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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
This is a web-serial, premised on the idea that the plucky protagonist, rather than trying to overthrow the evil empire, decides to join it and reform it from the inside. The book is a one-man operation, published on WordPress at the rate of a chapter a week, and it's definitely rough around the edges (fairly high rate of typos, the occasional iffy scene)...
...and it's still one of the best books I've read this year. The writing is clear, flowing, and descriptive. You always know what's happening, how, and where, even during the most chaotic combat scenes (this is surprisingly hard to do, actually, judging by how many authors fumble it). The characters hew to classic archetypes, but they're likable and they subvert their roles every so often. The setting likewise seems fairly generic on the surface, but as the series goes on you see that there's a lot of thought put in to make everything work. And the author, ErraticErrata, is an absolute *master* of character-driven humor.
Let me put it this way. This book has an undead suicide goat named after a main character's ex. And it makes perfect sense in the context of the story.
(Edit: On a subtler note, I will also say that this series is an excellent example of how to do well-developed 'diverse' fiction. While the 'good guy' kingdom is a generic European Medieval land, the Evil Empire is heavily based on Africa, with the two main cultures being based on Saharan nomads and Sub-Saharan kingdoms like those of Mali. And of course, it's in the Evil Empire that we spend the majority of our time, so this is all really quite well developed. Gender politics are similarly well handled.)
Ultimately, a bit rough around the edges but enormous fun. And hey, it's free.
...and it's still one of the best books I've read this year. The writing is clear, flowing, and descriptive. You always know what's happening, how, and where, even during the most chaotic combat scenes (this is surprisingly hard to do, actually, judging by how many authors fumble it). The characters hew to classic archetypes, but they're likable and they subvert their roles every so often. The setting likewise seems fairly generic on the surface, but as the series goes on you see that there's a lot of thought put in to make everything work. And the author, ErraticErrata, is an absolute *master* of character-driven humor.
Let me put it this way. This book has an undead suicide goat named after a main character's ex. And it makes perfect sense in the context of the story.
(Edit: On a subtler note, I will also say that this series is an excellent example of how to do well-developed 'diverse' fiction. While the 'good guy' kingdom is a generic European Medieval land, the Evil Empire is heavily based on Africa, with the two main cultures being based on Saharan nomads and Sub-Saharan kingdoms like those of Mali. And of course, it's in the Evil Empire that we spend the majority of our time, so this is all really quite well developed. Gender politics are similarly well handled.)
Ultimately, a bit rough around the edges but enormous fun. And hey, it's free.
Such a good read! And I am always weak for the clever, bantering characters... A bit rough around the edges (spelling and grammatical errors), as you would expect from a self-published book, but the story compensates for that by far!