We choose books to read as a consumer would, from time to time, and review those. When we find books like this one, we cannot help but be disappointed. They are predatory in nature, the people who publish these are only out to make a quick buck, and they should be put on notice. This review is as much as about the book as predatory publishing practices, so keep that in mind as you read our review of The Flesh Merchant.
“Daveed, son of Daveed, was once a man of great power. The kind of power that guarantees a life of ease. A life of convenience.
That power carried a great cost. Others suffered, and Daveed was happy for it.
Then the source of his power is stolen, his easy life snatched away. Daveed must find the thief, and steal his power back.
Will his desparate struggle to regain power lead him to success? Or ruin?” – From Amazon
Story –
Too Short
Despite the apparent length of the novella, do not be fooled, the actual story is not much longer than the free sample. The rest of the space is filled with ‘your free gift’ as well as samples of other novels that we will not be reviewing. We do not blame Mister Carter for this; we understand the temptation that independent publishers can be, but we recommend when proverbially climbing into bed with any publisher, do your research. It is books like The Flesh Merchant that give indie publishing a bad name.
Style and Formatting – Not Bad
To focus on Mister Carter and his work for a moment, it isn’t bad. The story is very short, but relatively cohesive and is a fun read. The group who published this work takes center stage, however, as the formatting is off. The reader is dropped straight into the story after the publisher riddles off countless Twitter handles (ok, like six, none of which even belongs to the author). In the end, it would not surprise us if this work was plagiarized from another site where it is free and then distributed by this publisher. (Please note: this is our opinion. We are not accusing anyone of plagiarism; we are simply stating that it would not surprise us.)
Literary Value – Nonexistent
Too short! Mister Carter has unfortunately not delivered a full work. It is a beautiful flash fiction, something someone could write in an afternoon, but it is not a book. If pressed for details about the world in which it takes place, we could give you few, if any. There was no world building, an essential fantasy component, and really only a single scene. It has the makings of a good story if it were expanded upon; however, as it is, it is nothing.
Overall – Do Not Want
We expect our readers to make their own decisions. We know, in the future, we will avoid purchasing books from this publisher. We have actually forgone a portion of our review, the quotes, simply because any direct quotes would be a substantial portion of this story, and we like to avoid stirring up too much trouble when we can. If Mister Carter ever reads this, we have one message for him: find a new publisher, someone to work with you, guide you, and give your work the respect it deserves. As it stands, there is no respect to be found here; just a gimmicky mess meant to try and scam money out of people who just want to read a good book. And we do stand by that last statement.
Do you want to read The Flesh Merchant? It is available on Amazon.