Review/Reseña: “Forging a nightmare” by Patricia A. Jackson.

Título: Forging a nightmare. 

Autor: Patricia A. Jackson. 

Editorial: Angry Robot. 

Páginas: 400 páginas. 

Fecha de publicación: 23 de noviembre del 2021.

Sinopsis. 

Unknown to Humanity, the descendants of Fallen Angels live among us. After millennia of living in anonymity, a serial killer has discovered their secret and has marked them for death. FBI Agent Michael Childs is brought in to investigate a series of grisly murders in New York City. The only link between the victims is they were all born with twelve fingers and twelve toes, known in occult circles as the Nephilim, a forsaken people.

A break in the case leads to Marine Corps sniper Anaba Raines who is listed as killed in action in Syria. Michael finds the hardened soldier alive and well, but no longer Human. After getting too close to the truth, Michael refuses to be an unwitting pawn in a 3000-year old vendetta. With the killers closing in, he is forced to confront his own unique heritage or die. Only Anaba can save his life, but at a terrible cost – her freedom.

Review

I chose this book because of the impressive illustration on the cover and because the synopsis promised a lot. In a way it's not a disappointing book, but I didn't love it the way I thought it would. 

The writing is quite agile, but it feels a bit stiff, the dialogue is forced to give information to the reader and the narrative goes too fast. As this changes, the characters feel more genuine and the storytelling improves. 

The story also has many points that distinguish it from the rest, for example, the racial and cultural representation, the different mythologies that are combined with Christianity, the Nephilims, the demons and the horses! I loved the way it was incorporated into the story, giving the book its own style. 

However, although everything is very attractive to read, I think the book would be much better without a little more work on the narrative. 

This is probably a matter of experience, probably the next books of the author can compensate this aspect considering how she improved throughout the novel. But personally, the writing of the first chapters made it take a long time to connect with the story and the characters. I'm giving it 3.5 out of 5 because it's actually an interesting book.

Reseña. 

Este libro lo escogí por la impresionante ilustración de la portada y porque la sinopsis prometía bastante. En cierto modo no es un libro que decepcione, pero no me encantó como creí que lo haría.  

Al principio, aunque la escritura es bastante ágil, se siente un poco rígida, los diálogos son forzados para dar información al lector y la narrativa tiene una continuidad que puede resultar incómoda. Conforme avanza esto cambia, los personajes se sienten más genuinos y la narración mejora su ritmo.  

La historia también tiene muchos puntos que la distinguen del resto, por ejemplo, la representación racial y cultural, las diferentes mitologías que se combinan con el cristianismo, los nephilims, los demonios ¡Y los caballos! Amé la forma en que se incorporaron a la historia, dándole una imágen propia al libro.  

Sin embargo, aunque todo resulta muy atractivo a la hora de leerse, creo que el libro sería mucho mejor sin se trabajara un poco más en la narrativa.  

Probablemente este sea un tema de experiencia, probablemente los próximos libros de la autora puedan compensar este aspecto teniendo en cuenta cómo mejoró a lo largo de la novela. Pero de forma personal la escritura de los primeros capítulos hizo que tardara mucho en conectar con la historia y los personajes. Le doy 3.5 de 5 porque en realidad es una historia interesante.