Shane Stilson

When I started reading this book, I really didn't like the first few chapters; I found them somewhat longwinding and not very intriguing, and thought it would be a terrible read. But, since I was supposed to write a review, I decided I had to keep reading, because, well, you can't really write a review about a book if you've only read a couple of chapters...
Much to my surprise, I found the story improving rapidly, and turning into something quite amazing. I ended up reading the entire novel show more in a single night because I couldn't put it away, and I really loved it.

Blake Stillwater crashes his car, killing his wife, daughter and brother; he finds himself in a realm somewhere between heaven and hell, where demons fight over the souls that get stuck here and a battle between good and evil is fought. Stillwater causes an anomaly in this realm, which might cause demons to take over for good, and might even affect the living world. Can he find out what's going on in time to save his friends and his remaining children?
After the first few chapters the novel turns into a fast-paced quest to save 'middle damned' and for Stillwater to find a way back to his family; along the way we meet all sorts of strange creatures, good creatures and demons, with different interests and motivations in helping, or countering Stillwater. I really liked the descriptions of the realm and its inhabitants, and was gripped by Stillwaters quest.
Stilson succeeds in making the realm mysterious and weird, and yet, in some ways familiar as well. He poses questions of love and loyalty, of fairness and punishment, and the age-old question: what happens to us after we die? I found Stilsons story of life after death intriguing and convincing, well thought out and a very complete and coherent whole. The step by step progress of discovering this new world through Stillwater's eyes makes for an interesting journey.
Apart from the more serious, somewhat philosophical issues, Stilson's descriptions also show a keen sense of humor, which makes the book very readable; I found the combination of humor, action and more serious parts well balanced, and it made the book a nice read.
The characters in the novel are described very nicely and well-rounded, and Stilson does a good job at making us understand why beings end up in middle damned and how their subsequent choices affect their fate. Though some questions remain unanswered I didn't find this problematic, it just keeps the realm sufficiently mysterious to keep the book interesting, and gives a feel for how confusing the realm is, even to its inhabitants.
My personal favorite in the book was Dawn, she's such a lovely creature.

All in all, a great read, even though the first chapters didn't really work for me. If you find the first chapters somewhat uninteresting, I would very much advice you to keep reading just a bit longer... show less

Well, I noticed on another review that the reviewer was knocking the first chapter. I must agree 100% on this. It just did not work. I found that too many fancy expressions/adjectives were used, and used too often. Also, the dialogue between the 2 characters was annoying at first. Overall it was very cool concept and certainly a unique read, in that I've never experienced this type of story before. For me it wasn't my favourite book, however it has lots of potential and I may re-read it show more again at some point. I think the biggest thing I can say is, getting past the first parts is key, and many books also have this attached to them (some Stephen King novels for example). But once past that part, things pick up and keep you going.

The biggest issue I had with this was the formatting of the e-book file I was sent. Usually on my Kobo it is easy to adjust font size, etc. However, that was not the case with this one. Adjusting the size was an exercise in frustration to say the least, but I was able to read it as supplied, although it was very small. show less

The first chapter was a bit of a grind but since its only two pages long and is really just the setup for the story, it's forgivable. Given the time, I would suggest either expanding it to relax the dialogue and make it more obvious later why Nolan and Blake are in different places, or reduce it to just the car crash (although that leaves Nolan not-dead for unknown reasons). The rest of the story picks up almost immediately with Blake discovering that dead isn't what it used to be. The show more author has provided just enough description of the scenes to feed your imagination but not so much as to bog down the pace of the story. The development of the characters was extensive and complete. I found this book impossible to put down for the mundane reasons like eating and sleeping and I was very pleased with the ending. I hope this is a series. show less

MIDDLE DAMNED
by Shane Stilson

3 ½ out of 5 stars

There was a lot to love about this book. And not too much to hate. I did hate the first chapter. Ugh, what terrible writing. But if you can slug your way through that, pretty soon you're caught up in a story that's almost too good to put down. The first chapter consists mainly of a conversation in which the author, or the speaker, continuously addresses the main character, Blake, BY NAME! Blake this and Blake that, and Nolan this, and Blake, show more Blake, Blake. When was the last time any of you had a conversation where you were addressed by name once, let alone TEN times? People don't generally speak that way. I would think the author would be miles ahead by simply deleting all but the last two or three paragraphs of that introductory chapter.

Moving in to the story, it became interesting. You couldn't wait to find out what happens next. There were some parts which were quirky and hilarious, fit for a Disney-Pixar movie: most especially a red fur-ball, flying squirrel and a giant demon named Onsusej (one-sausage?) However, Disney-Pixar does not do eternal damnation and “all-roads-lead-to-hell” type stuff.

Some parts of the story were almost cringe-worthy: Blake is not really dead, or in hell, because his body is being kept alive back in the real world, by artificial means. Why, then, would the author name one such middle-damned character, “Hawking”? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking

There were also characters which I feel that I've seen before. Within the pages, for instance, you may recognize a slightly re-imagined, Gollum, from Lord of the Rings; Scar and his hyenas, from The Lion King, and numerous scenes recreated from the likes of Alien, The Incredible Hulk and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Still, despite the heavy-handed first chapter, the story really sings and Shane Stilson can really write. Too bad about that Disney thing. show less