Review of Brian Rathbone's "Call of the Herald"

(This is copypasta'd from my Amazon review of this book.)

One of the first ways I judge any fantasy is by the names, and the names here sounded hollow from the start. The characters are trite and straightforward, the writing is poor, and the story is rote. It's full of telling instead of showing. And the classist conflict of the first chapter, with the good, sweet innocent poor kids being oppressed and bullied by the evil wealthy and privelaged kids just made me gag. It's not the worst I've seen, but I don't recommend it. It's only not a one because I reserve one star for a special kind of bad.

I don't try to read a whole book if it doesn't win me over in the first few pages. In this case, I gave up when I got to the line, "The day was important, different. Something was going to happen--something big; she could feel it." Your mileage may vary; it's just not the writing style for me.