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A review by antonism
The Hobgoblin Riot by Matt Dinniman
3.0
3 / 5
The Hobgoblin Riot (THR) is the continuation of the story that started in Dominion of Blades. DoB is a great LitRPG book that introduced me to the LitRPG genre and made me love it. So THR is the second book in that story... and also the third according to the author. And to be honest, I thought this was a trilogy and it was the end of the story arc but it's not! We know there's at least one more book coming out but we're not sure when...
Coming to my review and critique, there's a lot in common with my review of the first book, DoB. You can read my review here!. So what are the differences then?
Positives:
+ Lots of secondary characters and NPCs that actually matter and are very interesting. In the first book, only the 3 protagonists mattered. Here, the book has so many interesting secondary that sometimes it's hard to keep track of!
+ Interesting reveals about the RL parallel plot. Can't say much more though in order to avoid spoilers.
Negatives:
- It's all defense... If defensive football, basketball and generally turtling strategies don't appeal to you then stay away. Other reviewers say it's mostly a tower defense game and they are not really far off. .. because it is!
- The pace is all over the place. Especially the middle part was very uneven and boring and slow. Bleargh!
- The constant switching of POVs does not really help things. Ok, we get to know the main characters better but this is at the expense of plot progression.
- The ending (or lack of!) was very disappointing and it felt very rushed! The last 20-30 pages read as if they were hastily put there just to make a deadline.
In conclusion, if you liked the first book, it's worth reading this one too, just to get to the next part of the story. If you didn't love the first then you'll probably like this one even less. I will read the next one when it comes out but with a lot of reservations.
Conditionally recommended!
3 / 5
The Hobgoblin Riot (THR) is the continuation of the story that started in Dominion of Blades. DoB is a great LitRPG book that introduced me to the LitRPG genre and made me love it. So THR is the second book in that story... and also the third according to the author. And to be honest, I thought this was a trilogy and it was the end of the story arc but it's not! We know there's at least one more book coming out but we're not sure when...
Coming to my review and critique, there's a lot in common with my review of the first book, DoB. You can read my review here!. So what are the differences then?
Positives:
+ Lots of secondary characters and NPCs that actually matter and are very interesting. In the first book, only the 3 protagonists mattered. Here, the book has so many interesting secondary that sometimes it's hard to keep track of!
+ Interesting reveals about the RL parallel plot. Can't say much more though in order to avoid spoilers.
Negatives:
- It's all defense... If defensive football, basketball and generally turtling strategies don't appeal to you then stay away. Other reviewers say it's mostly a tower defense game and they are not really far off. .. because it is!
- The pace is all over the place. Especially the middle part was very uneven and boring and slow. Bleargh!
- The constant switching of POVs does not really help things. Ok, we get to know the main characters better but this is at the expense of plot progression.
- The ending (or lack of!) was very disappointing and it felt very rushed! The last 20-30 pages read as if they were hastily put there just to make a deadline.
In conclusion, if you liked the first book, it's worth reading this one too, just to get to the next part of the story. If you didn't love the first then you'll probably like this one even less. I will read the next one when it comes out but with a lot of reservations.
Conditionally recommended!
3 / 5