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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
This was a decent read, and a good first book. I only got it because I'm a fan of the author's youtube channel, but I don't regret the purchase. I think he did a great job at the sense of in-over-their-head the characters feel, as well as the boldness of the ending. I just wish there was a bit more meat on the bones.
Based on Daniel’s own descriptions, I knew going in this book was going to be a bit outside my normal reader preferences. However, Daniel introduced me to booktube, has provided me hours upon hours of content to enjoy, and has helped me discover many of my favorite books (thank you so much for that Sword of Kaigen review when no one else was talking about that book). I would not have even picked this book up if I wasn’t already a Daniel fan, BUTTTT I’m really glad I did! I didn’t know what to expect quality wise in a book coming from someone I only know as a booktuber, but...
I think Daniel solidly lands on his feet here and has a good debut novella to proudly hang his hat on. I bought the audiobook and Kate and Michael are wonderful as always. I don’t usually like detectives and investigation settings, and I don’t usually like super grim dark. They just aren’t things that really click with me normally, but I still enjoyed this book despite those personal preferences.
The pacing was spot on. The prose was very straight forward but got the job done succinctly. It was never a negative distraction. I’d compare the prose to Sanderson’s more straight forward, non-flowery style. The character work needed some work for me, but I definitely understood what he was getting at. Overall, it worked, and I liked the things he was doing. The world interested me, and I want to see what comes next. I will most likely pick up the next book he writes! Good job Daniel! I was really scared I would hate it but wanted to support him by purchasing a copy and giving an honest review.
This novella is worth your time! Give it a shot!
I think Daniel solidly lands on his feet here and has a good debut novella to proudly hang his hat on. I bought the audiobook and Kate and Michael are wonderful as always. I don’t usually like detectives and investigation settings, and I don’t usually like super grim dark. They just aren’t things that really click with me normally, but I still enjoyed this book despite those personal preferences.
The pacing was spot on. The prose was very straight forward but got the job done succinctly. It was never a negative distraction. I’d compare the prose to Sanderson’s more straight forward, non-flowery style. The character work needed some work for me, but I definitely understood what he was getting at. Overall, it worked, and I liked the things he was doing. The world interested me, and I want to see what comes next. I will most likely pick up the next book he writes! Good job Daniel! I was really scared I would hate it but wanted to support him by purchasing a copy and giving an honest review.
This novella is worth your time! Give it a shot!
3.5
tbh i think it was a very good debut and don't understand the hate it's getting.
in a reading slump and this was the only book that truly got my attention.
it's not flawless but i liked the atmosphere, the premise... i only wish we had gotten more. more description, more plot, more pages... i feel like this will be a great book upon reread when the others have come out and we know more about the story it is setting up.
i need the sequel asap
(edit) might actually be a 4 - i keep thinking about it and i'm so excited for the second one but i just wanted more from the characters in this one. i already want to reread it
(reread november 2021)
tbh i think it was a very good debut and don't understand the hate it's getting.
in a reading slump and this was the only book that truly got my attention.
it's not flawless but i liked the atmosphere, the premise... i only wish we had gotten more. more description, more plot, more pages... i feel like this will be a great book upon reread when the others have come out and we know more about the story it is setting up.
i need the sequel asap
(edit) might actually be a 4 - i keep thinking about it and i'm so excited for the second one but i just wanted more from the characters in this one. i already want to reread it
(reread november 2021)
This was actually really enjoyable. It was fast paced and violent to say the least (who DOESN’T like a bit of gore and violence in a book they read while they sip their tea??)
This is a debut and it reads like one a lot of the time, which is completely okay. But really, that just makes me more excited for how Daniel’s writing is going to grow and expand in future novels.
Anyways, yeah. This was good.
This is a debut and it reads like one a lot of the time, which is completely okay. But really, that just makes me more excited for how Daniel’s writing is going to grow and expand in future novels.
Anyways, yeah. This was good.
3.25 stars
Daniel Greene's debut novella follows a band of policemen who investigate a terrible murder of a noble family. Very quickly new information leads them on a chase involving rebels and political intrigue. I think Daniel managed to do what he wanted with this novella: get the audience interested, set up his world, (and perhaps most importantly) get some practice writing before starting his epic fantasy series. Despite this, I must judge the novella solely based on what I found inside it.
Full disclaimer: (1)I do watch Daniel Greene, so perhaps I am biased in this review, although I try not to be. (2) On average I usually rate novellas and short stories lower just because I find it rare that an author can really wow me in the span of ±100 pages.
In this review I'll touch up on four main things: the writing, the characters, the plot, and the world building.
The writing was good for a first time author and obviously Greene isn't going to be on the level of Tolkien with his first novella. That being said, I found the writing to be quite personality-less. This isn't something I am particularly worried about, though, simply because this is a novella. My main thoughts about it were that at times the sentences were the same lengths for paragraphs and it made the reading monotone and that at times he used cliches (like the thunder booming during final showdown). On the other hand, I genuinely found some of his jokes funny (this one being a prime example):
The characters were good enough but limited by the fact that this is a novella. So, Daniel, if you're reading this, you did a good job with the page count that you had, but I'm rating this as I normally would, and due to the fact that this is a novella that has a bigger, perhaps, focus on the action and set up, I have to take some points away for characterisation. (Though again, you're on a great track). Khlid and Samuel were fine. Getting invested in Sam really relies on if you're invested in Khlid. In 100 pages, it is very hard for me to get invested in these characters (honestly, only Stephen King made me invested in characters this quickly, in The Stand, but that was also in ±200 pages not 100). The reason why I'm saying that Daniel has had a very promising start is that the way he writes his characters is very distinct and intentional: Khlid keeps not realising she is smoking and get's frustrated with it, Khlid and Chapman (the other Inspector) are contrasted right off the bat in how the former is concerned with remembering Officer Smits's name, whereas the latter doesn't and instead thinks of them as Officer Sh*ts. I thought that that was really really great. Chapman, though, stood out to me the most. Although he gets a bit more confusing towards the middle/end, in the beginning there is a scene that makes him stand out: he analyses the crime scene in a genius way but he misses a vital piece of information. This scene proves that Daniel can write his characters in a way that subtley gives them nuance and I find that very promising.
The plot felt forced, I'm not gonna lie. I think that it would have benefitted from being moreso around 150 pages long just for the logic. It was very fast paced, but in a way that felt disjointed. The beginning is fascinating and then the action starts after the first chapter or so. The middle, right before the final action sequence, felt very disjointed because of the way Chapman's characterisation gets all messed up: Other than that, the ending felt like a huge question mark with a lot of things being pulled for shock-value. This made me wonder more about his intent with the book (like his goals for what he wanted to accomplish). Was it to simply explore this small segment of his world which would act as a prologue but its specifics aren't too important (think the dudes who ride out into the north in the Game of Thrones prologue). Or was it to actually make us care and cry and get super attached to this specific story which plays a central part in the future main series? I honestly do not know.
The world-building was fantastic. I know some people may be annoyed that there is so little of it in this novella, but I had no problem at all because this is exactly how I like world-building to work: the characters point out different things as they go about their day without doing huge info-dumps about things they probably wouldn't be thinking about. For example, I live in Poland and let's say I'm going to my grandmother's house for lunch through the Warsaw Old Town. I'm probably going to think about her delicious pierogi ruskie (Polish traditional dish) and marvel at the architecture of the Warsaw Palace. On a smaller scale, I'm not gonna talk about Poland's extended history with the Vistula river tribes and I'm not gonna think about the 16 provinces and how all of them differ. On a much grander scale, I'm not gonna think about the US and info-dump myself about US history just because technically we are on the same planet. So I think that Daniel's world-building was amazing. He did it in a realistic way, which yes kept a lot to the imagination, but no one monologues about world history in their heads for no reason: there has to be a stimulus in world. Otherwise that is a random info-dump. I hope this made some sense.
Overall, I am very pleased with this first novella. Though I thought some things were a bit inconsistent and that Daniel has things he should improve on, I'll eagerly await his next work.
Daniel Greene's debut novella follows a band of policemen who investigate a terrible murder of a noble family. Very quickly new information leads them on a chase involving rebels and political intrigue. I think Daniel managed to do what he wanted with this novella: get the audience interested, set up his world, (and perhaps most importantly) get some practice writing before starting his epic fantasy series. Despite this, I must judge the novella solely based on what I found inside it.
Full disclaimer: (1)I do watch Daniel Greene, so perhaps I am biased in this review, although I try not to be. (2) On average I usually rate novellas and short stories lower just because I find it rare that an author can really wow me in the span of ±100 pages.
In this review I'll touch up on four main things: the writing, the characters, the plot, and the world building.
The writing was good for a first time author and obviously Greene isn't going to be on the level of Tolkien with his first novella. That being said, I found the writing to be quite personality-less. This isn't something I am particularly worried about, though, simply because this is a novella. My main thoughts about it were that at times the sentences were the same lengths for paragraphs and it made the reading monotone and that at times he used cliches (like the thunder booming during final showdown). On the other hand, I genuinely found some of his jokes funny (this one being a prime example):
“You just got into an argument with the Fist?”
“More like performed a soliloquy for them.”
The characters were good enough but limited by the fact that this is a novella. So, Daniel, if you're reading this, you did a good job with the page count that you had, but I'm rating this as I normally would, and due to the fact that this is a novella that has a bigger, perhaps, focus on the action and set up, I have to take some points away for characterisation. (Though again, you're on a great track). Khlid and Samuel were fine. Getting invested in Sam really relies on if you're invested in Khlid. In 100 pages, it is very hard for me to get invested in these characters (honestly, only Stephen King made me invested in characters this quickly, in The Stand, but that was also in ±200 pages not 100). The reason why I'm saying that Daniel has had a very promising start is that the way he writes his characters is very distinct and intentional: Khlid keeps not realising she is smoking and get's frustrated with it, Khlid and Chapman (the other Inspector) are contrasted right off the bat in how the former is concerned with remembering Officer Smits's name, whereas the latter doesn't and instead thinks of them as Officer Sh*ts. I thought that that was really really great. Chapman, though, stood out to me the most. Although he gets a bit more confusing towards the middle/end, in the beginning there is a scene that makes him stand out: he analyses the crime scene in a genius way but he misses a vital piece of information. This scene proves that Daniel can write his characters in a way that subtley gives them nuance and I find that very promising.
The plot felt forced, I'm not gonna lie. I think that it would have benefitted from being moreso around 150 pages long just for the logic. It was very fast paced, but in a way that felt disjointed. The beginning is fascinating and then the action starts after the first chapter or so. The middle, right before the final action sequence, felt very disjointed because of the way Chapman's characterisation gets all messed up:
Spoiler
We never really know if he is really with the rebellion or not and it is written in such a way where, at least I, fell onto the side believing he was just double crossing the rebels. But weren't we just told that he is like this super great Inspector who would do anything to get to the bottom of the mystery... Again, maybe this is this way because we are in Khlid's head and it is simply the way she views Chapman, but due to the fact this is a novella, we don't know Khlid too well, so I wasn't sure what to think... and this ruined the logic of the second act for me.Spoiler
I am specifically talking about the choice to literally kill of his entire cast. Like, huh?? Who will the next two novellas follow? It thought they were going to be like a saga about the police-force but apparently not???The world-building was fantastic. I know some people may be annoyed that there is so little of it in this novella, but I had no problem at all because this is exactly how I like world-building to work: the characters point out different things as they go about their day without doing huge info-dumps about things they probably wouldn't be thinking about. For example, I live in Poland and let's say I'm going to my grandmother's house for lunch through the Warsaw Old Town. I'm probably going to think about her delicious pierogi ruskie (Polish traditional dish) and marvel at the architecture of the Warsaw Palace. On a smaller scale, I'm not gonna talk about Poland's extended history with the Vistula river tribes and I'm not gonna think about the 16 provinces and how all of them differ. On a much grander scale, I'm not gonna think about the US and info-dump myself about US history just because technically we are on the same planet. So I think that Daniel's world-building was amazing. He did it in a realistic way, which yes kept a lot to the imagination, but no one monologues about world history in their heads for no reason: there has to be a stimulus in world. Otherwise that is a random info-dump. I hope this made some sense.
Overall, I am very pleased with this first novella. Though I thought some things were a bit inconsistent and that Daniel has things he should improve on, I'll eagerly await his next work.
I would have liked a longer book to get more attached to the characters...then again... No a bad book for a debut and just enough to kick off a series. I'll be waiting for the next installment.
4.25 stars.
Daniel B. Greene is a booktuber whom I have been following for years, I trust his recommendations in fantasy, so I was ecstatic when I first heard that he is working on a book himself.
That being said Daniel still surpassed my expectations, I am not usually the one for novella's but I think this was wonderful (not being biased), the writing was good and I liked the characters and the overall setting. I can't wait to read more books from Daniel.
XD
Daniel B. Greene is a booktuber whom I have been following for years, I trust his recommendations in fantasy, so I was ecstatic when I first heard that he is working on a book himself.
That being said Daniel still surpassed my expectations, I am not usually the one for novella's but I think this was wonderful (not being biased), the writing was good and I liked the characters and the overall setting. I can't wait to read more books from Daniel.
XD
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book reminds me why I don’t care for most novellas. They are long enough for you to be invested in the characters, but not long enough to feel fulfilled at the end of the story. I feel like I have to read the second book to come to a conclusion about the series. That aside, I liked the world building and the setting.