Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Where to begin? This book was recommended to me by Amazon based on some other reading choices I had made. Though I am no longer a teenager myself, I do enjoy YA fiction, and this ebook was offered for free. But hard as I tried to like it, myriad problems kept getting in the way. The characters are cliche and one-dimensional to a laughable extent. They all seem to possess identical speech patterns and vocabulary, how is that realistic in any way? The descriptions of characters or scenery to paint a visual for the reader are either repetitively similar or lacking entirely. The plot is very thin, even for a YA book. I couldn't get pulled into to the author's version of a Mer World due to lack of details to sustain the premise. The spelling and grammatical errors were so numerous as to be appalling to the point of offensiveness. And when did it become regular practice for Amazon to allow blatantly fake positive reviews to overwhelm actual opinions? Read some of them! Glowing and gushing much? While I recognize that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I am finding it difficult to believe that these people actually read the book they are reviewing. I'm strongly beginning to believe that someone is paying these individuals to fluff the ratings and boost sales. Clearly the message is, quit your job and start writing YA novellas, because anyone and everyone seems to be doing it, and poorly. Talent and skill for creating another world isn't remotely necessary. We'll just get some really appealing cover art, post some fake positive reviews, and link it to other books with real success and voila! The formula is complete. I am utterly disgusted, and could never in good conscience recommend this series or author to anyone.