The Fighter by Nathan Squiers

The Fighter (Scarlet Night Series) by Nathan Squiers

"THE DEVIL YOU KNOW":

Born in Massachusetts in 1986, Nathan grew up in Andover where his affinity for story-telling flourished due to a love of books and movies as well as an overactive imagination

Above excerpt "borrowed" from the Dark Prince himself on his blog aptly named : The literary Dark Prince's blog

http://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=nathan%20squiers&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nathansquiers.com%2F&ei=va5ZUISJOsOg0QWywIHQAQ&usg=AFQjCNEmpELMOjzrS43WZPJ10uzi93CHSg

My review analytically based:

Character.

The character of Zane is drawn from the woe-me stereotypical the-world-owes me lampoon.  It is apparent that the author likes Zane, and to some degree this could prove to a bit scary seeing as he is NOT a likeable character.  In his conventionality Zane's character is one dimensional.  The short story per se, does not lend itself to any real character development and when at last Zane decides to act rather than wallow, his internal dialogue shows that he has not grown by the culmination of the story but has rather resigned himself to the lesser of evils.  Zane's character's demarcation is truly linear due to the formulaic principle used to make him fit the stereotype. 

Theme.

The theme of the story is not one of redemption or worth; it is one of self pity and of choosing to be a victim. The theme is developed and built upon trite inner dialogue which eventually spills over towards a clichéd verbal and physical attack.  The stereotyping is both traditional and familiar. The intent of such blatant stereotyping is clear! It is used too off play the element of shock.  This play off, serves the plot in that the cast typing is so overwhelming that it over shadows the shock value, making the entire story more accessible toward the general reading public. The introduction of the plot is full on, no holds barred in nature and follows a predictable path towards an anti-climatic conclusion.  The resolving of the story is simplified and predictable so as to ensure the next story in the series have a strong, open ended plot to carry on upon. The one thing that was truly intriguing is the fact that Zane refers to himself as plural and this is a mystery I am convinced, which will have readers looking forward to some form of explanation.  The setting of the story is done expertly playing against Zane's have-not attitude against the do-have's.

 Style.

The writing style is neither complicated, nor unclear.  It is written to be offensive and thus build on Zane's.  No harmony or rhythm is employed by the author in his writing, clearly displaying the lack of said components in the world he created for Zane. Nathan uses some caricature of Edward in The Twilight Sage in a parody which adds towards the fact that Zane is a very unlikeable character at this stage of the series.  The style of the author alone is worth reading this book.  You will need to read far and wide to find another character as unlikeable as Zane. 

Best quote.

It's just 'wah wah wah! My bottle's empty and my life sucks for it!' and I, for one, am tired of watching you masturbate your misery.

My opinion.

The author Nathan Squiers is a singularly talented author.  His stories are never in between.  A reader will not sort of like it or sort of dislike it, they will love or hate it and it this is a talent that is rare.  Personally, I did not like this story.  It had none of the authors by now famous shock value, or gruesome details.  But I admire the fact that he in a few pages only created a character so vivid and so identifiable, that I disliked him immediately and that he managed to make my dislike grow page by page.

My star rating. 

The authors ability to write a story 5 *! 

My personal like / dislike of the story 4 * based on his ability to evoke such a strong feeling against Zane and thus engaging me with the plot.

My recommendation based upon a star rating a 3 *, I can hardly recommend all read a story I disliked.

My opinion regarding the authors' ability to write a story? A 5 *. 

My overall star rating is thus a 4 *.