Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I typically always read reviews before ordering a book, however this time the reviews have lead me astray. After I finished this I was surprised to come back here and find almost all positive reviews. I don't know what I missed that everyone else enjoyed, but as a whole, I did not enjoy the Amber Project. I only finished it for two reasons, one that I hate leaving books unfinished, and two that it might possibly get a little better, which it never did. I attempted to avoid super spefic spoilers in my review. Pros: Plot and World Setting - The book had a decent Plot and a well thought out World Setting. You could tell the author spent a decent amount of time developing the story and world where it takes place. (However I will point out the entirety of the plot relied a lot on convenience and there were a few plot holes that bothered me. Why would anyone invest the billions of dollars inorder to built this underground city in the first place? Mei just happens to find those disks explainging /everything/ in a random tunnel? The ORTEGO building just happened to be a quick hike from them?) Pace - The book had a good pace, didn't move too slowly or too quickly, and kept you from getting too bored of one narrative or another. Ending - The ending was satisfying, interesting and felt complete, while at the same time made you interested in the next book. Despite the fact I hated most of the book, the last few chapters and prologue actually left me with an inkling of interest about the rest of the series. Cons: Characters - I think I will disagree with almost every other review out there when I say the characters in this book were terrible. Each was shallow, two-dimensional, predictable and their boring, flat, steriotypical, paper cut out personalities were the worst part of this novel. The only characters I enjoyed were John and Captain Ross, who were also the only characters who showed an ounce of personality. The main characters were somehow the most flat and personality-less. Terry, the main character was a lackluster, typical nice guy who's only flaw was his "weak" body. But other that considering himself weak, thinking everyone else better than him, and missing his sister, Terry has no other thoughts or personality points throughout the entire book. His mother as well, who played a main character, has no personality at all other than somewhat considering her son every now and then. Also, did I happen to miss the descriptions of the characters? Because I had no idea of how anyone looked for the entire series. The only description we got of Mei was she had black hair and thin hips. Thin hips? Why the heck to you mention she had thin hips and not her features, her hieght, or anything else? Sterotypes also ran rampid in the characters. Terry: Nice guy main character, insert random flaw to not make him so perfect John: Strong but dumb best friend Mei: Black haired smart girl with asian name Alex: Fat bully It also felt as if author invited and disposed of characters as it was convenient to the plot. Writing - All together, the author isn't a bad writer. I would say he is an over dramatic writer. The book was saturated in overdramatic narrative. I'd suspect the author was trying to create grippy sentences that were interested, but instead you had overdramatic one liners, strange pointless cliffhangers, and stuffed in 'thought provoking' paragraphs that did nothing to interest me. In short, if I could go back and never have ordered this book, and subsequently never wasted hours reading it, I would.