Review: Jack of all Trades by K. C. Shaw

Last night I was gifted an unexpected reading pleasure.

Recently I’ve been wading my way through tomes which lived in darkness. I have been surrounded by devils and demons, ghosts, vampires and other creatures of evil; killers, sadists, masochists and other undesirables our society has spawned. If I didn’t own my own little black and twisted heart then I’d have been in danger of becoming quite depressed and possibly more than a little paranoid.

But last night the sun shone into the darkest recesses of my shadowed world and offered a little hope that a good read can be found in the most unexpected places.

I also found that words I often thought trite do have a place in the review world. We’ve all seen blurbs were a book is labelled as ‘wonderful’, ‘enchanting’, ‘a pleasure to read’ – I always looked at these labels as people being dishonest. It’s like saying something is nice. What is nice? It’s a word people use when they have nothing nice to say. It’s sprinkling flowery camouflage over the compost heap they perceive before them. Last night I read a book that was wonderful. Last night I read a book which both enchanted and entertained me thoroughly. Last night I became lost in an imaginary world which was a pleasure to read.

Last night, I read Jack of all Trades by K.C. Shaw from cover to cover.

Granted, I don’t read a huge amount of books aimed at young adult or younger markets, but this book is like a Pixar film and crosses the age boundaries with ease. Everyone will enjoy this. When I closed the book I felt happy to have read it, content with the way things worked out and eager to suggest my ten year old daughter should read it next.

A love story, a tale of friendship, and one of tolerance. It takes the reader back to times when children respected their elders, when a hard day’s work was gratifying and when the most important things in the world were those around you.

It is full of action, what many in the past would label ‘a real page turner’ with so many things happening in the life of one man you wonder how it all relates back to the central plot, but Shaw manages to keep all the balls in the air, circulating them with ease, until she decides to allow one to drop into place and the central picture becomes that much clearer to the reader. Everything is related to everything else. There are no loose ends and the connections are a joy to reveal.

The only downfall I can point to is the length. The experience is over far too soon and there is no loose end to naturally lead onto other books in the series. Yes, our hero, and his lady-love, may travel and experience new adventures, but this book has painted such a wonderful community, it would be difficult to let it go. Still, if the author is able to build minor characters and weave such a wonderful plot into a standalone book for each addition to Jack’s adventures – then this series will become a staple of every school library. I will be happy to buy each new book as it’s released and I would read them before giving them to my daughter.

This gave me back the feeling of wonder I had back in school when I read classics like Charlotte’s Web, or even further back when I read the Jungle Book. I remembered the enjoyment of a tale that made me laugh and just made me feel good. It is a simply well told and very entertaining story.

You may have noticed that I haven’t gone into plot detail. I’m trying to do this less and less. I want to give you my opinion on the book, not a quick rundown of its contents. There are plenty of other review sites which will fill you in on plot points if you prefer that.

This book gets a 4.6 making it the only non-dark fiction and non-adult orientated book to earn 5 out of 6 on my review scale. If I haven’t sung it’s praises enough already then let me leave with you a reminder as to what I think about books which score a 5 on my scale: Outstanding. You must buy this book. If money is tight, then steal it.

A Good Day

Today has been a good day for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I added a touch over 2000 words to the current WIP - excellent! Except I've struck a strange obstacle. I've written, what seems to me, to be the middle third of a chapter first. I know what comes after, but the first bit is eluding me unless I want a chapter that is around half the size of all the others.

I know it comes down to just write the story, don't pad, and all that, but this is the major climax - and it all seems to be happening too fast! I've slowly increased the pace until the point where our hero has had the crap beaten out of him and he's just about to find himself in the firing line between the good guys and the arch nemesis, and then has to use his own cunning to defeat the bad guy, save himself, and the day, but I've arrived too quick! I've gotten caught up in the action and rattled it off. (please, no male jokes this time - I'm feeling sensitive and vulnerable).

So before I get him out of the pickle, I've let things cool down. I'll go back to it after a nights sleep and see where I can heighten the tension, make the beating a little more vivid, pack in the punches - so to speak.

Another reason it's been a good day is because Jack of all Trades by the wonderful K.C. Shaw arrived in my mailbox! The only downer to this is the pile-up of books which sit in front of it before I can read it. My 10 year old daughter is also eyeing it off (It would be okay for her to read, wouldn't it, KC? Hanging around with dark fiction writers makes me ask first...)

But the last writing-related reason it's been a good day is because the list of books standing between me and everything else I want to read has been reduced by one! I finished 'This Is Not A Game' by Walter Jon Williams. This was a good book, but I'm somewhat biased because I'm a gamer from way back - not a video game player - a D&D player. I was rolling dice and talking to myself long before there was an AD&D. It is what really got my creative juices flowing in the first place and what I've tapped into to get back into characters heads ever since - but I digress...

This book has characters who are gamers, and the protagonist is also a writer who eventually switches from writing fiction to reality-infused-with-online games - these things are huge and have multi-million dollar budgets. But part of the appeal is because Williams also feeds out some mechanics on how to write a fictional story in the action/thriller genre. It's all pretty cool and that's just the first Act of the book (yep, it's even written in three distinct acts like all good little writers are taught). From there, the D&D aspects move more to the background and the obvious writing lessons disappear all together, but the story really takes off (which is more writing lessons in itself).

Okay - wait for more to be posted, like an actual review, on HorrorScope, tomorrow, or maybe Saturday if I don't find enough time tomorrow.

And totally not related to writing, but very cool anyway, I solved two major headaches at work today that have been hanging around my neck like a millstone for the last few weeks. The annoying bit is that I gave the guys the solutions and work arounds sometime back but nobody believed me until they implemented the suggested fixes today! There's some old saying about soaring with turkeys, and something about eagles - can't remember, but I think you know what I mean and it definitely applies to the Thanks Giving guest's of honour that I work with!

Only one major headache left to solve and then I can start making my own migraines by rolling out the first of two major projects I need to get done before Christmas this year :c(

2010 will definitely see more time for writing if I get everything right, so it'll be worthwhile - at least that's what I keep telling myself ;c) (there, I tied the last good bits into having something to with writing - kind of).

Time to catch some Pokemon - oh, is that the time...maybe just time to get some sleep instead.

Here's hoping you had/have a great Thursday as well!