Petrified

by Ben Meeks

The Earth Mother is under siege. Demons from other worlds sneak through magical portals and wreak havoc on earth. In response, she created the Keepers, a group of shapeshifters made from the world’s most skilled predators, to protect her, and us. The fate of North Georgia hangs in the balance when an unknown menace with a new magic threatens to bring the Keepers to their knees. It’s up to Obie, the Keeper of North Georgia, and some unlikely allies to put an end to the destruction before it’s too late. What will happen when the hunter becomes the hunted?

232 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2018

Reviews

[Clay Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best fantasy novels I’ve ever read that has a wereotter

[Jarod Waite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book! It keeps my attention which has always been a difficult task for me. This is one of those you're going to want to immerse yourself in over and over.

[Peter Last · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Petrified" wants to feel important. Its setting and characters practically beg the reader to take it seriously. This was a tough review for me because upon completing the book, I didn’t really know what to make of it. I already knew I was prejudiced from the start when the author went after the clergy, making its representative dumb, illogical, hypocritical, and generally a slob. Recognizing my prejudice, I took a step back to analyze the novel from a more objective stance, and this is where the problem arose. It has a number of things going for it: an expansive urban fantasy world, shape shifters, demons, and an engaging storyline with traces of action, detective work, and spy-thriller vibes. And yet, something unexplained stopped me from wholeheartedly giving this book a 4-star rating and, because I could not settle on a rating, delayed my review. This sat on the back burner for a while, and I even began reading another book. Then, while driving home from work one day, I attacked the problem again, this time comparing it to a book I had read recently and which had similar problems but which easily earned 4 stars. The difference? Characters and message. To address both, "Petrified" is a mostly plot driven story with less emphasis on characters and message. Moving from one action or intrigue sequence to the next in quick succession keeps the pace fast, but it also doesn’t leave much time to marinate in the actions, intentions, or lessons learned. Consequently, it feels more like a simple series of events with no real lessons to be gleaned and practically no message to speak of, unless you count “demons bad, earth goddess good.” The messages which Mr. Meeks attempts to shoehorn in fall flat due to lack of support or buildup. The more troubling issue is the characters who, due to the aforementioned story structure, are not given ample time to develop into 3-dimensional people with depth and consistency. In fact, this rabbit hole showed me that consistency in characters is pretty lacking which makes them hard to sympathize with or care about in any way. All these issues combined with gratuitous, graphic violence and a few instances of strong obscenities mean I advise against anyone below the age of 17 reading this book. For adults, it’s not terrible, but maybe wait until you’ve finished your reading list before giving this one a go.

[Laura DeGrave · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing felt lackluster.
Characters needed to be fleshed out more.
All characters sounded the same--snarky.
Descriptions of scenery could use more paint versus object-by-object building.
Reading was similar to a fill in the blank, if this happened and that would fall in line next.
Going from one chapter to the next felt choppy, due to continuously forced action.
How many near death experiences could any one character sustain?
That made the experience monotonous on repetition and expectation.
I liked the cover art.
Unfortunately, it couldn't be seen well without shining a light on it.
The colors are faded into the background.