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A review by bookdragonshoard
Desert Runner by Dawn Chapman
1.0
I did not enjoy this. I don't think that this is a good entry into LitRPG at all, and if I wasn't already interested in giving the genre a decent go, this book would make me not want to try it at all.
The main character, Maddie 'Celaena Sardothien' Vies, is the most fluctuating character I think I've ever read. One minute she's cold and all for herself and a strong badass lady of the desert, the next minute she's smitten over a guy she's known for less than 24 hours (yeah, it's p much an insta-love kinda deal). The amount of times we are repeatedly told how grr her programming is so bad and she hates immediately falling in love is so aggravating. Just because this is rammed down our throats doesn't mean we're gonna immediately be chill with the her falling for Alex. But prior to just givibg in to the programming she..... *shakes fist* hates so much, she is the most temperamental gal, honestly snapping over the slightest suggestion that he could help the NPCs.
There is a lot of telling, and not a lot of showing that had me repeatedly going, so what? We are repeatedly told that, wow, Maddie is so cool and badass and her and the Hog are so well known in the Runners, but is this ever shown to us? Not at all.
The world is interesting and I do like the sound of the Tormoal/dragon thingies. But after years and years of them attacking and being so deadly to humans, even nearly killing Maddie, all it takes is Maddie to get in a wreck for her to be able to ~START THE CHANGE~?
Then, there's the editing issues. At the beginning, it's not too bad, but about 60% onwards there are just nonsensical statements that don't mean anything. I read out multiple quotes to my family to help riddle them out and we all just looked questioningly at each other. Characters appear out of nowhere with no explanation and statements made are proven false in the very next sentence. And there's sooooooo many cringe moments and . It was just eye rolling-ly ridiculous at times
Some examples: (no spoilers)
"He's one lucky guy" [he says]
I wanted to agree, but there was something that didn't, that really didn't." - uhhhhh what didn't what lmao
"I wanted to stop the Hog and confess all [...] but the words and the pedal to the metal seemed to be stuck" - I... I didn't think people still used this unironically in the year of our Lord 2019.
The main character, Maddie 'Celaena Sardothien' Vies, is the most fluctuating character I think I've ever read. One minute she's cold and all for herself and a strong badass lady of the desert, the next minute she's smitten over a guy she's known for less than 24 hours (yeah, it's p much an insta-love kinda deal). The amount of times we are repeatedly told how grr her programming is so bad and she hates immediately falling in love is so aggravating. Just because this is rammed down our throats doesn't mean we're gonna immediately be chill with the her falling for Alex. But prior to just givibg in to the programming she..... *shakes fist* hates so much, she is the most temperamental gal, honestly snapping over the slightest suggestion that he could help the NPCs.
There is a lot of telling, and not a lot of showing that had me repeatedly going, so what? We are repeatedly told that, wow, Maddie is so cool and badass and her and the Hog are so well known in the Runners, but is this ever shown to us? Not at all.
The world is interesting and I do like the sound of the Tormoal/dragon thingies. But after years and years of them attacking and being so deadly to humans, even nearly killing Maddie, all it takes is Maddie to get in a wreck for her to be able to ~START THE CHANGE~?
Then, there's the editing issues. At the beginning, it's not too bad, but about 60% onwards there are just nonsensical statements that don't mean anything. I read out multiple quotes to my family to help riddle them out and we all just looked questioningly at each other. Characters appear out of nowhere with no explanation and statements made are proven false in the very next sentence. And there's sooooooo many cringe moments and . It was just eye rolling-ly ridiculous at times
Some examples: (no spoilers)
"He's one lucky guy" [he says]
I wanted to agree, but there was something that didn't, that really didn't." - uhhhhh what didn't what lmao
"I wanted to stop the Hog and confess all [...] but the words and the pedal to the metal seemed to be stuck" - I... I didn't think people still used this unironically in the year of our Lord 2019.