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A review by ronitjauthor
The Blood of Outcasts by D.A. Smith
2.0
DNF
I hate abandoning books halfway, but the protagonist was so unlikeable that I was barely even skimming past pages in the last 5% before quitting.
I picked this one up because the premise looked interesting. I even read the prequel short which I really enjoyed. I was really looking forward to reading this one. I really wanted to like this one. Sadly, it just didn't work for me.
For starters, the story is told in First Person Present Tense. That's already a very tricky thing to work with. Add to that an archaic-sounding voice and you might just be left confused with what is happening. At least that's what happened with me. I constantly found myself rereading paragraphs cause I felt like I missed something important. Later on, I just moved on, skimming through some of the inner monologues cause I just couldn't get myself to care enough.
Now for the character – the protagonist. I kept forgetting her name. There were times I just pictured an angry Samurai Jack while reading because I just didn't connect with her. And that's really unfortunate cause I really liked her in the short story. But here, she's just an angry two-dimensional swordswoman with a singular mindset. Now that's a very interesting character, but the story's told in first person from her perspective, which means the story ends up flat and boring. Another major flaw here is that we don't get anything about her that makes us want to root for her. I'm neither rooting for her, neither do I care if she loses. Hating a character is still having some emotions towards them, which is why villains are so popular. But not caring about a character means there's very little to keep you hanging around.
Lastly, the world-building and plot. Around the 10% mark, I found myself completely lost with where this is going. Mind you, a lot does happen in the first 20% that I actually read. But none of it left any impact on me. If I were to guess, it was the protagonist that was at fault here, because once again I couldn't bring myself to care about the plot. Same goes for the world-building. We learn about all of it through the protagonist's eyes, but the info came in seemingly-garbled dumps. It would've been an interesting puzzle to piece together, but because I didn't care, it ended up just confusing me.
Smith knows what he's doing, because his writing shines brightly in many parts. But the other parts were tedious to read. With better editing, the protagonist could've been more relatable/likebale, the plot could've been tighter, and the writing could've been polished.
I repeat myself when I say I hate abandoning books midway. But I just couldn't find myself to care for this one. I'm only writing this review because it wouldn't be fair to just leave a 2* review without an explanation.
TL;DR:
WHAT I LIKED: Some parts of the writing were really good, interesting premise, interesting magic system.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Protagonist, pacing, first-person narrative
I hate abandoning books halfway, but the protagonist was so unlikeable that I was barely even skimming past pages in the last 5% before quitting.
I picked this one up because the premise looked interesting. I even read the prequel short which I really enjoyed. I was really looking forward to reading this one. I really wanted to like this one. Sadly, it just didn't work for me.
For starters, the story is told in First Person Present Tense. That's already a very tricky thing to work with. Add to that an archaic-sounding voice and you might just be left confused with what is happening. At least that's what happened with me. I constantly found myself rereading paragraphs cause I felt like I missed something important. Later on, I just moved on, skimming through some of the inner monologues cause I just couldn't get myself to care enough.
Now for the character – the protagonist. I kept forgetting her name. There were times I just pictured an angry Samurai Jack while reading because I just didn't connect with her. And that's really unfortunate cause I really liked her in the short story. But here, she's just an angry two-dimensional swordswoman with a singular mindset. Now that's a very interesting character, but the story's told in first person from her perspective, which means the story ends up flat and boring. Another major flaw here is that we don't get anything about her that makes us want to root for her. I'm neither rooting for her, neither do I care if she loses. Hating a character is still having some emotions towards them, which is why villains are so popular. But not caring about a character means there's very little to keep you hanging around.
Lastly, the world-building and plot. Around the 10% mark, I found myself completely lost with where this is going. Mind you, a lot does happen in the first 20% that I actually read. But none of it left any impact on me. If I were to guess, it was the protagonist that was at fault here, because once again I couldn't bring myself to care about the plot. Same goes for the world-building. We learn about all of it through the protagonist's eyes, but the info came in seemingly-garbled dumps. It would've been an interesting puzzle to piece together, but because I didn't care, it ended up just confusing me.
Smith knows what he's doing, because his writing shines brightly in many parts. But the other parts were tedious to read. With better editing, the protagonist could've been more relatable/likebale, the plot could've been tighter, and the writing could've been polished.
I repeat myself when I say I hate abandoning books midway. But I just couldn't find myself to care for this one. I'm only writing this review because it wouldn't be fair to just leave a 2* review without an explanation.
TL;DR:
WHAT I LIKED: Some parts of the writing were really good, interesting premise, interesting magic system.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Protagonist, pacing, first-person narrative