Ten Lives by Christian Terry

Blurb: After agreeing to hunt down an ancient relic on an alien world, Mike Wesley may have gotten more than he bargained for: the mark of the hero which gives him the ability to respawn after death, ten times.

Now, between the deadly booby traps and the cute, cuddly murderous cat creatures that inhabit the world of Kelenia, he’ll need each one of his new lives if he wants to make it back to Atlanta in one piece.

 

 

 

Favorite Quote:

“The portal is near a vast underground river that can be accessed through man-sized holes in your thoroughfares,” Ariel said with a flourish. “You’re talking about the sewer, aren’t you?”  “I do not know this word: sewer.”  “Does it stink down by this river?”  “There is the smell of putrescence, yes.”  “You live in the sewer.” 

3.5 stars

This book had some subtle humor in it.  I’m not sure if I am the target audience for this book.  It seemed to be a play on video games.  I don’t really play those that much but I understand the concept.

The story was easy to follow and predictable, a fact which I suspect was the authors intention.  I mean, it follows a game story line pretty good.  And I started to see how it could be a game itself.  Like when they were trapped in that room with the walls closing in, totally a problem solving part of the game.  The characters were something I could see in a game world too, the lovable but clumsy sidekick , the mentor and the love interest. Mike, the MC, was a pretty straightforward guy.  Hard worker, didn’t like drama, and in the habit of helping those in need.

One thing that I really didn’t like was the fact that Louis’ name kept getting changed to Lou or Piggy.  It was done so often that it really stuck out to me.  If you are going to have a nickname, only use the given name in moments of depth that you want to stand out to the reader. Otherwise, the switching of the names becomes tiresome to me and holds no meaning.  Three different names is too much.

I did love the cat though, wish we could have saw more of him. Also, I didn’t understand why Ariel’s daughter hated Mike.  And when he asked, they told him it was complicated and suddenly Mike understood, but I didn’t.  I have been known to be a bit of a dense reader though so maybe that went over my head.

All in all not bad for a debut novel.