main Characters
Score: 1
No bonus points this time around? Well no, not this time. I believed
in and liked Patricia, but I really didn’t see something I would remember five
books down the road. I think exaggeration tends to be the key to memorability
to me. Patricia was felt like a real person. This is a good thing and many may
consider her more memorable because she didn’t feel like a super hero or caricature,
but not me personally. She really was a well-made character, as was her husband
Trey (whom did strike me as the only notably good man in a novel that involves
cheating men in a long time). I believed Rhett, but at the moment can’t figure
out if he’s a side or main character.
7.
Likeable Supporting Characters
Score: 1
The supporting characters in this story often didn’t have
powerful roles that no one else could fill, however they all managed to have
their own personalities and stick out as people. They weren’t card board cut
outs or place holders for real people because we needed them; instead they felt
like they could have had their own stories that we could easily have been
reading instead.
8.
Good Scene Description
Score: 1
This isn’t like the last story where I was struck by an
incredible and poetic attention to detail, however this story’s descriptions
did do their job. I was able to visualize where the characters were, and the
settings felt like real places. The focus was on what mattered at all times and
the writer never went off on tangents to describe irrelevant items or details. The
story was very tight and organized in this area.
9.
Targeting
Score: 1
It seems pretty clear, to me at least, that this book was
meant to appeal to a Christian crowd, with constant references to God and the
Bible. It’s also meant to be a suspense/(maybe)romance novel, not a high stakes
action or otherwise story. It’s knows what it’s about and the story would
probably appeal well to a contemporary Christian audience.
10.
Broad Appeal
Score: 1
Despite being a Christian story, specific elements of religion
or doctrines are not addressed, nor important to know. There are elements of
romance in the story but also elements of suspense and while the story talks
about infidelity, the subject is not used to galvanize one gender or the other.
I think this story could appeal to men and women believers and non. You would probably
have a hard time getting your kids into it, but they don’t count usually.
I highly recommend this story and really wish I could read the
rest. There is also a good chance I’ll be reviewing the other two. All for now!
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