City of the Uncommon Thief

I'm sorry...but this book is really why I don't favor traditionally published books. Penguin Teen picks this one up and claims to be a choosy publisher when there are thousands of well-written indies out there that wouldn't have been considered? Ugh. Enough with my rant on the publishing industry though.

I like the cover of this book. I really do. And some of the descriptions were nice. But this book traded in actual good writing/a developed plot for fluff and overly “big and fancy” words. There was so much info-dumping and I felt like the author was just trying way too hard to be a writer that people think of and say “wow. I have no idea what half those sentences mean, but that just must mean the author is much more intelligent and eloquent than I, a lowly reader!” Gah, I sound so harsh, but I'm just bummed because I always look forward to newly released reads and jump right on buying them when I get the chance. Especially ones that look really cool, like this one. But sadly, because of all the ridiculous elements (info dumping, overly big words, odd style), I DNF @ around 40%. I just couldn't get into it... I felt like the story was going nowhere.

I still to this day don't understand why some elitist readers will scoff at independent books when many traditionally published books fall way below the indies. But what do I know? I'm not a writer and I'm not a publisher, only a reviewer and reader who...very sadly...could not finish this one.