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A review by esop
Death March by Phil Tucker
4.0
There's a lot that works in Death March, and then some stuff that irked me, though overall I enjoyed the experience.
This is my first book by Tucker, and it's clear he's a skilled writer. The novel's strengths lie in the quick, easy pace, as well as the world-building in both Euphoria and the real world, which has been ravaged by climate change. I was surprised by how much the protagonist Chris's situation was set up by the conditions of our world, and I found it gave an interesting layer to the story.
The world-building of the game was also well thought-out, not only in terms of the environments and creatures and the state of the area Chris spawns in, but also the mechanics of the game. We learn about leveling up, the skillsets of various classes, mana regeneration, and a lot more that shows Tucker really put a lot of thought into how Euphoria operates, and I enjoyed seeing the characters react accordingly within the confines of the game mechanics.
My main problem with the book came from the narrator's voice. The story is told in first person, so we get a lot of Chris's personality, naturally. First of all, I found it disconcerting how he seemed to react to literally life-and-death stakes presented against him--near the end of the book, in a climactic fight scene, he accidentally wastes some mana on a spell that ends up being useless while a creature is rampaging toward him and is 25 levels higher so it can kill him instantly and he literally thinks "That was a waste, but that's how it is sometimes." I would think that someone who's about to be killed would be a little more concerned about the fact that they just eliminated one of their resources for survival.
In addition, a lot of the "gaming" language Chris uses felt very out-of-date and took me right out of the story. He refers to himself as a "noob" constantly, a term which has been outdated since around 2010 I'd estimate, so 8 years ago, and I doubt it's a term that would still be used regularly in the 2050s or 60s when the story takes place. Similarly he non-ironically uses the term "for the win" which I haven't heard anyone say for the past several years, and I play video games very regularly.
Putting aside the personality and language issues that irked me, I do think this was a fairly exciting and engaging story and probably one of the better introductions to the LitRPG genre. The tastes of world-building I got in this book made me want to check out Tucker's other straight fantasy series in the near future.
3.5/5, rounded up for GR
This is my first book by Tucker, and it's clear he's a skilled writer. The novel's strengths lie in the quick, easy pace, as well as the world-building in both Euphoria and the real world, which has been ravaged by climate change. I was surprised by how much the protagonist Chris's situation was set up by the conditions of our world, and I found it gave an interesting layer to the story.
The world-building of the game was also well thought-out, not only in terms of the environments and creatures and the state of the area Chris spawns in, but also the mechanics of the game. We learn about leveling up, the skillsets of various classes, mana regeneration, and a lot more that shows Tucker really put a lot of thought into how Euphoria operates, and I enjoyed seeing the characters react accordingly within the confines of the game mechanics.
My main problem with the book came from the narrator's voice. The story is told in first person, so we get a lot of Chris's personality, naturally. First of all, I found it disconcerting how he seemed to react to literally life-and-death stakes presented against him--near the end of the book, in a climactic fight scene, he accidentally wastes some mana on a spell that ends up being useless while a creature is rampaging toward him and is 25 levels higher so it can kill him instantly and he literally thinks "That was a waste, but that's how it is sometimes." I would think that someone who's about to be killed would be a little more concerned about the fact that they just eliminated one of their resources for survival.
In addition, a lot of the "gaming" language Chris uses felt very out-of-date and took me right out of the story. He refers to himself as a "noob" constantly, a term which has been outdated since around 2010 I'd estimate, so 8 years ago, and I doubt it's a term that would still be used regularly in the 2050s or 60s when the story takes place. Similarly he non-ironically uses the term "for the win" which I haven't heard anyone say for the past several years, and I play video games very regularly.
Putting aside the personality and language issues that irked me, I do think this was a fairly exciting and engaging story and probably one of the better introductions to the LitRPG genre. The tastes of world-building I got in this book made me want to check out Tucker's other straight fantasy series in the near future.
3.5/5, rounded up for GR