The Deserter is an interesting story. In one hand you have a desolate and forgotten civilization. These people forage, hunt, and worry every day about where the next meal will come from. Each day is a struggle. Education is non-existent. Each day is a fight for survival. In the other hand is an advanced civilization where food is not a worry and the next big apprehension is tonight's entertainment. Two very diverse worlds sit together but do not co-exist. Both are aware of each other but do not mingle.
And then conflict arises. The lesser, or beastly of the civilizations, is in dire need of becoming erased from the lower planet. Hence the journey the main character partakes. An old evil has returned to become a new threat. He needs the resources to defeat this enemy. This is where the two civilizations clash. This Neanderthal of a main character must force himself into the upper, more advanced people to find a lost love that will help to save his own people.
This kind of storyline poses a problem for any author. I am a huge fan of breaking some grammatical rules every once in a while if it means that the reader can better associate with the characters. People from different parts of any country have different slang and different accents and different mannerisms. Why should a story reflect only one proper style? I hate reading dialogue when every character sounds the same. With the he said and she said after every spoken a conversation can become lost in translation and after a bit you forget which character is speaking.
Well I am glad to say that the author does an excellent job displaying the different characters and civilizations. At no point in the story is the reader ever confused with whom they should be connecting too. This made me very happy. Even the difference in language was great!
I do have a small gripe. Well it's not really so much of a gripe but more of a personal disinterest. The writing style otherwise just wasn't for me. I am in no way putting down the author or the story. The author did a fine job writing this book and the storyline is very interesting, but the writing style is a bit boring to me. That is just personal preference. Some people love the GTO, but I am more of a Shelby Cobra kind of guy. Both are sexy cars, but I just prefer the other one.
Conclusion: Don't let me stop you from reading the book. The writing style may not have been for me, but it may be good for you. I'm a little pickier. I like a very heavy conversational style of writing. With that said all other aspects of this book have great merits. My advice would be that if you think the synopsis sounds good than go ahead and pick up the book. Writing styles are a very subjective thing and shouldn't come as part of the recommendation of the plot line, because otherwise it is an entertaining book.
