Good Story, Poor Delivery…
I recently read Phantom Panthers by new author, David Shultz. I enjoy most literary genres, so when I saw that Phantom Panthers seemed to 
encompass Science Fiction, Action and Adventure as well as the Paranormal, I figured I’d give it a read. Phantom Panthers is set near the end of World War II; and I did find it to be an interesting book. The plot/premise within this book is definitely unique…
Step back in time to the summer of 1944. Otto and Hans, two of the main characters, are currently in western Russia, embroiled in a massive military fight (to the death if need be) in an attempt to gain control of Russia, per Hitler’s orders. This armed conflict does not fare well for the German company. When it’s over, Otto and Hans are the sole survivors of a battle that left the earth deeply scarred and hundreds upon hundreds dead. Otto and Hans manage to return to Germany where, surprisingly, they meet Hitler in person and are both awarded a prestigious medal for their bravery and valor.
Not to mix military slogans, but Hitler is ‘looking for a few good men’ to carry out a higher-than-top-secret mission. He is beyond desperate to win this war. This means, he will use anything within his power to do so; even if it means embracing the darker side of the paranormal. Otto and Hans, not understanding Hitler’s plans for them, are whisked away to another secluded location. Once there, they unknowingly participate in a ritual designed to fill them, and their two tanks, with the unholy power and protection provided only to those who practice the dark arts.
With that said, I don’t want to provide any additional plot/storyline in my review. As I previously mentioned, Phantom Panthers was an interesting read with a unique plot. Sadly, even though Phantom Panthers was a good book, there were an incredible amount of composition problems. So much so, that (for the first time ever) I actually needed to mark up my copy in order to keep track of the various issues.
Right from the beginning, Shultz struggled with the use of tenses. In some cases, present and past tenses even collided horribly within the same sentence. This writing ‘style’ left me guessing as to whether Shultz was attempting to write Phantom Panthers as first person in the past, third person in the present, or … an intended, yet unsuccessful, merging of both. Consequently, many of these sections were barely intelligible, jumbled messes.
On pages eighteen and twenty, I was stunned to find the same exact paragraph. Verbatim… Other sentences and/or paragraphs were ended incompletely, as is the case on page seventy-four. Occasionally, Shultz seemed to forget the small details of his tale – because of this, there were times when the story contradicted itself. Words were quite often misspelled and/or incorrectly used. And, words that should have been singular were split apart; as in the case of ‘nonetheless’ which was committed to print as ‘none the less.’ With this specific word, splitting it into three is not a huge faux pas; however, authors should always remember that the intended meaning of a sentence can be changed by separating words that are designed to be together. Together, a singular word has one main definition that the author is attempting to convey; separated, that definition can be changed, misconstrued or misunderstood. The degree to which this can happen is, of course, dependent upon the individual meaning(s) of the words contained within the initial, conjoined word.
My most sincere advice to Shultz would be to consider attending a writing class that focuses on English composition. And, of course, to invest in a good editor who is experienced in editing Shultz’s specific writing genre(s).
In closing though, for the readers who enjoy action, adventure and/or paranormal genres, Phantom Panthers is a good read. Were it not for the magnitude of grammatical and compositional errors this book would have received four stars instead of the two that I’m forced to give it…