I really hate to say it, but Beckoning of the Gate by Benjamin J. Ryan is on my, I did not finish list.

This book started out strong with the prologue, and it built up a very quick intrigue.  The villain was interesting, showing some compassion while still maintaining that evil air, but unfortunately this book did not keep it up.

I started and stopped reading this book three times, making a bit further each time.  However, there wasn’t enough in this book to keep me reading, which is a shame considering how wonderful and fantastical the plot sounds.  After making it about 35% of the way through this book, I looked it up on amazon to see what types of reviews it was getting and I saw a few that said the same thing.  They did not finish it and stopped at about the same point I did.  Some of the other reviews said they finished the book, and were glad they did because the book started to get really good between 40 and 45% of the way through the book.  And honestly, that is a problem. Amazon says the print version of this book is 453 pages long.  40% of 453 is approximately 180 pages, and I am of the firm belief that I should not have to read that much of a book for it to get really good.

The other main issue I had with this book, is that I never really made a connection with our main character Santha.  As a matter of fact, I felt more of a connection with Margaret, who was only there in the prologue, than I did with a character I am following through the rest of the book.  And don’t get me wrong, it isn’t that the characters were written poorly, it just felt like there was something missing that prevented me from fully connecting with and caring about the characters.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t a bad book of what I read.  I just didn’t really care about it. Normally when I read a book I get so sucked in that I cannot put it down, I have to finish it right here and right now, and that just was not the case for this book.

Overall –  For those that read and love this book, I am thrilled.  I want other people to enjoy this book in a way I was unable too.  But I could not get interested enough in this book to finish it.

Beckoning of the Gate (The Vāyilian Threads Book 1) Benjamin J. Ryan

Cost* – eBook is $.99 and Paperback is $14.39. 

*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published