Thursday, July 15, 2010

Review: The Grandmaster

Title: The Grandmaster
Author: Peter A Balaskas
Genre: Fantasy
Price: $10.59
Publisher: Createspace
ISBN: 978-0615147437
Point of Sale: Amazon
Reviewer: veinglory
Rating: 7/10

The Grandmaster is a story told in retrospect by an old man who survived a Nazi death camp partly due to his possession of mysterious paranormal abilities. The opening sections of the book are rather confusing. As the story becomes clearer the journal format becomes rather less convincing, but the narrative takes a more conventional form and the pieces come together.

Overall this novella has flashes of authenticity and cliche-defying mythos, but at other times is seems muddled and not fully realised--and the ending felt relatively weak. The protagonist has a strong voice but many of the supporting characters are paper thin and important plot points seemed jammed in as pages of exposition.

Overall this novella is a promising but not itself, in my opinion, a master work.

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