Redeeming the Lost: Short on redeeming qualities

Redeeming the Lost by Elizabeth Kerner

Sometimes authors lose the plot. In Redeeming the Lost, Elizabeth Kerner loses… everything.

She loses what restraint she had on her overly flowery writing style. It reached a point where some of the language was laughable and ridiculous, and often it looked like there were several words missing from sentences. Kerner is one of those fantasy authors that unfortunately can’t fight the desire to show off her knowledge of archaic language.

She loses the pacing. In actuality about 72 hours passes from start to finish of the book. Lanen has been kidnapped and so everyone… stands around and does nothing!? They chat and eat and mourn her kidnapping, but that’s about it. And that redeeming the title mentions? Happens before 100 pages are up. And the way it’s done makes no sense whatsoever, nor does Kerner offer up an explanation.

She loses the ability to write in one point of view for more than a few pages. Honestly, the book jumps around so much, and so unnecessarily, it’s enough to give a girl a headache.

The readers lose something when it comes to Redeeming the Lost, as well. They lose their lunch, as Lanen and Varien’s already sickly perfect love affair tips the scales on the Give Me a Break O’ Meter. Lanen is so perfect and so loved by all who know her, and her ‘flaws’ are looked upon affectionately by her friends and family. I wish MY family thought it was endearing when I throw a temper tantrum.

No problem is solved by anything other than Deus Ex Machina. Every single solution is a random coincidence or a stroke of luck that is completely unbelievable. The villain is unconvincing in that he lacks any quality aside from being completely evil. And, oh yeah, just thought I’d mention this as an aside… there’s a war going on! Some kingdom is conquering the world, and our heroes don’t know it’s happening! Why?

There is some potential in Kerner’s ideas. Her breed of dragon is particularly interesting, and some of her characters, too. However, the world is poorly fleshed out, and her writing is entirely self-indulgent. It’s all well and good for her to know archaic bits of language such as “hight”, but using it in her writing is pointless, because most of us don’t. We’re aware that we’re living in the 2000s and, oh yeah, just because it’s fantasy doesn’t mean everyone has to speak like they were alive hundreds of years ago.

Oh, and one more bloody thing. She bloody well knock it off with the bloody word BLOODY!