Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Labyrinth of Stone
AUTHOR: T.A. Moore
PUBLISHER: Torquere Press LLC
LENGTH: 221 Pages
BLURB:
Ten years ago the Black Rapture transported thousands of people, seemingly at random, from Earth to the strange, inimical world they call the Labyrinth. Will Teller was one of them. Surviving that meant joining an army and becoming better at killing than he’s comfortable with. It’s enough upheaval for anyone’s life. The only problem is, apparently no one told his commanding officer that.
Pride, and heart, stung by abandonment, the icily controlled General Nathan Kearney has decided that Teller can either find the wayward lover, or he can take his place in Nathan’s bed. That’s pretty good motivation for a straight guy, only thing is – Teller’s sexuality seems to have gone a bit Magic-8 Ball on that issue. Suddenly Nathan’s starting to look pretty good, and the only question is whether or not Teller wants to be the consolation prize?
REVIEW:
When we enter the story, we’re given a brief overview of the Black Rapture, describing how sometime in 2015 a group of people suddenly woke up somewhere else. They are in a stone labyrinth, but have no idea how they got there, and whether it is another world, or Hell, or somewhere in between.
This was one of those books I really wanted to like more than I did. Right from the beginning I had questions. I didn’t really feel we got enough information on how the characters got there, and what happened in the intervening ten years. Have you ever read a book, that seemed like it was the second book in a series and wasn’t a standalone? That was the feeling I got from this book.
I liked the character of Will Teller, but didn’t really understand how a divorced attorney, who is thirty-eight years old at the time of the story, became a super soldier at twenty-eight upon being transported to this alternate world. I also really didn’t buy the whole “straight” man, discovers he is bisexual at age thirty-eight when he starts popping a boner over a friend who saved his life ten years before when the Black Rapture occurred. I don’t believe it is like a light switch that can suddenly turn on.
And who is this Ben Cole guy? Nate’s ex, who disappeared sometime before this book started and is never found during this book. Where did he go…and why?
The book ends in a spot that is obviously a tie to a sequel. The book was written well enough that I breezed through it in an evening, but honestly I never felt I got it…I would recommend at least a short story prequel to this book giving more details on the Black Rapture, and more details of the ten years with some character development, especially of the main characters. There were also several other supporting characters who were quite two dimensional, and maybe were introduced for a future sequel?
The writing in the book was ok, so that is how I’m rating the book. I was disappointed in the details and if I were to rate on those, I would rate the book even lower. I never really got an image of the world or any of the characters in it. Overall, the book read more as part of a book, rather than an entire book. Because of the lack of background, and the abrupt mid-air ending, I personally would not recommend the book as it currently stands. It left me confused.
RATING: 
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