Reviews and Comments

Armand's method is one of those things that makes you nod along as you read it thinking to yourself, "well if course! That's obvious!" Except it wasn't obvious five minutes ago. Through a combination of systematic processes and a folksy walk down memory lane he lays bare his own path to success. The stumbling blocks make sense and help explain the next part of a bigger vision in such an organic way that what seems at first like a narrative following his train of thoughts was in actuality a micro-example of the entire system itself.

Armand doesn't try to impress with high science or eloquent prose. He stay true to his own rules and presents himself authentically, and the sale is stronger for it.

If you're in need of motivation and a plan for the next step in your life this wouldn't be a bad read. It's quick and applicable to far more than business.

I was attracted to this book by the reviews and ratings. I figured with the genre and the vast quantity of books in the series (and by the album art) that this wasn't going to be deep reading. It's nice to have some fluff once in a while. The beginning of the book seemed to deliver, but then it sort of lost its way.

The point of the main group, Keystone, was vague and fluccuated between hit squad for the rich & powerful and freelance investigative unit. It sort of makes sense at any point in time, but over the course of the novel it seemed more and more ridiculous. The mysterious leadership of the breeds contracted out killings to this group when they couldn't prove guilt enough by normal means. But that same leadership group are the ones making the rules. Why pay this outside group to do this stuff, and why does this outside group randomly start caring about evidence and proof of guilt at odd times.

The characterizations are also pretty flat. I know that's to be expected, but with such a large cast I was hoping for a bit more. I never really got a good sense of who the main character, Raven Black, truly was. Her desires and motivations shifted from scene to scene. For someone who's been effectively homeless for five years I didn't get much of that vibe from her either.

The story itself was okay. The bad guy never seemed like a real threat. The challenges presented all seemed to have much simpler solutions than the characters chose. I don't think I'll be reading anything else in this series.