Doug Martin (1)

(Belated early review) Arizona Free is a short novel somewhat about energy drinks as "super" powers. There are a few smart ideas in this "90's cartoon show" concept, and yet unfortunately there is not quite the follow through one might hope. Arizona Free with more polishing and editing make make a good core to a better novel or stageplay.

I mention stageplay because at its most sublime, the book's best feature is its dialogue and I think rewritten in a stageplay or screenplay format some of it would really shine. Some of Doug Martin's best dialog here nears what you might expect from David Mamet or Quentin Tarantino if they found themselves schlepping for a paycheck on a 90's cartoon show.

Arizona Free is fun and amusing at times, and I would be interested in seeing what Doug Martin might produce given some time to polish his craft and given some time with a good editor.… (plus d'informations)

I received this as part of the Early Reviewers program, and while I really wanted to finish it so as to be completely fair....I just couldn't. Given its size and description I was expecting a goofy juvenile book, an expectation that was quickly quashed given the early shallow, homophobic, and sexist dialogue.
I was really unimpressed with the book with its simple, crude characters and ridiculous and overly-silly plot. I sincerely hope that the author intended it all as a satire as other reviewers have suggested, because otherwise this is just poor writing.… (plus d'informations)

There are so many negative reviews out there for this book, I almost didn't bother with it, but the premise interested me so I gave it a try. I found myself captivated instantly and wasn't able to put the book down until I finished it. I frequently found myself giggling. No, this isn't "Hitchhiker's" and it's not Shakespeare, but it's been a long time since I was able to enjoy a comical sci-fi novel and I did enjoy this quite a bit. The end seems to predict a sequel, which I will be watching for and reading if it does appear. Many reviewers complain about this story being dialogue driven. Why is that bad? It kept me in the present and so I went with the flow of things pretty much as the main character did. I don't need to have endless pages of description of the clouds moving over the desert or boring passages of the history of the town in order to find the tale exciting. This is a show-me, not tell-me, story and it swept me away. I didn't notice all the errors that an editor should have corrected as reported by many other reviewers either. Commas were missing at the ends of quotations, but so what? It wasn't like I couldn't understand what was being said and I quickly adapted to ignoring that and enjoying the story. Perhaps it's part of the plot. :) If you like Douglas Adams, Spider Robinson, Steven Brust, Robert Asprin, and movies like Buckaroo Banzai or The Big Empty, I think you'll like this little gem.… (plus d'informations)

Where to start? Let's start with the good points. It's short and the premise is interesting and had potential. That's it for the good points. This book is really awful. It's disjointed, the plot wanders all over the place, plot elements are introduced then go no further and don't relate to anything prior or later. The character development is non-existent and the characters are unbelievably simple, simple minded, gullible and shallow. They believed anything they were told by anyone, no questions asked. I wanted to ask them if they wanted to buy a bridge in Brooklyn. The plot is moved forward the majority of time solely on dialogue, which has the same characteristics as the characters. This read like a high school freshman composition assignment. The other reviewers were too kind to this book. It is bad.… (plus d'informations)