Avenue of the gods should have been a novella. What took the author 350 pages to accomplish could have been handled – with better results and more punch, in my opinion – in 90. The pulp sci-fi opus is replete with short books (or extended short stories, as the case may be) and this alien invasion, conquest, and rebellion tale might have been a worthy addition to the genre. It still might, if the author, Ed Morawski, finds someone to professionally edit his work.

That is the perennial challenge with self-published POD projects – no editing. Most noticeable were the typographical and punctuation errors (on almost every page), grammar and vocabulary mistakes (e.g. it's for its), and the unprofessional formatting of the text (nonjustified right margins, no paragraph indenting, etc.). Why authors let their manuscripts go to press before the basics are covered is a mystery to me.

That being said, the first person narrative and overall plot of this novel were intriguing enough to at least keep me skimming toward the conclusion. And while the ultimate conflict and resolution was a bit predictable, the story did deliver the requisite love, fight, and expose-the-evil-mastermind scenes to make the book entertaining. Also, since aliens-as-gods is a central motif, Morawski handled the religious hysteria and breakdown of society fairly well. However, the story gets bogged down with unnecessary details (the protagonist describes practically every meal he eats) and is full of superfluous rabbit trails as well.

The writing quality and style can be quickly ascertained from the blurb on the back cover. "Aliens have arrived supposedly to save humankind. They are perceived as gods and a new religion is borne. So it falls to Edward Lektor and a beautiful but mysterious Asian woman to discover what they are up to and how to stop them." Too bad this is all most prospective buyers will ever know about the book. The writing isn't really as bad as the blurb indicates, but there are enough silly stock phrases (mysterious Asian woman!) scattered throughout the first few chapters that I was tempted to shelve it.

Still, Morawski has a way of keeping the reader hooked with an urgent writing style and constant movement (almost too much movement as I had trouble keeping up with all the locations the narrator traveled to). Plus, some interesting commentary along the way served to remind the reader that the narration is taken from the diary of Edward Lektor after all the events described had taken place. It's a device that is employed regularly, often ineffectively by many authors, but in this case it's quite workable. Overall, a somewhat enjoyable – but too lengthy – a read.

I give it a 4 out of 10. ( )