*The Blue-Eyed General by Rebecca Inman Review*

Rebecca Inman's debut novel, The Blue-Eyed General, will be released tomorrow!

The Blue-Eyed General is a fantastical story about a girl with bright blue eyes whose sole purpose in life has been to avenge her friend by tracking down and defeating his murderer...and I'm excited to share my thoughts about the novel in a no-holds-barred review! :) 

The Blue-Eyed General will likely appeal to fans of the sci-fi/fantasy genre, gamers, and manga/anime otaku. For the most part, it's an entertaining read.

*I received an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Synopsis

Jed’s dead. These are the words that transform seventeen year old Cecelia Rivermire’s quiet life into a manhunt. A manhunt to kill the man that murdered her only friend. A manhunt to kill the man that murdered her first love. In this quest for revenge, however, she’ll soon discover that everything she’s ever known has been a lie, including everything she thinks she knows about herself…

Set in a world where a dictator’s word is gospel, rebellion looms, and science and superstition collide with devastating consequences, The Blue-Eyed General follows Cecelia as she strives for her vengeance. Though the man she hunts is an extremely illusive figure, and she finds herself hunted by her own tyrannical Emperor, she’s confident that taking her revenge should be easy. After all, she’s no ordinary girl. With incredible strength, speed, and otherworldly blue eyes, she’s a beautiful enigma; but none of that can protect her from the terrifying places that her journey will take her to, and nothing on Gaia can prepare her for the horrible truths that she’ll learn about herself. By the time she’s done, Cecelia will wish that she’d left the past undisturbed.

With tensions and treason, madness and murder, romance and revelation, for the blue-eyed general, revenge really is only the beginning…

Find out more on...

| Goodreads |

Review

If you're looking for a book that is unique, yet has a distinctly Final Fantasy feel, The Blue-Eyed General is a good place to start!

While this book was not 'all that I hoped for a more', it had a relatively compelling plot, a very familiar environment (I grew up with Final Fantasy and I've been reading manga and watching anime for ages), and a lovable protagonist. I do, however, have mixed feelings about, well, pretty much everything.

Prose

The prose was *shocking*--in a I'm-not-sure-if-this-is-a-good-thing kind of way. It's tainted with a melodramatic flavor I felt was perhaps too blatant; there are more refined ways of expressing drama, tension, and panic than loading a paragraph with 5-6 exclamation points. 

If exclamation points aren't your thing, sorry. The typical paragraph has 3-6 exclamation points. And if there aren't an overwhelming number of exclamation marks, there are loads of question marks. (Or both [?!].) 

Because I'm a huge fan of manga/anime/j-drama (and because I'm pretty melodramatic myself lol), the style wasn't horrifically jarring; however, even I had trouble keeping my eyes from rolling, or yelling at the book, or ranting to my husband.

And yet, for all my snarkiness about this strategy...I can't say it doesn't work. 

Cecelia/Tieve is extremely immature and rambunctious, and she's easily incited to threaten (or perform) bodily harm. But the prose betrays the General's soft nature. Even after she's filleted people or after she *threatens* to kill people, her internal dialogue belies her anger and attitude. 

It's kind of like watching a kitten attempt to catch an evasive piece of string; while the chase is on, the kitten won't stop trying to reach that string, but once the kitten catches it, it's so content its entire demeanor changes. 

Yes, I am saying that you could compare Cecelia to a kitten.

Cecelia likes to think of herself as a tough, I-don't-take-crap--ever--kind of person. But the prose doesn't really back this persona up. She's fierce, but her ferocity is usually somewhat silly/melodramatic. Plus, the fact that she's so naive doesn't help her "I'm super tough" case much.

Somehow, it's as if the exclamation point overkill is strangely appropriate...

If The Blue-Eyed General becomes a manga, it will be BRILLIANT.

Characters


Cecelia is ridiculously full of herself, and wears erraticism like a second skin, becoming enraged at the slightest offense (and sometimes, non-offense, really, which is even worse). She *attacks* people. 

Personally, I don't have a problem with a character who attacks people, especially if they're supposed to be bad-arse or whatever. I mean, Cecelia is a general with super-human strength (hope that's not a spoiler...), so I understand her bouts of anger to a degree. I even understand her desire to assert herself--with force, if necessary. 

What I don't understand is how she can be angered by pretty much anything and everything to the point that she either inflicts harm or wants to...and still generally feels her sentiments and actions are justified.


That said, I still like Cecelia. There's something beautiful about the fact that she's flawed. Her perseverance to achieve her goals is undeniable, and she's gutsy. Despite her flaws, Cecelia is still a sympathtic and relateable character.


As for everyone else, I thought they were 'ok'. Nothing extraordinary, aside from Devin, who is fantastically weird. Derado is pretty creepy, too, though, so he's also a good fit for the title.

Most of the time I felt like the characters' immaturity in scenes could be compared to that of children; they get so angry over the pettiest things. It's a lot like listening to children whine about not being able to play with a toy they really want, actually.

Also, though the trajectory for the platonic relationship between Brey and Cecelia is hinted at extensively, the end result(s) still seemed too sudden for me.

Overall, most of the interactions didn't seem believable to me. The dialogue is diluted at most points and rather strained. Sometimes characters bicker just to bicker, and/or to pull readers into the story with action...but there isn't usually any real action behind those scenes.

Plot

The plot wasn't *stellar*, but it was definitely compelling enough to move forward! 

There were several things that piqued my curiosity--especially those lovely blue eyes. Such an enigma...! What did they mean? Where did they come from? Do other people have them? Are there other special powers that these eyes give people (Cecelia has super strength, so...maybe)?

And then there were the plot twists. Most of them were somewhat obvious--I played FF, remember?--and the fact that I've read loads of books and am in the process of writing my own series helped lol...but they were enjoyable for the most part. The ending was definitely the best--I loved it! 

I'm looking forward to reading the next installment ^_^. 

About the Author

She's not normal. Not even a little bit. Not at all.

Rebecca Inman was born and lives in Sheffield, UK, and spends most of her time at her laptop with a Peeta Mellark blanket wrapped around her constantly cold body. As a child, she could competently lie through her back teeth, so writing fiction always seemed like the most appropriate career move. She often wrote short stories when she was young, but never had the patience to sit down and complete a full-length novel. Deciding that writing shorter pieces better suited her one-track-mind then, she moved to Leeds to study English Literature in the hopes of entering into journalism. Her love of writing fantastical works of fiction never left her though, and after completing two degrees, and getting herself into a crap-load of debt, she moved back in with her mother to live out her twenties as an impoverished novelist. She enjoys reading YA books, listening to teentastic pop music sung by British five-pieces, and is convinced that she will one day actually transform into Taylor Swift.

You can connect with Rebecca on...

| Twitter |  Facebook |

| Website |
The link to the website is the right one, but it might not work. I've been trying and haven't been successful...but it could just be my internet. The others are good, though :)

**SPOILER ALERT** 

If you don't want to spoil the story, don't read this!!


My gamer sense tingled while reading this novel. 

Ok, so when the crew gets to Azgirth, there are bodies in pods that remind me of the pods/bodies in FFIX's Bran Bal (Terra), where Genomes are made. Weirdly, all the genomes have blonde hair and blue eyes...and lack souls... (hrmmm...sounds familiar...) but they have tails, and they don't have super-human strength. Just an observation.