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wordyanchorite 's review for:
Crossbones
by Stefan M. Nardi
Crossbones is a bit of a charming mess. The charm may just be in the nostalgia, though, because the plot, characters, and dialogue are tropes familiar to nerds of all fandoms. Surprise parentage, characters whose deaths have been greatly exaggerated, the sarcastic princess who is good with weaponry and will open her own damn doors but is totally up for a little fanservice just before the climactic storming of the castle, the etymological soup of improbable names- you've read it all before. All of it. Especially some of the more clichéd dialogue ("You cannot defeat me!"; "$realName? THE $realName?").
This book still reads like fanfiction, but it's fanfiction of an entire genre. All the familiar elements are present, in theoretically novel combinations, but nothing original is happening yet. Some amusingly awkward missteps (a secondary character named Errol Flynt; a character using magic to produce "blue balls"), anvil-drop backstory, and inconsistent editing add to the book's problems. Crossbones might not be irredeemable, but it certainly needed another draft and polish before being exposed to the harsh light of publication.
Still, the pace was quick and the drama was high, so fans of the genre might find this a fun read.
(Disclosure: I was provided with a review copy by the author.)
This book still reads like fanfiction, but it's fanfiction of an entire genre. All the familiar elements are present, in theoretically novel combinations, but nothing original is happening yet. Some amusingly awkward missteps (a secondary character named Errol Flynt; a character using magic to produce "blue balls"), anvil-drop backstory, and inconsistent editing add to the book's problems. Crossbones might not be irredeemable, but it certainly needed another draft and polish before being exposed to the harsh light of publication.
Still, the pace was quick and the drama was high, so fans of the genre might find this a fun read.
(Disclosure: I was provided with a review copy by the author.)