Book Tour - Book Review - Jack Templar - Jeff Gunhus

Title:  Jack Templar

Author: Jeff Gunhus

Tour Information and a giveaway here

Also on this stop we are giving away Jack Templar Swag....Please comment on this post for your chance to win.  Thanks

Review:   This started out as a cute book, great for the age it was written for 10-14 I believe, but, as the book d r u g on with so many monsters that Jack, let alone the children reading it, and me, could not catch up with the story.  The battles never seem to end but went from one monster battle to another, which actually, instead of causing the book to go faster, it instead caused you to want to skip to the end to see if there was anyone left!!!  The monsters and the monster hunters were people that Jack knew from his everyday life, like the hated principal at the middle school, to the cute secretary in the office, who turned out to be????? No spoilers here! 

The book moves and the characters are killed off before you can really get to know them, so I was a little disappointed by that.  Some of the idea's also remind me of Harry Potter such as Jack is 14 years old, an orphan who has no idea that he is actually the son of ??? And he is being sent out to save the world unprepared ect.  The basic premiss  of the story is good but more character development is needed and story development also, we need more back ground, less monsters!

I give this book a 3 out of five and say to Jeff, keep at it, slow the story down a bit, let us get to know the characters more and how they interact in Jacks life so we can understand who they are and how they affect Jake and his battle for "good"?

Guest Post: 

Hi Guys – T-Rex here. Jack Templar asked me to fill in for him on this stop of the blog-tour. I was pretty excited about it. I mean, Will had already got to do one. So had Eva. I was wondering if I was going to have a chance or not.

First off, I guess I should apologize for the book. You may have heard this before, but you really shouldn’t read it. Don’t get me wrong. It’s totally awesome. There’s monsters, sword fighting, bullies getting bloody noses. There’s even a little kissing going on. (Not me!)

It’s just that reading it might make monsters in your area want to track you down and eat you.

Bummer, huh?

Jack didn’t mean for that to happen. The book was supposed to just be for hunters but somehow it got out into the world. But the Creach hates Jack so much that they can sense you reading it and they’ll come after you.

And, take it from me, it’s no picnic being chased by a hoard of zombies who want to eat your brains. Or hiding from a band of trolls who want to add your head to their trophy wall. If you’re not already a hunter, you might want to leave it at that and walk away.

But if you just can’t help yourself, or if you find yourself under attack, you might want to figure out quick how you’re going to defend yourself.

You might know from the book that I’m…well…a little more round than the average hunter. Jack and Eva might be able to fight any monster out there, but I bet I could down a pizza or a gallon of ice cream twice as fast as either of them. (Everyone has their own strengths, right?)

Still, when Ren Lucre and the Creach hoard was after Jack, I had to step up and join the fight. And I did pretty well, if I do say so myself. The scary thing is that I know we were more lucky than good that night. There were so many times when all of us could have been killed that it makes me shudder to think about it.

The thing about luck is that eventually it runs out.

Even for the well-trained hunters, the average life expectancy is only in the late-twenties. Maybe thirty. For people like me who really don’t know what they’re doing, I’m sure the number is much, much lower.

So, I’m with Jack, Will and Eva at the Monster Hunter Academy now and trying my best to do the training here. Unless you can make it to the Academy, I suggest you find training opportunities in your area. Martial arts, kick-boxing, full-contact sword fighting or just staying in shape with sports. All these will put you ahead of where I was when I first had to face down a fully-armored hobgoblin.

From what I hear at the Academy is that a Creach War is coming. And if it does, everyone will be in the fight. So, you better start training. I know I am…but in case the world ends, I’m still eating as much pizza and ice cream as I can!

Do your duty, come what may.

T-Rex

Publisher: Published October 10th 2012 by Seven Guns Press

ISBN: 780988425903

Copyright: 2012

Pages: 196

Quick Review: 3 stars (out of 5)-

Why I Read It:  Sent by the publisher for review.

Synopsis: Orphan Jack Templar has no memory of his parents and only the smallest details from his Aunt Sophie about how they died. The day before Jack's fourteenth birthday, things start to change for him. At first it's great: A sudden new strength helps him defend his nose-picking friend "T-Rex" from the school bully, and even his crush, Cindy Adams, takes notice. But then a mysterious girl named Eva arrives and tells him two facts that will change his life forever. First, that he's the descendent of a long line of monster hunters and he's destined to be in the family business. Second, that there's a truce between man and monster that children are off-limits...until their fourteenth birthday! Jack has only one day before hundreds of monsters will descend on his little town of Sunnyvale and try to kill him.

As if that weren't enough, things get even more complicated when Jack discovers that the Lord of the Creach (as the monsters are collectively known) holds a personal grudge against him and will do anything to see that Jack has a slow and painful death. To stay alive and save his friends, Jack will have to battle werewolves, vampires, harpies, trolls, zombies and more. But perhaps the most dangerous thing he must face is the truth about his past. Why do the other hunters call him the last Templar? Why do they whisper that he may be the "One?" Why do the monsters want him dead so badly? Even as these questions plague him, he quickly discovers survival is his new full-time job and that in the world of monster hunters, nothing is really what it seems.

 

Author Biography:  Hi Everyone -- Jeff Gunhus here. Jack Templar is a good friend of mine and I've had the pleasure of helping put his adventures down on paper.

I spent my childhood in Greece, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia where there was a distinct lack of TV. I quickly found that books were the gateway to incredible adventures, fascinating characters and unbelievable discoveries. Now, with five children of my own (all who watch too much TV, in my opinion), I've enjoyed revisiting my old books and reliving those adventures all over again.

When Jack Templar contacted me, I felt like he was already one of my good friends and part of the tradition of the books I loved as a kid. So, I didn't hesitate to help him share his story...even though it made the monsters in my area take an uncomfortable interest in me.

I've enjoyed every minute I've spent with Jack and both of us would like to hear from all you hunters out there. Send us an email or leave a comment on this site and I promise one of us will get back to you.

As Jack always says, Do your duty, come what may!

Jeff Gunhus

Other Reviews:

Letters to the Cosmos

Aven Reviews