Crewe Chase and The Jet Reapers Review

   I got a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair review. This is the first book the author's published, so I tried to be easy on it. I imagine it's probably scary publishing your first book. Basically, the book reads like Harry Potter fan fiction; I don't know if that was intentional but the parallels are there. The main character is an orphan? Check. Magic school for wizards? Check. Getting to said wizarding school through a magical portal at a train station? Check. Making a hated enemy on the first day of school? Check. Having a professor that loathes the protagonist for some unknown reason, at first sight? Check. Luna Lovegood clone, complete with wacky outfits? Check. Made up name for non-magical humans? Check. (They're cados in this book, not muggles). Wizarding village? Yep, it has that too.  One, two, even three similarities I could overlook, but to have these many similarities is pushing it a little.
   One of the biggest problems I had with the book was Crewe's pet scorpion. Scorpions are fine, they're cool little creatures. But if the author wanted to include a scorpion in the book maybe he should have done a little research first. Scorpions do not growl; they can, however, make a hissing noise by rubbing their pincers against their legs. Nor do they have teeth. They have chelicerae, which kind of look like small fangs. Maybe that's what he meant when he said teeth, but another word choice might have been wise. This might sound a little nit-picky, but including a growling, teeth clicking scorpion makes the book sound amateurish. 

   As for Crewe himself, I appreciate that the author is not trying to make him into a hero, nor is he evil. He is rather annoying at some points, and downright rude at others. I kind of have some sympathy for his archnemesis. The first time they met, she did nothing to him but catch him staring, and instead of apologizing, he acts like an ass. And then continues to be an ass for the rest of the book, and somehow thinks it's her fault. If I was her, I probably would've punched him in the eye. His characters are fairly well written, for the most part. They could use a little more depth but I've read books with flatter characters that I've enjoyed immensely. The magic is also sadly lacking in this book. You know it's there, but there's a total of two spells cast by Crewe in the entire book. There's no depth to the magic system, no rules, no anything. People like to know how the magic works, explain it to us! Or better yet, show us, but do something!

   This could be a good book. The author has created an interesting plot, and Harry Potter is not the first book written about a wizard's school. So even though the plot isn't original, it would've been much better served if the author hadn't blatantly ripped off so many elements from Harry Potter. It could also use a good editor, as there are numerous typos throughout the book, and no decent editor would have let him keep those similarities I mentioned in the first paragraph. There is some talent here, but it needs a lot of polishing. So, knowing all this, would I buy the second book? No, I believe I cannot in good conscience do so.  To give someone money for plagiarizing another author's work is wrong.