The Chronicles of Riddick: Ghosts of Furya - Angela B. Marcala-Guajardo

RATING: THREE STARS

Left for dead in the ruins of a desolate world, Richard B. Riddick is alone and wild. He is little more than a child who survives in the brutal rainforests of Furya. His people would not be cowed by the Necromongers and fought until the last, until nothing remained except a newborn babe who was strangled by his own umbilical chord during his birth and left for dead.

Riddick was alone, until Waters and her team managed to find him. An elite squad of marines sent from Earth to investigate the rumours surrounding Furya's fall, they decide to bring Riddick back to their home when they finally return. Riddick is quickly pushed into the marines by Waters, whose unparalleled physical abilities quickly turn those he trains with against him . . .

The Good
Angela B. Marcala-Guajardo has done a fair job with this work of fan fiction and has created an interesting story into Riddick's origins, although I'm not sure whether these are her own ideas or if she has merely pieced a story together from what the creators of the Riddick franchise have already established. Regardless, the story paints an interesting picture of the Furyan's early life and I enjoyed reading about a man who, after watching the films, has become my favourite anti-hero protagonist.

The story is far from a long one and it probably didn't take much more than an hour for me to read on and off, but it has a good pace for a novella and Marcala-Guajardo has a good balance between descriptive prose, dialogue and events so the book was never stale.

The Bad
Sadly, Ghosts of Furya falls into the classic pitfall of many indie books and is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors. While this isn't a major issue, there were too many to be overlooked. I am an indie writer myself (publishing works under the name of Taylor P. Davidson), which may have made me a little pedantic about this and I found the mistakes subtracted from the story at times.

Another aspect with the book I didn't like was Marcala-Guajardo's use of words such as 'gonna' and 'gimme' in her normal prose. I'm not really a fan of authors doing this and, although I hate to say it, believe it makes for bad writing. It's reflective of how people speak so I can see why it's used, but Marcala-Guajardo over did it and I think such a technique has no place in descriptive prose, which quickly became old and irritating.

My Thoughts
Despite a few flaws that affected my enjoyment of Ghosts of Furya, it was a good read and provides an interesting look into Riddick's early years. It's a short book that is quick to read, making it perfect for any Chronicles of Riddick fan who's looking to kill a bit of time.