6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Come Again?, September 3, 2008
This review is from: Wise as a serpent...harmless as a Dove: (The battle raging in my mind) (Paperback)
APOOO: 2.5
Wise as a Serpent...Harmless as a Dove by Feel Me LLC/Dana Mask, follows the life of Darrel Lavar Love who was born in Gary, Indiana. Throughout Darrel's entire life, he has had to fight the raging battle of good and evil that exists within the world. But, most of the battle takes place within his mind as he tries to make the decision of being good or falling into the spell of pure evil. So, which voice will impact Darrel the most, that of an unknown being who wishes him nothing but good or those of mythical creatures like Zeus and Aphrodite that wish him nothing but evil?
Wise as a Serpent...Harmless as a Dove is a story of redemption and realizing and accepting one's life path. While reading this book, I found it a bit frustrating and hard to understand in places where the different dynamics of paranormal meets the realistic world. In several instances, the development of Darrel's character was told more than shown to readers. For some reason, this book is a slow read. It is the type of book that if you put it down, it will take some time to get back into the story. Even though this book was coming from a serious viewpoint, there were a couple of occurrences within this book that produced laughter. With this rating, I will not recommend this book to everyone. But maybe avid Christians will have an interest in this story.
Reviewed by Chantay
APOOO BookClub
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4.0 out of 5 stars
The Urban Book Source, September 15, 2008
This review is from: Wise as a serpent...harmless as a Dove: (The battle raging in my mind) (Paperback)
Reviewed by Starr Baldwin
UrbanBookSource.com
Wise as a Serpent . . . Harmless as a Dove by Dana Mask is a vague paranormal book which deals with a young man, Darrel Lavar Love. Throughout Darrel's entire life, he has had to fight the raging battle of good and evil that exists within the world, along with feelings, from a very early age, that he is unloved, fat, ugly and a loner. None of the children in his classes seem to like him; they pick on him, call him names and generally make his life miserable. In addition, he must fight a figure, Hades, who frequently shows up in his dreams and tells him to do wretched things to others. But, most of the battle takes place within his mind as he tries to make the decision of whether it is worth being good or falling into the spell of pure evil. Which voice will impact Darrel the most, that of an unknown being who wishes him nothing but good or those of mythical creatures like, Hades, Zeus, and Aphrodite that wish him nothing but evil?
Darrel grows up and attends college. After college, he runs into many of the young people who attended the same school and the story is all together different. It seems as if Darrel was really listening to Hades, and indeed, doing the horrible things to others. Maybe Darrel has been a monster all along? His secret may be responsible for the rise of crime and corruption in the city of Gary, Indiana
Unaware and confused of how these things happened, he is led into a church service where he learns about the love of Jesus, accepts him as Savior and begins to change his life and soon finds out that Gary, Indiana is a city that Love was suppose to be watching over as its guardian.
Mask's book is interesting, if a bit scary. Darrel is a complex individual and it is hard to tell what is real and what was the direct result of Hades' influence.
What did you like best about this book?
I enjoyed the story line, it shows that a battle in between death and life which people deal with on a daily basis.
What did you dislike about this book?
I disliked the fact that the author basically told the story to you, along with trying to give a visual of what was happening, the character in the book did some really weird things, which you couldn't really distinguish if something was real or if he was under the influence of someone else. When profanity was used instead of using abbreviations the author should have spelled it out-- using the contacted form of the words made the character looks weak and not as described.
How can the author improve this book?
By letting the reader visualize the story instead of telling them what happened, fixing some editing issues should help as well.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Fighting my mind, August 19, 2008
This review is from: Wise as a serpent...harmless as a Dove: (The battle raging in my mind) (Paperback)
WISE AS A SERPENT...HARMLESS AS A DOVE (the battle raging in my mind) by Dana Mask is a vague paranormal book which deals with a young man, Darrel Lavar Love, who feels, from a very early age, that he is unloved, fat, ugly and a loner. None of the children in his classes seem to like him; they pick on him, call him names and generally make his life miserable. In addition, he must fight a figure, Hades, who frequently shows up in his dreams and tells him to do wretched things to others.
Then Darrel grows up and attends college. After college, he runs into many of the young people who attended the same school and the story is all together different. It seems as if Darrel was really listening to Hades, and indeed, doing the horrible things to others. Maybe Darrel has been a monster all along?
Unaware of how it happened, he is led into a church service where he learns about the love of Jesus, accepts him as Savior and begins to change his life.
Mask's book is interesting, if a bit scary. Darrel is a complex individual and it is hard to tell what is real or if it is Hades' influence. It tends to get a bit preachy and there are some editing issues, also.
Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers
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