Thursday, December 5, 2013

I Messed Up



Earlier this week we published a review of Forward to Camelot by Susan Sloate and Kevin Finn. In the last two paragraphs I discussed a sequence of events that I found unbelievable in the context of the story and, happening as the book was coming to a climax, this effected affected my enjoyment and rating of the book.

It was brought to my attention by the authors that in discussing my concerns I made two errors of fact. I said a group of characters, including the main character, Cady, had “slept for several hours” near Galveston and didn’t leave for New Orleans until morning. They didn’t sleep (it appears I confused the actions of another character with them) and in fact left for New Orleans immediately when the plane they were on was unable to take off.

My other concerns (the plane and pilot that the character Don magically arranged for and the, to me, illogical decision to travel by boat rather than car) still stand and the errors I made don’t change my overall rating of the book, but does significantly weaken my justification. 



3 comments:

Unknown said...

If this is a major plot point (the sleeping) and I assume it is because you pointed it out, perhaps it should have been more clearly stated in the novel. I mean, it's fifty-fifty, right? Maybe you're the only reader who will make that 'mistake,' or maybe most readers will make that mistake. And as most readers won't write a review, I hope the author is considering clarifying the text as well as shooting the messenger.

BooksAndPals said...

No, the sleeping isn't that big of a plot point and there were plenty of clues (scene or chapter change, among others) to indicate that it was a different character. I've got several theories as to why I missed it (including interpreting that part correctly the first time and then getting more confused when I went back to see if I'd missed something with my other concerns). Your point, that I might not be the only reader to get confused, just the only one to bring it up thus far is certainly a possibility though.

Anonymous said...

Pete -- Actually, it should be very clear. This revised edition of FORWARD TO CAMELOT is new, but the original was published in 2003 and readers have been reading it for 10 years. No one has ever made that mistake. (And just to be sure, the sleeping scene was written in 3rd person; the boat scene was written in 1st person.)

That said, Al was very gracious about conceding it when we pointed it out, so I have no intention of shooting him! We appreciate the note he posted and thank him again for the review.