arennie96's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
asporkthief's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
the twins ðŸ˜
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Grief
a_sullivan16's review
2.0
"...the quiet of the sky wrapped around him, his stride lengthened, and his worry fell away. And briefly, it felt like he could fly."
I give this read a disappointing 2.5/5, but my review has 3 layers to it...
As a Vox Machina mega-fan, with Vax'ildan as my end all, be all favorite, so many tiny pieces of this book had me in stitches. His dialogue is perfect, his characterization spot on. I highlighted all the parts where his later arc in the show shone through, the quote above being part of those annotations. That's where my rose colored glasses come in. Second, as a general Critical Role fan, this was relatively fun read and an interesting project to see characters fleshed out a bit (more on that to come). Again, it really served me well that I was a die-hard VM fan already. But finally, as a fantasy book, this falls flat. I'd give it 2/5 stars (generously).
This was a bummer. The first portion held my attention well; I liked the flashback structure to the twins' childhood, at least in the beginning, and was excited to see them immersed in Tal'Dorei from the start. However, that all melted away pretty quickly.
There is a massive reliance on dialogue in this story, which is an odd flaw to point out, but Nijkamp depends on one of my least favorite speech conventions/eccentricities in fiction. On a few occasions, the side characters just explain whatever Vex and Vax need to hear without any breaks. Just blocks of uninterrupted dialogue that the twins sometimes didn't really do all that much to earn. During Thorn's last explanation of the tunnels to Vex and Vax, I found my eyes wandering the page.
And I can't bemoan the repetition enough in this book. I think maybe the intent was to mimic the long (SO VERY LONG) discussion periods VM had in-game between Laura Bailey, Liam O'Brien, etc, but it translated atrociously to text. Vex and Vax have the same conversation about morals, their quarrels (which are minor and immediately resolved after they take a walk by themselves), and their childhoods only to then immediately recap the entire discussion to the reader inside their own thoughts. It's draining, and I was much more interested in hearing whatever Thorn had to say. Derowen, Wick, Sencha, and even Thorn told the twins the same thing over and over again, but as the reader, I was supposed to glean something new inside every rendition.
Meanwhile, Vex'ahlia felt like a side character, even during her narrated portions (Side note: the narration delineations are weak...why not just stick to a fully omniscient narrator?). But Vax had a lot more page presence and vibrancy. I think this was also the case during the show, but that's my biased brain talking, and should not have reflected so strongly in this text, in my opinion. Vex was a lot more useful in uncovering tracks and secrets, but Vax commanded his words, his feelings, and his action in a much more compelling way. It made me bummed!
Their time spent in Syngorn was wasted and a lot of those character threads fell away as though I was watching VM, but in that case they can't truly be punished because they are creating a story via a live-streamed DND game. Nijkamp had the chance to flesh the populous of her book out and cut back on the ruminations during her writing process. I know Vax loves to ruminate, but I got enough of that in the 447 hours I spent watching the campaign. And WHERE were the editors? How many times will Nijkamp say eyes are piercingly blue? How many lists based on sentence fragments can she introduce and conclude a chapter with?
Honestly, I wasn't too enamored by the Clasp; I especially didn't care for Jorenn's denizens (probably a me-problem, though); I just wanted to get to know the twins' childhoods. Hell, Thordak was hardly even mentioned. What's the point in introducing Vex'ahlia's dedication to dragon-hunting, even showing her bonding over a Jorenn character about it, just to let the plot thread fade away?
Rambling now. The highlights were what I desired most: good and pure and respectable Vax characterization since I can never get enough of him; I expect Liam had a lot to do with that. The greatest downside was a goal unfulfilled: Kith and Kin was supposed to be a vessel by which non-Critical Role fans could find their way into Matt Mercer's universe, but if I didn't know Vex and Vax outside of this book, I'd never have finished the story. At least Vax's longing to fly (page 142) is realized one day...if you're caught up on Vox Machina!
I give this read a disappointing 2.5/5, but my review has 3 layers to it...
As a Vox Machina mega-fan, with Vax'ildan as my end all, be all favorite, so many tiny pieces of this book had me in stitches. His dialogue is perfect, his characterization spot on. I highlighted all the parts where his later arc in the show shone through, the quote above being part of those annotations. That's where my rose colored glasses come in. Second, as a general Critical Role fan, this was relatively fun read and an interesting project to see characters fleshed out a bit (more on that to come). Again, it really served me well that I was a die-hard VM fan already. But finally, as a fantasy book, this falls flat. I'd give it 2/5 stars (generously).
This was a bummer. The first portion held my attention well; I liked the flashback structure to the twins' childhood, at least in the beginning, and was excited to see them immersed in Tal'Dorei from the start. However, that all melted away pretty quickly.
There is a massive reliance on dialogue in this story, which is an odd flaw to point out, but Nijkamp depends on one of my least favorite speech conventions/eccentricities in fiction. On a few occasions, the side characters just explain whatever Vex and Vax need to hear without any breaks. Just blocks of uninterrupted dialogue that the twins sometimes didn't really do all that much to earn. During Thorn's last explanation of the tunnels to Vex and Vax, I found my eyes wandering the page.
And I can't bemoan the repetition enough in this book. I think maybe the intent was to mimic the long (SO VERY LONG) discussion periods VM had in-game between Laura Bailey, Liam O'Brien, etc, but it translated atrociously to text. Vex and Vax have the same conversation about morals, their quarrels (which are minor and immediately resolved after they take a walk by themselves), and their childhoods only to then immediately recap the entire discussion to the reader inside their own thoughts. It's draining, and I was much more interested in hearing whatever Thorn had to say. Derowen, Wick, Sencha, and even Thorn told the twins the same thing over and over again, but as the reader, I was supposed to glean something new inside every rendition.
Meanwhile, Vex'ahlia felt like a side character, even during her narrated portions (Side note: the narration delineations are weak...why not just stick to a fully omniscient narrator?). But Vax had a lot more page presence and vibrancy. I think this was also the case during the show, but that's my biased brain talking, and should not have reflected so strongly in this text, in my opinion. Vex was a lot more useful in uncovering tracks and secrets, but Vax commanded his words, his feelings, and his action in a much more compelling way. It made me bummed!
Their time spent in Syngorn was wasted and a lot of those character threads fell away as though I was watching VM, but in that case they can't truly be punished because they are creating a story via a live-streamed DND game. Nijkamp had the chance to flesh the populous of her book out and cut back on the ruminations during her writing process. I know Vax loves to ruminate, but I got enough of that in the 447 hours I spent watching the campaign. And WHERE were the editors? How many times will Nijkamp say eyes are piercingly blue? How many lists based on sentence fragments can she introduce and conclude a chapter with?
Honestly, I wasn't too enamored by the Clasp; I especially didn't care for Jorenn's denizens (probably a me-problem, though); I just wanted to get to know the twins' childhoods. Hell, Thordak was hardly even mentioned. What's the point in introducing Vex'ahlia's dedication to dragon-hunting, even showing her bonding over a Jorenn character about it, just to let the plot thread fade away?
Rambling now. The highlights were what I desired most: good and pure and respectable Vax characterization since I can never get enough of him; I expect Liam had a lot to do with that. The greatest downside was a goal unfulfilled: Kith and Kin was supposed to be a vessel by which non-Critical Role fans could find their way into Matt Mercer's universe, but if I didn't know Vex and Vax outside of this book, I'd never have finished the story. At least Vax's longing to fly (page 142) is realized one day...if you're caught up on Vox Machina!
sarareads23's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
babysharkade's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lucyermm's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
shouldhavebeenpersephone's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bridrizzle72's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
lizzyfields's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
simi_lorenz's review against another edition
4.5
I knew I was gonna love this- Vex and Vax are my favorites- so it was fun to see their history and childhood. Enjoyable, and gave a lot of backstory to things that happen in the stream, so that was fun to piece together. Quick, easy, fun read.Â