Review: Seeds of Malice

Seeds of Malice by Dale Mayer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Seeds of Malice is my second Dale Mayer read. After reading and enjoying Flynn's Firecracker, I was interested in reading more of the authors work. Whilst Seeds of Malice was a decent read, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Flynn’s Firecracker.

In all honesty, I spent a long time debating what rating to give this book. It’s a three-point-five star rating, and I couldn’t decide if I should round up or whether I should round down. Although there were some four star moments in this read, I felt as though there wasn’t quite enough for me to round my rating up. Even though I opted to round down to the three stars, know it is more than a simple three star rating.

Although this is the eleventh book in the Psychic Visions series, it can be read as a standalone novel. I read it as a standalone novel, and I believe many of my issues were a result of this fact. It may work as a standalone novel, but I feel as though I did not get the full experience through reading it as such. I feel as though I would have enjoyed this one a lot more hand I read the prior books in the series.

You see, I had so many questions. Whilst some elements of the story did become clearer as it progressed, I was still lacking in a real understanding by the end of the story. I had questions about characters and the events that took place, about details that were mentioned and never explained in full detail. My questions regarding the individual storylines of the main characters were answered, but my questions about the bigger picture are still sitting there. As someone who enjoys the bigger picture, I was left feeling somewhat discontent with this one. It really does depend upon your views as to whether or not you’re willing to jump into this story as a standalone or whether you wish to read it in relation to the rest of the series. I’m not at all sure how well it links in with the rest of the series, but I am interested in finding out more.

Of course, I could not give a three star rating simply because I read the books out of order. It would be unfair to round down due to a choice I made. Due to this, my reason for rounding my rating down is multifaceted.

My other Dale Mayer read was an extremely gripping read, filled with thrills and endless action. In comparison, Seeds of Malice felt very slow. Rather than looking at the here and now, a lot of the drama was retrospective. There were some moments of action and drama within this one, but it was nowhere near what I had been anticipating based upon my reading of Flynn’s Firecracker. I wanted things to move quicker, I wanted more edge of the seat moments.

In addition, the ties that brought everything together felt somewhat forced. There were many interesting elements to this story, but I feel as though the connections between them were not all they could have been. I love it when there’s a good mystery tied together by many smaller parts, but only if it flows well. Although some elements flowed better than others, I felt as though it didn’t flow as well as it could have. Some of the details felt as though they weren’t explained quite as well as they could have been.

Due to this, some of the scenes felt as though they were lacking in the depth they could have had. The emotions weren’t as deep as they could have been, events seemed to come out of nowhere, and it jarred me out of the story. Throughout I was thoroughly addicted, curious as to how things would play out, but it wasn’t the powerful read I had been hoping to receive.

Whilst I will be reading more of Dale Mayer’s work, I’m crossing my fingers the future books I pick up will be more like Flynn’s Firecracker. Although Seeds of Malice was enjoyable, it wasn’t what it could have been.

View all my reviews