Sunday, April 01, 2012

Nameless by Kyle Chais




    Life as a Nameless can get boring. Monotonous days awaiting your execution can get very dull. That's why one Nameless decides to possess a troubled human named Aurick. The Nameless sees Aurick, about to be murdered, and steps in to save Aurick's life. The only problem? The Nameless gets a bit too comfortable in Aurick's body and decides to stay awhile.
Let me start by saying this book was written by an 18 year-old, Kyle Chais. I think it's absolutely amazing an 18 year-old could crank out a full-length novel at such a young age, and that's to be applauded. However, I really just didn't ever connect with this book. I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea. My main problem was that I found there to be too many extraneous events and characters that detracted from the overall plot. There were just a lot of characters who floated in and out, not really having a purpose. I did enjoy some of Aurick's antics towards the middle of the story; some of his adventures are fun to hear. Though, as the story stretched on, I just never had that moment where I was enthralled. I never felt engaged with the characters. Another problem I had with this story was the peculiar religious themes. I don't want to give anything away, but there is a lot of both challenge and support of religion and it felt misplaced. I have read several other books about fallen angels and such that managed to keep the plot away from religious territory. I just didn't care for the writing style, so it was hard for me to enjoy the story. Overall through, Chais has accomplished an amazing feat as such a young author. I hope he continues to grow as a writer and that maybe his next book will be something more up my alley.
Along with religious themes, this book has a fair amount of sex and violence and is more suitable for older teens and young adults.
Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Tigard, Oregon United States