Book 19 Review: Peril in the Old Country

As I mentioned on the intro post for this book, I was provided this book by Black Spot Books in an exchange for an honest review. The book will be released June 5 2018.  With that said I unfortunately cannot give this book 5 stars. I did enjoy the book but I feel like the ending needed to be a little more fulfilling for me, then again this is just the first book of the series….but anyway let me get into the review.

Star rating: 3.5 out of 5

The main reason why this book got as high of a rating as it did was because the author did an amazing job of creating this world. In the book the characters live in a country where the government is the absolute power and all citizens had to be 100% loyal or else “Uncle” would be after them. In this world there is the Ministry of Conversation AKA the place where they take citizens and do whatever is needed in order to get information out of people. There is also the Ministry of Propaganda whose main job is to make everything sound much better than it is. I mean their citizens are “free” so why would anyone say otherwise?….Maybe because they really aren’t free, they are just programmed to believe so. And that is the world that our main character lives in.

I was immediately pulled in by Sloot and his strange personality. In the beginning of the story you are introduced to his quirkiness when he realizes that he forgot his watch at home and it is going to need winding. That in itself is not really odd, but the fact that his mother gave it to him and he associated the clocks movements with her heart beat was interesting. He was so concerned about the watch not being wound that he rushed home so that he could wind it and in turn guarantee that his mother would not die.

Then later on he finds out that he is getting a promotion and of course this is not a moment to celebrate for him…in fact he dreads this promotion. Then to make matters worse him mother finally tells him that she is retiring (from what he was not sure) and that now he had to take her position as a spy for the Carpathians. Who are they you ask? The crazy violent cannibals that live outside of Salzstadt! This obviously puts Sloot into a very intense situation…and that is where his adventure begins.

I do not want to give away too much of the story but Sloot’s entire world is turned upside down.

Pros:

• The world in this book and how it runs is fantastic. There were many things about it that made me laugh.
• I love Sloot. He was just so awkward and sweet. He will really draw you in.
• The book has a dark humor to it and I really enjoyed that.

Cons:

• The plot was slow moving at times. I know that the author was building this world, but it seemed that some parts were dragged out more than they needed to be.
• The ending was a cliff hanger. There is no real resolution and you have to wait until the next book to find out what happens…..yes I will be getting the next book whenever it comes out.

Overall:

I did enjoy the book and all the ending was just frustrating for me. I mean this book isn’t even out yet and I’m sitting here having to wait for the next book to come out whenever that is LOL. I do not mind books that are part of a series but I really prefer for at least 1 story line to tie itself up at the end of the book. I was left going “that’s it! But what happened? What happens next”. It’s just a bunch of loose ends that I will have to wait to have tied up. Sigh. But if you are into books that are satirical, and have a darker mood, this is a great book for you!

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