Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Split the Party by Drew Hayes

1 review

bluejayreads's review

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adventurous funny
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

I don't think I've picked up a sequel so soon after reading the first book since middle school. When I finished NPCs it was a struggle to not ignore the other things I had to read and my rule about reviewing the book before reading the sequel. I really, really wanted to read book two. 

Several of the series I've picked up in the last few years (see Gentlemen Bastards, The Never Tilting World, Sidekick Squad, The Serpent Gates) have had a problem where book one was really good and then book two was distinctly not good (or at least not enjoyable to me). So I had a bit of a concern that maybe Split the Party was the uninspired, amateur RPG-themed fantasy novel that I feared NPCs was going to be. But I was still thrilled with how much fun NPCs was, so I pretty much ignored that worry and dove right in. 

With a little distance from the surprise and delight of "Hey, this is actually really enjoyable!" that I had from the first book, I can tell that objectively, these aren't spectacular books. They're not going to win any awards or be the books that make aspiring authors despair because they could never write something so great. From a structure and characterization and writing mechanics standpoint, they're just okay. Nothing to write home about, but perfectly acceptable. 

But the lack of literary panache is completely forgivable because, just like the first book in the series, Split the Party is just so. much. fun. Our heroes know the tropes but they still have to live them because that's just how the world works, and their genre-savviness adds a layer of both meta and amusement as they know exactly what bullshit is coming but have to deal with it anyway. A seemingly simple plot hook gets very complicated very fast, and I love how much it feels like an actual D&D campaign. The tropes that are mocked are more in the details, and the plot itself is less a straight-up trope and more about the characters trying to get a handle on their new roles as adventurers. Plus there's separate entirely meta storyline that I assume will intersect our adventurers' story later on. 

And there's a ton of awesome character stuff. Grumph* may not be absurdly powerful, but there's still a delightful amount of the Absurdly Powerful Protagonist trope as people keep underestimating his magical ability due to his race. Gabrielle started a bit of a character arc/crisis about her abilities and her role in the group. Thistle got to learn more about his god and about his role as a paladin of Grumble. Eric got to do rogue stuff - he didn't get much character work in this book, but he got a ton at the end of the last book so I'll forgive it. And Timiscore, new addition to the party, gets a goal and a dream to work towards. Plus we got some interesting new characters, like an elf trader who definitely has some secrets up her sleeves and who I'm sure we haven't seen the last of. 

There isn't a whole lot of substance to these books. There's some, definitely, but not a lot if you think hard about it. But these really aren't "think hard about it" books. They poke fun at tabletop RPG game tropes, they have characters who know the tropes but can't avoid living them, and they're packed full of humor, entertainment, and just plain fun. Are they objectively spectacular books? No, not really. But I don't care because I'm having far too much fun. 
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