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evelyne_crowe 's review for:
Tome of the Undergates
by Sam Sykes
I wanted to like it. I really did want to, so let's start there.
Considering this is Sykes's first novel, it wasn't bad. Not great, but not bad. It reminded me of the Dragon Age books I used to read in high school: typical band of guys, a warrior, priest, elf-type. They go around having adventures and life happens to them in the process. All the earmarks of a good story, and if I were still in high school, I might have enjoyed it more.
There was too much...I don't want to say violence because I'm not opposed to violence in my fantasy novels. Some of the best ones are horribly violent. This book though...it felt, well, squishy. Violence I can handle, but all the gore was a bit much for me. True, gore comes with violence, but I really didn't need to be reminded that someone was walking over bodies and what that felt like. This is purely a personal opinion of mine, to be sure, and I give credit where credit is due: the book was very descriptive and the imagery was great. It just wasn't to my taste.
The plot was simple and I feel like if there weren't any fighting, there wouldn't be much of a book. More character development, more plot in general, more of the world they live in. Lots of fighting, but very little else. There was some tension between two characters (sexual tension), some hint at a relationship brewing, but we don't really see that develop. There is little to no delving into character motivations, and so I found it hard to relate to any particular character, which makes me not really care if one of them is hurt or might die.
So, all in all, it was a bit bland but the START was there.
Considering this is Sykes's first novel, it wasn't bad. Not great, but not bad. It reminded me of the Dragon Age books I used to read in high school: typical band of guys, a warrior, priest, elf-type. They go around having adventures and life happens to them in the process. All the earmarks of a good story, and if I were still in high school, I might have enjoyed it more.
There was too much...I don't want to say violence because I'm not opposed to violence in my fantasy novels. Some of the best ones are horribly violent. This book though...it felt, well, squishy. Violence I can handle, but all the gore was a bit much for me. True, gore comes with violence, but I really didn't need to be reminded that someone was walking over bodies and what that felt like. This is purely a personal opinion of mine, to be sure, and I give credit where credit is due: the book was very descriptive and the imagery was great. It just wasn't to my taste.
The plot was simple and I feel like if there weren't any fighting, there wouldn't be much of a book. More character development, more plot in general, more of the world they live in. Lots of fighting, but very little else. There was some tension between two characters (sexual tension), some hint at a relationship brewing, but we don't really see that develop. There is little to no delving into character motivations, and so I found it hard to relate to any particular character, which makes me not really care if one of them is hurt or might die.
So, all in all, it was a bit bland but the START was there.