The Holy Terror

Basically what my two stars boils down to is this: I had too many questions by the end and I didn't feel attached to any of the characters. I didn't think the "big reveal" was all that exciting or as terrifying as I'm sure it was meant to be either. And the more I found out about the world, such as the technology or what happened in the past, the more questions I had that were never answered. I realize this is a short story and it continues on, but if you're going to sell me a book it needs to feel whole.Normally when a story features a husband and wife and something happens to one of them I'm a ball of emotions, but this couple's relationship felt flat and mechanical. At one point the guy talks about sobbing through the bars of the jail and I felt absolutely nothing. There's this level of despair that I'm supposed to be feeling for these two people, their relationship, and their potential offspring, but I honestly couldn't care less if the whole silo went up in flames and everybody died. That's probably not a good sign.Thankfully, Howey writes well so I didn't feel like I was slogging through this and I never felt bored, but I'm not the biggest fan of post-apocalyptic dystopia (or short stories, for that matter) so I think fans of the genre would enjoy it more than I did. This is free on Amazon right now and the omnibus version that contains the first five books is only $1.99 (at the time of this review it was, now on 4/6/13 I see it's been bumped up to $5.99. Hrm.) With the first story being so short and also free it's an easy choice to find out for yourself if it's something you'd like to check out or not. I didn't love this story but Howey dangled just enough in front of me that I might want to find out what happens next, but honestly I don't think I'll ever care enough to continue. I just don't think I'm the intended audience.Also, here's hoping my choice to read and review a self-published book doesn't come back to haunt me. Oh lord, what have I done ...