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“Into the Alter”
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“I’m a sucker, and I may be too empathetic to effectively parent.”
Dylan Grady is a father and a family man, and he is about to enter “Into the Alter” – a controversial new form of escapism for those dissatisfied with reality. The story opens with a prologue where Dylan is undergoing the procedure to enter into his Alter Life, and he is having doubts about his decision. He is about to be put into an all but permanent state of rest to reawaken inside a world comprised of computer simulation and his mind’s eye. Why does this family man wish to escape reality, and will he be able to live with his decision once he’s on the other side?
Dylan Grady is a father and a family man, and he is about to enter “Into the Alter” – a controversial new form of escapism for those dissatisfied with reality. The story opens with a prologue where Dylan is undergoing the procedure to enter into his Alter Life, and he is having doubts about his decision. He is about to be put into an all but permanent state of rest to reawaken inside a world comprised of computer simulation and his mind’s eye. Why does this family man wish to escape reality, and will he be able to live with his decision once he’s on the other side?
Readability
For an indie title, I could tell a fair amount of effort was put into editing. The writing was pretty clean, and devoid of most common errors. In terms of plot structure, I became lost in the storyline, and not in a good way. There were two definitive moments where I almost decided not finish this book, which I will explain later. From what I could tell, there wasn’t much of an attempt on Seaton’s part to frame a narrative that had a clear beginning, middle, and end. When I pick up a novel I am expecting to follow a character(s) experience through a narrative that has a traditional plot structure: an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution/conclusion. Although the writing was well edited, I felt like there should have been more time spent revising the storyline itself. There was a lot of unnecessary filler content that didn’t fit the narrative and really just left me scratching my head as the reader.
Creativity
I believe Seaton was really trying to create a specific mood with “Into the Alter”. Everything about the narrative revolves around emotional well-being. The main character’s emotional well-being, the effect his decisions have on the emotional well-being of the characters around him, and how he struggles to cope with the emotional aftermath caused by the decisions they make, and so on and so forth. The vast majority of this story is driven through use of dialogue and Dylan’s first person perspective. He frequently enters into a state of self-reflection which amounts to pages upon pages of inner monologue that break up the brief moments of action that take place throughout this novel. There wasn’t a lot of imagery in this story until the second half, but it was rudimentary at best and often too surreal or disconnected to get me fully immersed. I thought Seaton was metaphorically strongest whenever he was writing about Dylan’s frustrations, there were moments where I felt like I was actually experiencing the character’s sense of helplessness, and in more ways than one.
Delivery
There were two times when I almost decided not to finish reading “Into the Alter”. The first time was when I was nearing what I thought was supposed to be the story’s climax. In this part of the story, Dylan is experiencing several family tragedies simultaneously, and he is in the hospital with a black eye because of some dickhead cop who happens to be the brother of his ex-wife’s new husband. For me that was a defining moment in the story’s plot, because I was no longer able to suspend disbelief in the narrative. At first, I thought Dylan’s character was believable and relatable, and although the vindictive ex-wife Corina seemed unbalanced – I could still understand. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and she didn’t like the idea of Dylan taking back control of his life through divorce. However, aside from that one instance, Dylan’s character doesn’t take control, ever.
I think it was right around chapter four, the melodrama starts getting laid on thick. I think the most mature and least petty characters in the whole first half turn out to be Dylan’s three and eleven year old children. Dylan is the biggest milquetoast pantywaist of a main character that I have ever read. It was frustrating to see Dylan fail to take control throughout the story, and then become emotionally frustrated over the outcomes as if he didn’t see them coming. What made things more frustrating was that the character was aware of his passivity (inner monologue), but still failed to grow a set of balls throughout the whole story. From begin to end, Dylan is a pussy. He has no character arc. When Dylan caught Haley smoking synthetics out in the woods and he just decided to leave, even though her character is only seventeen years old, I honestly said out loud that Dylan is stupid. I did not care to follow his character any longer. I felt like all that work to gain my sympathy for what this character had been through so far in the story was a complete waste of my time. And it only got worse from there.
The second half of the novel was like reading a completely different story that tried to tie in with the previous story through obscure use of metaphor and symbolic imagery, but missed the mark. As the reader I couldn’t make much of a connection between the two “worlds”, other than the reuse of names. Dylan’s inner monologue during the second half of the novel was another reason why I almost put this book down. I had to read pages and pages of Dylan’s character trying to figure out whether or not he was in a dream world or some simulation, even though as the reader I already knew the answer. Everything about the second half of the book was frustrating to read and made little sense in connection with the first half.
For an indie title, I could tell a fair amount of effort was put into editing. The writing was pretty clean, and devoid of most common errors. In terms of plot structure, I became lost in the storyline, and not in a good way. There were two definitive moments where I almost decided not finish this book, which I will explain later. From what I could tell, there wasn’t much of an attempt on Seaton’s part to frame a narrative that had a clear beginning, middle, and end. When I pick up a novel I am expecting to follow a character(s) experience through a narrative that has a traditional plot structure: an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution/conclusion. Although the writing was well edited, I felt like there should have been more time spent revising the storyline itself. There was a lot of unnecessary filler content that didn’t fit the narrative and really just left me scratching my head as the reader.
Creativity
I believe Seaton was really trying to create a specific mood with “Into the Alter”. Everything about the narrative revolves around emotional well-being. The main character’s emotional well-being, the effect his decisions have on the emotional well-being of the characters around him, and how he struggles to cope with the emotional aftermath caused by the decisions they make, and so on and so forth. The vast majority of this story is driven through use of dialogue and Dylan’s first person perspective. He frequently enters into a state of self-reflection which amounts to pages upon pages of inner monologue that break up the brief moments of action that take place throughout this novel. There wasn’t a lot of imagery in this story until the second half, but it was rudimentary at best and often too surreal or disconnected to get me fully immersed. I thought Seaton was metaphorically strongest whenever he was writing about Dylan’s frustrations, there were moments where I felt like I was actually experiencing the character’s sense of helplessness, and in more ways than one.
Delivery
There were two times when I almost decided not to finish reading “Into the Alter”. The first time was when I was nearing what I thought was supposed to be the story’s climax. In this part of the story, Dylan is experiencing several family tragedies simultaneously, and he is in the hospital with a black eye because of some dickhead cop who happens to be the brother of his ex-wife’s new husband. For me that was a defining moment in the story’s plot, because I was no longer able to suspend disbelief in the narrative. At first, I thought Dylan’s character was believable and relatable, and although the vindictive ex-wife Corina seemed unbalanced – I could still understand. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and she didn’t like the idea of Dylan taking back control of his life through divorce. However, aside from that one instance, Dylan’s character doesn’t take control, ever.
I think it was right around chapter four, the melodrama starts getting laid on thick. I think the most mature and least petty characters in the whole first half turn out to be Dylan’s three and eleven year old children. Dylan is the biggest milquetoast pantywaist of a main character that I have ever read. It was frustrating to see Dylan fail to take control throughout the story, and then become emotionally frustrated over the outcomes as if he didn’t see them coming. What made things more frustrating was that the character was aware of his passivity (inner monologue), but still failed to grow a set of balls throughout the whole story. From begin to end, Dylan is a pussy. He has no character arc. When Dylan caught Haley smoking synthetics out in the woods and he just decided to leave, even though her character is only seventeen years old, I honestly said out loud that Dylan is stupid. I did not care to follow his character any longer. I felt like all that work to gain my sympathy for what this character had been through so far in the story was a complete waste of my time. And it only got worse from there.
The second half of the novel was like reading a completely different story that tried to tie in with the previous story through obscure use of metaphor and symbolic imagery, but missed the mark. As the reader I couldn’t make much of a connection between the two “worlds”, other than the reuse of names. Dylan’s inner monologue during the second half of the novel was another reason why I almost put this book down. I had to read pages and pages of Dylan’s character trying to figure out whether or not he was in a dream world or some simulation, even though as the reader I already knew the answer. Everything about the second half of the book was frustrating to read and made little sense in connection with the first half.
#LFLR Indie Rating: 3/10
“Into the Alter” was like reading two separate novellas that went together like peanut butter and onions. I felt like Seaton couldn’t decide if he wanted write a drama or a science fiction novel, and decided he was going to bite off more than he could chew on this particular project. I think I sort of understand where he was trying to go with the whole Alter Life idea in relation to coping with domestic tragedy, but I think it would have been better if it was used as more of a symbolic gesture at some point in the story rather than a literal undertaking that we experience through Dylan’s character. I sighed impatiently so many times in the second half of this book, because it was grueling to read through content that was trying to gaslight me as the reader. I know what happened to Dylan. I knew what happened to him throughout the entire story. He explains everything that happens to him. The support characters explain everything about Alter Life before he even enters into it. So reading paragraph after paragraph of Dylan’s inner monologue metaphorically scratching his head about this “new” reality he finds himself in was utterly irrelevant. It would have made more sense if the second half of the novel was swapped with the first half and there were symbolic clues in Dylan’s Alter Life, that I as the reader, could discover and make connections to in the second half, which would have been the events leading up to Dylan entering the Alter Life. All in all, I think this novel started out as a good idea that just didn’t end up translating very well through pen and paper.
“Into the Alter” was like reading two separate novellas that went together like peanut butter and onions. I felt like Seaton couldn’t decide if he wanted write a drama or a science fiction novel, and decided he was going to bite off more than he could chew on this particular project. I think I sort of understand where he was trying to go with the whole Alter Life idea in relation to coping with domestic tragedy, but I think it would have been better if it was used as more of a symbolic gesture at some point in the story rather than a literal undertaking that we experience through Dylan’s character. I sighed impatiently so many times in the second half of this book, because it was grueling to read through content that was trying to gaslight me as the reader. I know what happened to Dylan. I knew what happened to him throughout the entire story. He explains everything that happens to him. The support characters explain everything about Alter Life before he even enters into it. So reading paragraph after paragraph of Dylan’s inner monologue metaphorically scratching his head about this “new” reality he finds himself in was utterly irrelevant. It would have made more sense if the second half of the novel was swapped with the first half and there were symbolic clues in Dylan’s Alter Life, that I as the reader, could discover and make connections to in the second half, which would have been the events leading up to Dylan entering the Alter Life. All in all, I think this novel started out as a good idea that just didn’t end up translating very well through pen and paper.
THIS BREAKDOWN IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE #LFLR NETWORK.
