Customer Reviews

Test Pilot's Daughter: Revenge

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Note: This review was originally published on Red Adept Reviews on March 8, 2011.

Overall: 3 stars

Plot/Storyline: 3 stars

Christina was like a junior Wonder Woman - she skydived, scuba dived, and flew airplanes like an experienced pilot after only a few hours of instruction. If the girls were a little younger, and if the more violent scenes were rewritten or deleted, the story would be appropriate - perhaps even inspirational - for younger teenagers, but the story just wasn't believable enough for me.

The first third of the book, which followed the three girls from age eleven through high school, wasn't that interesting and served little purpose. There were dead ends such as the chapter where Jessica's abusive stepfather Roy beat her mom senseless, broke down Jessica's bedroom door, and tried to rape her. Jessica had telephoned Christina to help her, so Christina rushed over and stopped Roy by threatening him with her shotgun. But there was no follow-up, no calling the police, no mention of the stepfather after that. And there was very little mention of any of the girls' parents, it's almost as if they raised themselves.

About halfway through the story, the action picked up and the story got more interesting when the three girls entered college. Christina started flying lessons, Heather became romantically involved with an older man, and Jessica studied old Spanish archives to locate sunken treasure. The three girls were now living their dreams. During a summer break, they embarked on a trip to the Bahamas on a treasure-hunting expedition that ended in tragedy. And this is where it really got too unbelievable for me. Christina showed flying skills that only a veteran pilot would have, even though she had not even earned her pilot's license. Her instructor had told her that she was the best student he had ever taught, but it was too much of a reach to believe she could fly planes as expertly as she did in the story.

The story had too many convenient coincidences (such as an uncharted island being right where you need it) and implausible events (such as Jessica pinpointing sunken Spanish treasure that had eluded professional treasure hunters for years).

I do have to say that the scene where Christina sought revenge on the culprit responsible for the Bahamas disaster was quite satisfying, even if it was a bit improbable.


Characters: 4 stars

Christina, Heather, and Jessica were the main characters, and the author did a good job of developing them as flesh and blood people, even if their emotions didn't always seem realistic to me.


Writing style: 3 stars

The author's writing style was generally good, but the emotions and the dialogues of the story's characters were not very realistic at times. After witnessing the sudden, violent death of a close friend or relative, most people would be devastated and in shock. These characters, however, got over tragedies quickly and moved on.

If you're going to have your characters engage in specialized activities, an author should be familiar with those activities. There were some glaring errors in this regard. For example, while skydiving for the first time, Christina "pulled the ripcord and tossed it to the side." I've skydived, and you don't toss the ripcord away, for two reasons: (1) it could kill someone on the ground, and (2) ripcords are not cheap to replace. She also pulled the ripcord at 1,000 feet, which is well below the minimum altitude for opening your parachute. Trust me, you get yelled at for things like that and get banned from a drop zone.

Later, when Christina was taking flying lessons, she goes up with her instructor in a "Citborea," an aerobatic aircraft. I think the author meant a Citabria.


Editing: 2 stars

The book was in serious need of editing and proofreading. I found quite a few grammatical and punctuation errors, and misspellings were found every few pages. A few examples: "ought" for "aught," "ware" for "were," "ya'll" for "y'all," "brake" for "break," "waist" for "waste," "metamorphous" for "metamorphosis," "depravation" for "deprivation," "choral reef" for "coral reef," and so on.

I have to admit for $0.99 it sounded like a good book, so I gave it a try. I enjoyed the story and the character development, to me the characters were very believable and like-able. The plot moved quickly and grabbed me and forced me to read into the wee hours. The plot isn't complex, there's no secondary plot to try and confuse you, it's just a good story. This book just keeps you interested, especially if you are a pilot or interested in aviation. This is a good, fun to read novel. I'm looking forward to Steve's follow-up novel to be released soon.

The opening chapter is probably one of the best I've read. It draws the reader into the book and compels him or her to read the whole story in order to discover how things work out. The book includes basic flight training, an emergency landing on a deserted island, a confrontation with hijackers, and a short field takeoff during an approaching hurricane. This page turner is a most satisfying read!

This story had a good plot but for most of the book it was undeveloped. We never find out what happened to Jessica's step father or the female pilot that was in on the plot to kill the girls.

Most of the story was also unbelievable. To think that an overweight plane could gain enough speed on a sandy beach is just too far fetched.

Perhaps the author should go back and rewrite some of the story.

As a retired pilot, I found the overall story line to hold the interest of even me. I thought it was a little hard on the imagination, no-one has ever soloed in 4 hours that I have ever heard about. Also, the Saratoga bird is AWESOME. I have about 300 hours in the Cherokee 6, the forerunner of the Saragoga, and they are very impressive. That 300 HP is a great work horse. I don't think in the real world it would perform quite as well as the book depicted, but none the less, a GREAT story. Many thanks. After a hard (mental) day of work, it filled an evening very nicely. Thank you. Roy Curtis, Benson, Arizona (not recommended for early teens),

The story was a good one. Many, many editing errors and a great deal of inconsistency with the character. Liked the concept, but kept getting bogged down.

Steve Ward writes a throughly entertaining novel. It's obvious that his aviation background knowledge is strong, for as a pilot with a lifetime on big jets and small piston aircraft I can attest to that. He captures his reader at the start then cleverly unwinds his plot back to enthrall and hold his reader spellbound. Attention to detail and a sense of humor throughout the plot makes it a worthwhile read. At times, even meals and sleep were put in the holding pattern so I could continue reading. I have already purchased Steve Ward's second novel and look forward to another great read.
David BK

Hello All! I know that I promised you this review on Saturday and I failed to deliver, but I got super busy (and by busy I mean I fell asleep on the couch) So, without further ado, here we go.

Before I get started on the quality of the book it's almost expected that I'm going to say something about the cover art. I know I have said this before, and I'm sure by now you want to gag me with a dirty sock, but seriously...for just one second I want you to focus on the cover of "Test Pilot's Daughter: Revenge" and hypothesise on the writing quality. Not so great right? With a less than appealing (and I might add horribly cheesy cover) the first assumption a reader is going to make is on the quality of the book itself. Luckily this book was sent to me by the author, so the cover art was not a factor in the actual purchase of the book, BUT... it is never to late to express the importance of a well put together binding.

Now, on to the more important details...the book as a whole.

"Steve Ward" is a visual genius when it comes to the focus of flight, but it does not save him from an excruciatingly slow start. I was almost lost on this book when, 40% of the way in, the promised "intriguing" plot had yet to emerge. Character development and set up are very important to a novel, but sometimes enough is enough. When an author decides to write a suspense novel it is important to quickly capture the audience, and then weave the building details amongst the main storyline. Now, that is not to say that the suspense was lacking in anyway once it actually got started.

Christine is hard as nails, and more determined than a thirsty man looking for water. Her focus is to get to NASA, but when a girlfriend agrees to marry, a less than sparkly clean psych professor, her focus makes a direct left. Less career path, more staying alive. What was supposed to be a happy little treasure hunt in the islands suddenly turns into the fight of a lifetime, including drug runners and an approaching hurricane. Can Christine make it out alive? Can her friends? And what exactly happened to their pilot?

I was afraid at first that "Ward's" attention to (each and every detail) in the craft of flying would drag the flow down, but quickly realized that even though the book boasted pages of in-flight detail, the way in which it was written gave me the most crystal clear picture of "How To Fly A Plane" I had ever gotten from a book. (I'm pretty sure I could even pull it off at this point.) I also (regrettably so) disliked all of the characters in the first several chapters, but quickly came to admire them for the vast differences, and in the end the suspense and twists won me over.

I do think that "Ward" has some improvements to make in the future if he intends to make a solid name for himself in the literary world, but those "changes" are by no means unattainable. 1. Pay attention to your presentation. 2. Get to the good stuff a little quicker. I will go on record though as saying I genuinely enjoyed this novel, and if you are looking for a quick suspense fix "Test Pilot's Daughter: Revenge" is more than worth the .99 cents.

There were plane crashes, evil stepfathers, shallow graves, dog fights, fake diamonds, buried treasure, a 15 year old boy that would make any Boy Scout leader proud, and the most creative revenge plot I have read in quite some time.

Happy reading my fellow Pilots and remember: always leave your hotel number with a loved one.

I am an aviation nut, and read everything aviation-related I can get my hands on. I also like a good thriller. While this novel has elements of both, the writing is in a style of a high school junior. I've read that the author edits books and teaches creative writing for living - I thought I was reading a book by somebody else; I had to double check.

I won't quote examples from the book - download the sample, read the first five or six paragraphs, and see for yourself. Perhaps I got up on the wrong side of bed this morning, or maybe you don't mind infantile style as much as I do. So, if aviation themed thrillers are you cup of tea, by all means buy this book (after all, it is just $0.99 for American Kindlers), but don't expect polished, fluid prose.

I read it straight through, a superb tale of adventure, some treasure, some skulduggery, revenge served hot,flying by the seat of your pants, guts and written so your mind forms mental images of being in the action.