Scan barcode
tanemariacris's review
For such a dark and gorey story, it sure left me filled with warmth at the end. The Disheveled Goblin did that. He wrote a book. He set the foundation for a whole world. Looking forward to how the threads that have been hinted at will be further developed.
kailey_alessi's review against another edition
3.0
This is Greene’s first book-I’ve followed his YouTube channel for a while and decided to give it a read. This novella has pretty graphic gore, violence, and body horror, so be aware of that before diving in.
For a debut, I thought it was pretty solid. The writing was decent, though a bit clunky in places, as I would expect from a first-time author. There were a couple sections which felt a bit info-dumpy, but not too bad. The plot revolves around a group of inspectors investigating the murder of a noble family, and it is clear that this is the first book in a series because you will have more questions than answers by the end. Greene creates a world that gives off Victorian and Orwellian vibes, which was not what I was expecting at all, but is pretty intriguing. I will be reading the next book when it comes out, and see if the theories I have been formulating about this world come to fruition. Overall, this is a decent debut and I am curious to see where Greene takes the story from here!
For a debut, I thought it was pretty solid. The writing was decent, though a bit clunky in places, as I would expect from a first-time author. There were a couple sections which felt a bit info-dumpy, but not too bad. The plot revolves around a group of inspectors investigating the murder of a noble family, and it is clear that this is the first book in a series because you will have more questions than answers by the end. Greene creates a world that gives off Victorian and Orwellian vibes, which was not what I was expecting at all, but is pretty intriguing. I will be reading the next book when it comes out, and see if the theories I have been formulating about this world come to fruition. Overall, this is a decent debut and I am curious to see where Greene takes the story from here!
davidcrow's review against another edition
5.0
A tight and fascinating novella. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel and exploring this world.
kaykay13's review
3.0
I think that because this was a short novella I had trouble getting into it. I was confused about the world and the characters and didn't really feel attached to anything, all in all it was pretty boring and it felt long despite being so short.
richardleis's review against another edition
4.0
Wasn't sure what to expect from Daniel Greene, the excitable and not-at-all disheveled goblin host of the popular fantasy news YouTube channel, but I'm pleasantly surprised (and disturbed) by how good and dark this story is. A murder case escalates quickly into grimdark fantasy and horror featuring fascinating characters, monsters, and superior worldbuilding. As the plot sped toward its grim finale, I kept expecting a sudden hopeful turn that never arrived... and just like that I'm hooked and eager for more books in the series.
Craft-wise, I think there's a little room for improvement, with some compression here, some streamlining there, a bit of clarity around character names (is it "Sam" or "Samuel" or both and in what context?), fewer dialogue tags, etc., but the craft improved by the later pages and these issues rarely pulled me out of the story. Honestly, I think Greene is already a damn good writer.
Craft-wise, I think there's a little room for improvement, with some compression here, some streamlining there, a bit of clarity around character names (is it "Sam" or "Samuel" or both and in what context?), fewer dialogue tags, etc., but the craft improved by the later pages and these issues rarely pulled me out of the story. Honestly, I think Greene is already a damn good writer.
lisyda's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I've watched some of Daniel Greene's videos over the years, so I was aware he had published something and when I noticed the books were available on Libby, I decided to give them a go.
Since it's a novella, Breach of Peace can't really go into all the nitty-gritty details of worldbuilding that I personally would have loved. Genre-wise, this was grimdark industrial fantasy, and despite the short length of the story, I did get those vibes from the atmosphere, just without much detail. There's an empire, there was a big war a while back, there seem to be different races living in this world, some of whom can use a type of magic, and our main characters are police inspectors, guns and all.
The story starts off with Khlid, Samuel and Chapman – our three inspectors – arriving at the scene of a grisly multiple homicide. And the descriptions here were quite interesting at first. I wanted to know more and to figure out what was happening, but I was left a bit deflated as the "murder mystery" part of the story isn't at the centre at all. It's not really possible for the reader to properly solve it alongside the detectives due to lacking the necessary background information to make certain assumptions.
So instead, it felt more like just being told what happened as further details emerged, and you're just along for the ride to witness the plot happening: a conspiracy is revealed, a plan is made, there's a big culmination and a cliffhanger. So, of course I read the next book as well.
But this one? The writing style itself was very straightforward, simple. The prose itself wasn't distinct or memorable, so I wouldn't say that Greene has found his voice in that regard yet. So the novella was OK overall. Not great, not awful, just OK.
Since it's a novella, Breach of Peace can't really go into all the nitty-gritty details of worldbuilding that I personally would have loved. Genre-wise, this was grimdark industrial fantasy, and despite the short length of the story, I did get those vibes from the atmosphere, just without much detail. There's an empire, there was a big war a while back, there seem to be different races living in this world, some of whom can use a type of magic, and our main characters are police inspectors, guns and all.
The story starts off with Khlid, Samuel and Chapman – our three inspectors – arriving at the scene of a grisly multiple homicide. And the descriptions here were quite interesting at first. I wanted to know more and to figure out what was happening, but I was left a bit deflated as the "murder mystery" part of the story isn't at the centre at all. It's not really possible for the reader to properly solve it alongside the detectives due to lacking the necessary background information to make certain assumptions.
So instead, it felt more like just being told what happened as further details emerged, and you're just along for the ride to witness the plot happening: a conspiracy is revealed, a plan is made, there's a big culmination and a cliffhanger. So, of course I read the next book as well.
But this one? The writing style itself was very straightforward, simple. The prose itself wasn't distinct or memorable, so I wouldn't say that Greene has found his voice in that regard yet. So the novella was OK overall. Not great, not awful, just OK.
mssunnyskies's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5