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2.5 Stars

This review is really hard to write. The book has so much potential with a character I came to love and some dang intriguing story ideas. But the pitfalls are just too tremendous to give this book any bigger than a 2.5. And I think that's being very generous.

Melburn is a guy I would have loved to know in real life. He's a down to earth guy trapped up into epic events. His sense of humor and hilarious inner monologue had me laughing more than once. He seems like an honorable guy who just wants to do the right thing, no matter the consequences to himself. He reminds me a lot of Jim Butcher's Dresden, that semi-loner who has unique knowledge he puts to use for others and who sometimes just finds himself way in over his head.
The author does know how to tell a tense series of action sequences. I was kept on the edge of my seat more than once at the situations Mel finds himself in. And some of the ideas that the author has in this story are very intriguing. I mean, time-traveling Nazis, mystical and powerful staffs, and kidnapped kids?! Definitely stuff to make up a great story.

Now we get into the stuff that brings this book crashing down. While there are some great story ideas within, the execution of the overall story leaves a lot to be desired. There are plot points that are left unexplored beyond bare mention and background/motivation is pretty much non-existent. I wish I could have gotten more background on why Mel has this powerful staff, why he above most others can use it, why the animosity between him and Delgado, and how this whole battle through time really began. I can see leaving story for more novels, but I really wish there would have more establishing of the world in this one.

Then there's the grammar. This book would have benefitted from a lot more editing. There's a massive dearth of commas, sentence fragments everywhere, and enough ellipses for a whole library of books. There were times I found myself just putting the book down out of frustration.

The book has some dang good points that I enjoyed. I loved Mel as a character, the tense action sequences kept me engaged, and some of the story ideas were engaging as heck. Yet some poor grammar and plot holes the size of countries kept me from really getting into the book like I enjoy to do. Maybe with a bit more fleshing out and better editing, this book could really be something. But as is, I'm just happy I finished it. ( )

This book was descriptive in a way that easily provokes imagination. There were some intense moments in the book that made the book action-packed. The author's writing style made me feel as if I was viewing everything as the main character. Needless to say, I was very pleased with this book as it kept me intrigued to read more. It was an enjoyable book since it made me laugh at times with Mel's thoughts. I will certainly be searching for 'Dr. Eunholder's Device', the second installment in The Sapphire Staff series. Searching, because I can't order books online and I can't find this book at the library. I'll keep my eye open if it's in a book store. For this series, I don't care how much the price is--that's how good I thought the book was.

*I've noticed some errors in the book, but I took the book for it's story and reviewed it simply on that.

In a nutshell, I LOVED this book. Obviously, I'm a fan of this series and the author. This book is definitely on my top books list. ( )