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A review by betharanova
Bitterwood by James Maxey
2.0
This had such a strong start. For the first two thirds, I just knew I was going to give this a higher rating and go buy the sequels. I was having fun! Heartbreaking.
The premise goes like this: dragons have built a civilization on the ancient ruins of ours. Humans live under their rule as second class citizens. A man named Bant Bitterwood, a legend among humans and a ghost story among dragons, picks too lofty a target for his vengeance, sparking a chain of events that shakes the entire kingdom. I was sold on this because I was assured it was messy. Not a clean divide of good and evil, but a collection of characters with their own motives and morals. And that is the TOP thing the author delivered on. This was an ensemble cast, and everyone wanted something different; alliances changed with circumstances; and the larger society made everything far more complicated than just 'kill evil villain.'
(To be honest, even given the rating for this particular book, I may stick with James Maxey just for that. It's so hard to find a good messy ensemble plot anymore.)
Usually, when I pick up an indie book from a con, the problem is either lack of skill or misogyny. The only thing wrong with the writing in this case was that it really could have used some breathing room: for descriptions (I still couldn't say for sure whether the dragons' wings were their arms), for dramatic moments, for character depth. And there was misogyny, but not an unbearable amount, and the main heroine largely made up for it.
No, here the problem was that there was just too much going on by the end. I knew going in that it was post-apocalyptic. But for two thirds of the book, that didn't matter! Recognizable history only existed as myths and ruins. I was just vibing with a fun fantasy book that had occasional weird interludes. When the post-apocalyptic angle finally kicked in, it did so in full science fiction swing with jarringly modern references. We pulled out ALL the stops. And... I'm not saying every part of it was objectively wrong. But having nanobots that basically worked like magic made the wizard's shenanigans less interesting, not more. Adding in Puritan androids, immortality based on limitless, kind of senseless tech, someone saying "oh, we're still in Atlanta"--it just took me out of it. Right when we were getting to the good part, too. And WHAT was with the Christianity in this book?
I was so impressed with the fact this book didn't revolve entirely around an angsty vengeance hero guy, and just how quickly I got invested in the various characters. But by the end, it felt so jumbled up that all my reactions were basically "Oh......... okay"
The premise goes like this: dragons have built a civilization on the ancient ruins of ours. Humans live under their rule as second class citizens. A man named Bant Bitterwood, a legend among humans and a ghost story among dragons, picks too lofty a target for his vengeance, sparking a chain of events that shakes the entire kingdom. I was sold on this because I was assured it was messy. Not a clean divide of good and evil, but a collection of characters with their own motives and morals. And that is the TOP thing the author delivered on. This was an ensemble cast, and everyone wanted something different; alliances changed with circumstances; and the larger society made everything far more complicated than just 'kill evil villain.'
(To be honest, even given the rating for this particular book, I may stick with James Maxey just for that. It's so hard to find a good messy ensemble plot anymore.)
Usually, when I pick up an indie book from a con, the problem is either lack of skill or misogyny. The only thing wrong with the writing in this case was that it really could have used some breathing room: for descriptions (I still couldn't say for sure whether the dragons' wings were their arms), for dramatic moments, for character depth. And there was misogyny, but not an unbearable amount, and the main heroine largely made up for it.
No, here the problem was that there was just too much going on by the end. I knew going in that it was post-apocalyptic. But for two thirds of the book, that didn't matter! Recognizable history only existed as myths and ruins. I was just vibing with a fun fantasy book that had occasional weird interludes. When the post-apocalyptic angle finally kicked in, it did so in full science fiction swing with jarringly modern references. We pulled out ALL the stops. And... I'm not saying every part of it was objectively wrong. But having nanobots that basically worked like magic made the wizard's shenanigans less interesting, not more. Adding in Puritan androids, immortality based on limitless, kind of senseless tech, someone saying "oh, we're still in Atlanta"--it just took me out of it. Right when we were getting to the good part, too. And WHAT was with the Christianity in this book?
I was so impressed with the fact this book didn't revolve entirely around an angsty vengeance hero guy, and just how quickly I got invested in the various characters. But by the end, it felt so jumbled up that all my reactions were basically "Oh......... okay"