Review: ‘The Silver Locket’ by Marie Fostino
Marie Fostino was kind enough to send me a free ebook of ‘The Silver Locket’, in exchange for a review, so here it is:
Review Of ‘The Silver Locket’ by Marie Fostino
[Warning: This review contains a few spoilers].
The Silver Locket by Marie Fostino
I must admit, at first, when I started ‘The Silver Locket’, I didn’t really identify with the main character, Jenny, and I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to continue reading. But I’m glad that I did!
Although some of the writing is a little ‘suspect’ in places, and repetitive, Marie Fostino is an expert at using evocative language and emotive imagery to create heart-wrenching moments. Indeed, the ending even brought tears to my eyes; although I didn’t see it coming, really, when looking back at the overall plot, it was inevitable - there really was so much subtle foreshadowing.
A couple of things that I did find confusing, especially at first, were the ‘head-hopping’ between different characters – with no apparent break/indication of a change of point of view - and how the thoughts of a character were shown. Sometimes the thoughts of the characters were speech-marked, other times they weren’t.
Although I didn’t really like the change of perspective at first, I began to get used to it, yet, overall, I feel that the story would’ve been strengthened had it solely been told from Jenny’s point of view.
At first, I found the characters and situations a bit stereotypical, i.e. good girl meets bad boy, Bad boy changes good girl, but then I realised that it is a thing that happens. After all, it showed the readers how big a problem drugs are, and how influential some people can be.
I must admit that I loved Jenny’s character arc. At the beginning, she annoyed me, but by the end, I felt that I could relate to her, and felt sympathy for her. But, I also admired her too. Similarly, I liked Jacy’s transformation, for the same reasons.
There were quite a few formatting issues, as well as grammatical errors (those aren’t really the author’s fault), but I did notice in two places where characters’ names were misspelt. Particularly in the second-half of the book, I felt that there was more telling going on, rather than showing, but the ending was really evocative and emotional.
I also found a lot of the more minor and background characters to be one-dimensional – Jenny’s brothers and sisters, and some of Jacey’s friends.
The actual plot is great, and the event which triggers the whole plot off, is one that most people can relate to: moving house. This gave the book a very realistic feel, and I like how Marie Fostino created the illusion of a lot of time passing in certain parts of the narrative.
I also liked how the book started and ended with the grown-up Jenny’s point of view, showing how events in the past can really affect the individual in the future. I felt that this was realistic, and very well done.
Although this review sounds a little negative and critical, (like many of my reviews do!), this book is definitely worth reading; in ‘The Silver Locket’, Marie Fostino has delivered a powerful story. Indeed, I found that I couldn’t stop reading this, and I did read it in two evenings.
After finishing ‘The Silver Locket’, I discovered that this is one of those books, where, once you’ve read it, you can’t stop thinking about the main characters (and the emotional ending).
So, go and take a read of it for yourself, to find out what I mean.
Madeline’s Rating for ‘The Silver Locket’: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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Buy ‘The Silver Locket’ on Amazon (US) or Amazon (UK).
How lovely to read a review that isn’t all ‘grovel grovel, oh, we’re all indie authors so we all have to give each other 5 stars’. I thought this review was very well thought out and balanced and gives the reader a good idea of what to expect – the good as well as the bad, I mean, as well! I didn’t know what Marie’s books were about, which is why I clicked on the review, and now I do; the subject matter sounds very interesting, as does the story itself.
I have one complaint – WHY aren’t grammatical errors the author’s fault? An analogy I often use – yoy wouldn’t build a house without knowing how to lay bricks, so why would you start to write a novel if your grammar is poor, without sorting it out first?
I don’t use an editor but I draft and re-draft my books relentlessly, thinking about every tiny thing (down to should that have a hypen? Is that two words or one? Am I really sure another word wouldn’t be right in that context?) – I’ve never been pulled up on grammar. I am LUCKY, I’m good at it, but if you aren’t, hire an editor! Another analogy ( one I haven’t used before!) – I am a rubbish driver, so I get taxis/lifts/buses!!!!
Some people say, rather idealistically, that it’s the story that matters. Well, no, it isn’t. I can’t read past the first chapter if there are grammar/punctuation errors, and I know a lot of people feel the same!
Oh dear, hope I haven’t shouted my mouth off too much – it’s a subject I feel very strongly about – no, really???!!! I just think that we all want to keep the standard of indie published books high, so that they are taken seriously, for the good of everyone, so if you don’t know where your commas go – find out! 🙂
ps, I don’t, unfortunately, proof read my blog comments, hence the typo or two! – and I also think that the formatting is the responsibility of the author – everything about the book is!! My let down is my proof-reading (I miss words out a lot) – for the next one, I’m paying for it to be done!