Leonel Longa Longa من عند Lupșanu, رومانيا من عند Lupșanu, رومانيا

This book was OK. I found it to be too slow moving. The plot follows the life of the main character and feels like a coming-of-age story about a kid born into the guild of torturers. Yet there is surprisingly little torture, and almost no edge-of-your-seat moments. Most of the excitement and anticipation is sucked out of the story simply through the knowledge that it is narrated as a memoir by the main character. So no matter what the situation, you know the main character will somehow survive. My other negative point is the vocabulary. I feel that I have a decent grasp of the English language and am capable of extracting an obscure word from the depths of my mind now and then. Wolfe, however, apparently prides himself on his vocab, and liberally douses the text with strange and underutilized words. At first I appreciated it, but as the book continued, slowly, I found it distracting. Overall, it did manage to keep my interest, and I plan on continuing the series. It is a challenging read and that made it enjoyable. I'd recommend it, but, obviously, with the aforementioned reservations.

Dear Robin Black: I hope you are writing another short story collection. I don't want to pressure you or anything, but I finished IF I LOVED YOU last night, and I'm ready to dive into your next book right now. It was that good. Each story in your collection is beautifully crafted and has something profound to say about relationships. Thank you for giving the world this book. A fan