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InPassage
Pitch only knows a few things. There are people hunting him. Indeed, those men killed his partner. Pitch knows he needs to get a gun. He is good with a gun. No, he is better than good. He is a ranger, sent here from a different time. However, his injuries are dire and his memory faint. Is he here to save the oppressed or is he just another gunslinger thirsty for violence. Inspired by Louis L'Amour's "The Man Called Noon" Jerry Harwood with a dystopian, sci-fi twist.
279 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 10, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 4, 2022
I'm Stephen Monteith, and I'm here to review "InPassage", by Jerry Harwood. "InPassage" is a blend of several different genres. It has elements of dystopia, Western, post-apocalypse, time travel, mystery, and trace amounts of other genres. The main character for "InPassage" is called Pitch. That's not Pitch's real name, but Pitch has amnesia and doesn't know his real name. He doesn't even know his pronouns at first. I should point out that Pitch was assigned female at birth but personally identifies as male, which is confusing at first for him until he remembers, and certainly makes it more difficult for the people chasing him.
Yes, the book starts with Pitch running from people. He doesn't know why he's running, but he knows he's been injured and is pretty sure it's the people chasing him who injured him. Unsure of where he is or why he's there, Pitch relies on random flashes of memory and the kindness of strangers to navigate an increasingly violent and bleak-looking world.
And as the world is introduced to Pitch, it's introduced to the readers. We learn that this is a world that was exposed to "The Fever", an event of some sort that left the male population doddering and the female population picking up the pieces of society. More than that, though, we learn that time travelers called Rangers have been showing up in this time period, maybe to help, maybe to make things worse. And Pitch is one of them. But, because his memory is so spotty, everyone around him seems to know more about the Rangers than he does. So it's not just a quest to learn who he is that drives Pitch, but a quest to learn what his mission is and how to fulfill it.
It's an interesting setup, both for the world and for the main character, but the execution stumbles in a number of ways. In the beginning, for example, things are just as confusing for the reader as they are for Pitch. In theory, that's a good way to start, as it allows the reader to learn about the world and its events and characters through the eyes of the protagonist; but in this case, it's cumbersome, as there's too much for the reader to learn about. Too many questions arise too quickly, and not that many answers appear for a while, leaving the book less of a mystery and more of a quandary.
Even the characters, which I generally consider to be the most important part of any story, are mystifying. Their motivations are difficult to divine, even when we see things from their perspective. And there's a "sameness" about them all, even though they all come from different backgrounds. Each chapter has a little heading that tells you whose POV is the main one for that chapter, and honestly, without these headings it *would* be a little hard to tell.
The two most distinct characters are the protagonist Pitch and the main antagonist, the Governess. Pitch, of course, has easily understood motivations, and we learn his background piecemeal throughout the book. As for the Governess, she runs the island where Pitch appears at the beginning and has had many encounters with Rangers over the years since the Fever. She's ruthless, but her own motivations are not as simple as they may appear at first.
The book has a number of interesting ideas, as I said, but its writing is difficult at times to follow. The exposition feels random, as if it's trying to be mysterious when it doesn't need to be, while at the same time feeding us details we don't need. We still get a good story out of it, but one that ultimately needed better writing. The book is available on Amazon in both paperback and eBook formats.
Yes, the book starts with Pitch running from people. He doesn't know why he's running, but he knows he's been injured and is pretty sure it's the people chasing him who injured him. Unsure of where he is or why he's there, Pitch relies on random flashes of memory and the kindness of strangers to navigate an increasingly violent and bleak-looking world.
And as the world is introduced to Pitch, it's introduced to the readers. We learn that this is a world that was exposed to "The Fever", an event of some sort that left the male population doddering and the female population picking up the pieces of society. More than that, though, we learn that time travelers called Rangers have been showing up in this time period, maybe to help, maybe to make things worse. And Pitch is one of them. But, because his memory is so spotty, everyone around him seems to know more about the Rangers than he does. So it's not just a quest to learn who he is that drives Pitch, but a quest to learn what his mission is and how to fulfill it.
It's an interesting setup, both for the world and for the main character, but the execution stumbles in a number of ways. In the beginning, for example, things are just as confusing for the reader as they are for Pitch. In theory, that's a good way to start, as it allows the reader to learn about the world and its events and characters through the eyes of the protagonist; but in this case, it's cumbersome, as there's too much for the reader to learn about. Too many questions arise too quickly, and not that many answers appear for a while, leaving the book less of a mystery and more of a quandary.
Even the characters, which I generally consider to be the most important part of any story, are mystifying. Their motivations are difficult to divine, even when we see things from their perspective. And there's a "sameness" about them all, even though they all come from different backgrounds. Each chapter has a little heading that tells you whose POV is the main one for that chapter, and honestly, without these headings it *would* be a little hard to tell.
The two most distinct characters are the protagonist Pitch and the main antagonist, the Governess. Pitch, of course, has easily understood motivations, and we learn his background piecemeal throughout the book. As for the Governess, she runs the island where Pitch appears at the beginning and has had many encounters with Rangers over the years since the Fever. She's ruthless, but her own motivations are not as simple as they may appear at first.
The book has a number of interesting ideas, as I said, but its writing is difficult at times to follow. The exposition feels random, as if it's trying to be mysterious when it doesn't need to be, while at the same time feeding us details we don't need. We still get a good story out of it, but one that ultimately needed better writing. The book is available on Amazon in both paperback and eBook formats.
August 26, 2022
not my cup of tea.
stopped early.
stopped early.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews