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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 An Intergallactic Thriller! Aug 09, 2010
By Alvin C. Romer
"The Jackal"
The mere mention of aliens, extraterrestrial activity and fiction beyond the scope of normal reality will evoke out-of-the-ordinary settings. As it is with paranormal offerings that are jockeying for position on bookstore shelves, the aforementioned seem to be holding its own. The Darkling by Keoni Anderson in my opinion goes beyond mediocrity on the way to magnificent! The genesis of a story with ordinary pretension depicts Henry Johnson, a San Bernardino, California high school student who desperately wants to escape his sordid surroundings and get admitted to a good college. Along the way quite a few occurrences beyond his control catapults him in another realm relative to an illogical, if not mysterious key and note found in a local park. How does this change his outlook for a normal life? Enter alien Sofa Re, antagonist Mor Ray and his merchants of mayhem, and the dark secrets hidden in the shelves of Re's insipid bookstore. For a first time work, the author did an outstanding job of creating a storyline that riveted me to page after page of undivided attention. What made me so wanton for this story?
Science fiction, or paranormal as others would want to call it is a genre not an easy read for those not already acclimated to the art of stories where imagery is a prerequisite for something different. Mr. Anderson went one better -- he continually gave me something to whet my appetite further and kept me intrigued by what would happen next. Alien conspiracies, mind-blowing creatures, hunted fugitives with clauses and a cause, and relentless persecutors made this story intriguing. Most interesting is how the author was challenged to incorporate a balance between reality and speculative lore to give the story its flavor. From beginning to end the story resonated, with the gist of it never wavering from allowing the reader a chance not to be deterred with a sense of worth. It borders on in my opinion, who the protagonist really is in lieu of the obvious choice in this story. The Darkling represent a single entity representing a species named for the mysteries surrounding them--and the story supported why imaginative ingenuity will always move a story of this magnitude.
This book is not without flaws. The prose style could have been better, and the author's inexperience is apparent, but unlike most reviewers who tend to be unforgiving where literary fortitude is not inherent in lieu of the strength of plot and storyboard, my take on the importance of substance far outweighs mistakes that first-time authors are prone to make. There were story inconsistencies, spacing issues, typography errors and mistakes like missing spaces between words and mis-capitalization, etc. Despite all of this, it should be understood that if the stylistic rendering was applied to a better writing style it would have been rated higher...however, I gave points for character development, and plot twists. Kudos to this author who has created a space epic worthy of the best in the science fiction genre of late. This is a must read for any sci-fi fan, and readers cognizant of an author outside of the stereotypical notion of whom should be writing this type of fare in the first place. This, in face of a great story well told. Welcome to the genre, Keoni we await the sequel!
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Someone else's perspective Mar 16, 2010
By Keoni Anderson
"Keoni Anderson"
I know everyone won't like my book, but I don't want just to have one bad review posted. That would give anyone a false since of stay away from this book. I had other reviews and so far (except the one) enjoyed it. Here is one reviewer. Her name is Amy Jacobs.
HER THOUGHTS:
I am not a big fan of Sci-Fi books. When the author contacted me to review this book, I thought it sounded great for my first book in this genre. First of all, the cover is amazing! It gives you the creepy and dark feel of what I think Sci-Fi books have.
When Henry finds a key in the park, he knows his quest for a normal life is not going to happen. This had all the elements you would come to expect in this genre. Aliens, conspiracy, bad guys and creatures of all sorts. I dove right into it and even though some parts I found myself skipping over, I continued to read it. The book had the definite Sci-Fi feel and plot to it.
Even though this was a great book, I am still not sold on this genre. If this is what I use my basis on though, I would more than likely give it another go. The author did a wonderful tale and had a wonderful plot!
1 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Keoni Anderson needs a little help... Mar 07, 2010
By Robert Gallaway
"Ragmar"
The Darkling
I admit it at the outset that I only read the first one and half chapters. This may be a great story. I simply could not get past the robotic prose, story inconsistencies, and typographic problems.
Although cover art is presented in the Amazon.com entry for this offering, the Kindle version lacks cover art, a title page, and a table of contents. This is a poor beginning for professional publication.
A proof reader should have caught the myriad mistakes in typography. Lots of little mistakes like missing spaces between words and mis-capitalization. Sniggling problems, but they are annoying.
But the central problem is that the prose style is clumsy to the point of being alien. Take the episode in which the central character, Mor Ray, interrogates people waiting to enter a night club: Mor Ray displays an interactive, holographic image of the person he's looking for using a small disc in the palm of his hand. According to the author, this causes the interviewees to believe that he's a cop? Hmmm. Police on my planet are not really known for displays of other-worldly, high-tech gadgets. Maybe on Robotica they do this sort of thing all the time...
"...The lights of the city seemed brighter, but were still like little light bulbs...". Funny, but most city lights are produced by light bulbs so it's hardly surprising that they looked like little light bulbs from a distance. It's as though the author wanted to offer an insightful, metaphorical image of the city lights, but just wound up with a zen-like "this is this".
Then there are the inconsistensies. Mor Ray declares radio silence for two hours, then proceeds to break it almost immediately without any obvious need to.
The force field that Mor Ray applied to the three muggers in the park managed to reflect bullets, pulverize flesh and bone, but allowed blood to leak out onto the grass? A leaky force field?
This is apparently Keoni Anderson's first published work. Had it been offered for a nominal fee, I wouldn't be so critical. But when a work is offered for Stephen King prices it should present professional results. This is an amateur effort and should be priced accordingly. Frankly, I feel like I've been taken by aliens.
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