Not-So-Lonely Winds

Okay, so if you missed it, I kind of eviscerated an author whose book I didn't like. At the time I wrote this review, I was only about a third of the way through the book. Perhaps that was not the best time to submit a review, I don't know.

I do know that by the time I finished The Lonely Winds, I wasn't nearly as annoyed with it as I was when I started. The characters grew on me a little ... very little. The writing style still bugged me and I thought that the whole thing turned out to be terribly anti-climactic. I think it's obvious that Mr. Flight was setting himself up for a sequel. Needless to say, I'm not about to buy it if it ever comes out.

Now, I'm not talking about this book just because my dislike of said book diminished with repeated exposure. No, the reason I bring this up is because apparently Mr. Flight stumbled onto the Least Read Blog and read my review and felt the need to rebutt what I said.

I'll be honest, I didn't notice these comments until just recently and, I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. This makes me worry about Mr. Flight all the more.

As an unpublished author, I understand how it can hurt when someone criticizes your work. I don't like it either. But in those situations, you have one of two choices. You can either:

1. Leave the criticism out there unanswered. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, after all. If anything, accept what was said, examine it to see if there is any kernel of truth to it and incorporate whatever you can learn to avoid any mistakes that the criticism highlighted.
2. Try to convince the critic of their mistake, making it look like you're thin-skinned and can't take the criticism.

You can guess which option I think is better.

No offense to Mr. Flight, but if I had been in your shoes, I would have laughed off my review and just moved on. You say that mine is the first negative review and, after checking Amazon.com, I can see that's true. That doesn't change my opinion of the book. I still didn't enjoy it. Why does it matter if one blogger criticizes your book?

Oh well. As far as I'm concerned, the matter is closed since I don't have the book in my possession anymore. I registered it with Book Crossings and I have released it to the wild. Perhaps someone will find it and add another positive review. Perhaps they will agree with me. Who knows? Who cares? I'm done.