TeamNerd Reviews: Book Review: The Watchtower (Watchtower Series, #1) by Darke Conteur

The Watchtower (Watchtower Series #1)

Author: Darke Conteur

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Synopsis: His first day of work wasn’t what Martin Cunningham expected. A sultry boss, a classy receptionist, the drama-queen foreigner, and a painfully shy techie who prefers hiding to human interaction, was the oddest group of characters he’d ever met. When an assassination attempt is made against his new boss, Martin comes face to face with the stuff of nightmares.

Now he and his new co-workers must race to prevent another attack, but where do they start? There’s very little to go on, and the only solid piece of evidence escaped through the u-bend in the toilet. By the end of the day, Martin becomes one of the privileged few who really understands what lies in the shadows, and what it means to work in THE WATCHTOWER.

Brought to you by TeamNerd Reviewer Annabell Cadiz

Review: I am a BIG lover of the fantasy and paranormal world. I always love when authors manage to mix both worlds together in unique and fun ways. The Watchtower is a novel that fits both worlds. There were aspects of the book I enjoyed and aspects I believe could use some work.

The story opens right smack in the middle of intrigue and mysterious fantasy. As a reader, I was instantly drawn into the story through my eager curiosity. The characters come into the story cloaked in magic and strong personalities. I liked Aslin right from the beginning and he remained my favorite character throughout my time reading the novella. He is an authoritative, no-nonsense type of guy,but also kind and wise. I also couldn’t help,but love the fact that he was Scottish *wink*

Martin was an alright lead. He often times lacked common sense and was too gullible. I was also rather frustrated with the fact that he fell head over heels for his new boss and for some ridiculous reason, trusted not only his new boss, but new teammates when he knew nothing about them. He spent his time gawking at his new boss or making stupid decisions. His character did manage to redeem himself later in the action scenes. Barb was a fierce and strong willed woman. I liked her gift and appreciated the fact that the author created a female character with both power and brains. Daniel is cute and sweet, but he also acts too childish at times and a bit useless. Jezryall is never really developed. She is the blandest character out of the set and very underwhelming considering the power she holds.

The plot is fairly interesting but the execution lacked the “wow” power to really show off what the author was hoping to accomplish. There were moments of suspense, scenes full of action and alluring revelations, but the actions of the characters, particularly Martin and Jezryall, as well as the dialogue dampened some of those scenes. The actions scenes though were written pretty well and were probably the best scenes from the novella.

I did like the mixture of Greek mythology and Christian storytelling. I also liked the idea behind the zombies. Although, the mixtures of Greek and zombies were a bit odd and out of leftfield; as a reader I found the connection hard to connect together even for a fantasy story. There just seemed to be something missing within the plotline.

I do not usually comment on the level of grammar errors within a novel because I realize that editing can’t always be perfect and for an Indie author, it can be difficult to find a good editor for an affordable price. But since at the beginning of the novella, the author gives notice that it had been copyedited, I had noticed many places where words were misspelled and the amount of commas used. It became a bit distracting at times.

The Watchtower is one of those stories with such a high level of potential and refreshing concept that, even with its many flaws, I would still recommend reading. Perhaps if the author looked into a good content edit or extending the novella to more pages, both the story and characters would be fleshed out better.

The author’s voice is strong with sarcasm underneath. I am curious to see what other stories the author comes up with and how she grows as a writer. The Watchtower is a short and quick read fantasy fans will have fun reading.

About the Author: Darke Conteur is a Stay at Home Mom with a passion for writing and a Wiccan. She creates works of fiction ranging from the paranormal genre to the science fiction genre. When she isn’t working on her latest inspired piece by her Muse, she can be found taking care of her Husband and her son (Sithboy). She also has two cats, one kitten and a ghost dog who like to demand her attention as much as possible. She first jumped into the world of e-publishing back in 2011 with The Watchtower, the first novella in her Watchtower Series.