Free (Kindle) The n00b Warriors (Book One)

[arcadata]

The n00b Warriors (Book One) by Scott Douglas

Product Description
A blog started the forever war--a global war set in the not so distant future between two groups (the Rebels and the Coco's).

Dylan Austin has grown up with the war being a constant background to his life; his dad has just returned from war missing a leg; his older sister is missing and presumed dead from the war; and all through school war has been embedded into everything they teach. Teens have been raised on educational war video games, and their minds are polluted with the idea that war is just a game.

Unlike most kids Dylan's age, he does not eagerly await the day he can serve the Rebel cause. At sixteen, Dylan is one of the weakest kids in his class, and is always picked last for war games; he's not even good at the government issued video games that are supposed to make you more combat read. Unfortunately for Dylan, war has come early, and he has no other choice but to fight.

No one suspected he could last a single day in battle, but after Dylan, along with two of his friends, wins an unusual battle inside the Disneyland amusement park in Anaheim, he becomes something that no one (not even himself) ever suspected: a hero and leader.

Dylan is sent with his two friends, Trinity and Hunter, to Seattle, where the fighting is worse than anywhere else in the country. He is expected to lead a company of over two dozen into one of the worst combat zones anyone has ever seen--but first he has to earn their trust and respect.

The longer Dylan fights, the more he learns that true leadership has little to do with physical strength. He also begins to learn the true origins (and absurdity) of the war that he is forced to fight in, and looks for a way to stop it.

[queentess]

lolwut?

Be wary of this one. Six over-the-top 5-star reviews and two 2-star reviews that say the writing is terrible.

[koland]

Suspect it's self-published and Amazon found out it was free somewhere. Not on Smashwords, but 99 cents at B&N.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by koland

Suspect it's self-published and Amazon found out it was free somewhere. Not on Smashwords, but 99 cents at B&N.

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services

I suspect you are right

[AndrewH]

Terrible title and description. At least it's free.

[koland]

Yes, would hate to have paid for it (would not have, I suspect). Just started the sample -- first sentence has a correctly spelled, but misplaced word:

sense instead of since.

Didn't get any further into it, back to Joe Ambercrombie.

Speaking of violent content, the foreword of N00b warns that is has been rejected (often) due to violence, so despite the synopsis, this one isn't for teens, it seems (definitely not younger children). Although the author says it is basically for the video game generation ... the one that thinks GFA should be played on neighborhood streets.

[marty888]

Well, the price is right, so I'll give it a try.

[Lemurion]

The title was enough to put it on my "Not interested even if it is free," list.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

The title was enough to put it on my "Not interested even if it is free," list.

Ditto that. But then koland's notice of a wrong word in the first sentence intrigued me. Could it be that bad? Downloaded the sample. Here are two more gems from the first couple pages:

When it came 15 seconds later, and it shook the ground.

Today's featured a small dog with the a caption, "Yo quiero Taco Bell!"

I'm thinking there's a reason it was rejected by "dozens of editors"...

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by queentess

Ditto that. But then koland's notice of a wrong word in the first sentence intrigued me. Could it be that bad? Downloaded the sample.

(snip)

I'm thinking there's a reason it was rejected by "dozens of editors"...

I'm thinking you're right.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by queentess

I'm thinking there's a reason it was rejected by "dozens of editors"...

It might be writtened like that in purpose, but it be un-free in my Amazons so I won't never know nothing about them.

I wonder how many editors rejected Feersum Endjinn?

[queentess]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

It might be writtened like that in purpose, but it be un-free in my Amazons so I won't never know nothing about them.

I wonder how many editors rejected Feersum Endjinn?

Phonetic writing is entirely different from editing failure

[sourcejedi]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I wonder how many editors rejected Feersum Endjinn?

0. :-).
That wasn't a first novel, and it's published by exactly the same publishers as the previous and successive (sf) books.

A degree of consistency is important.

I'm sure one could find valid reasons to use homonyms and erroneous grammar in narration. Do it right, justify it, and readers can temporarily adjust their reading protocols. Feersum Endjinn is highly structured: the phonetic voice is very distinct, and it alternates so that only half the chapters are phonetic.

But if the first sentence is borked, there's no framing device, no obvious pattern to the deviations, and it's a cheap self published work, etc - then Bayes says the deviations are due to the author's English, and I think the reader is justified in assuming so after two pages.

Me, I take the view that those sort of mistakes are contagious and I don't want to risk infection.

I sometimes read 'Tales of Mu' (nsfw blogfic), where quite a few typos, missing words and other stuff slips through. But there's a thriving readership, and the author accepts corrections quickly & without comment. I don't get that vibe here (I think it *could* be done, even with a traditional novel & nothing more advanced than a standard free blog / wiki / account, but not simply by publishing on Amazon).