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A review by ronitjauthor
A Witch's Sin by Daniel B. Greene
3.0
I love Daniel Greene's work on YouTube. He's the reason I started reading The Wheel of Time, The Poppy War, The Expanse, and much more. And I genuinely believe that he has the potential to become a good writer, given his vast appetite and experience with SFF books. When he announced this book and its Kickstarter, I was pumped. The cover is dope and the blurb had me sold.
WHAT I LIKED:
I genuinely liked the world of Neon Ghosts. It isn't the most original Sci-Fi Cyberpunk world out there, but it felt realised enough for me to immerse in. The megastructures were sinister and fascinating all at once. The whole concept of Vampires living among humans in a post-apocalyptic Cyberpunk megastructure was intriguing, and I wanted to learn more about this class of society more than anything else.
The plot too was full of exciting moments. I can see the similarities in themes and plot points that the Dishevelled Goblin has re-explored here. Every major plot point makes up for an explosive event that adds to the world-building, keeping the book ever-expanding. Even with the climax.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Can't mention the positives without the negatives. I'll repeat myself and say that I believe our beloved Goblin has the potential to become a good writer. And Neon Ghosts is definitely a step up from his previous works, where his strengths are reinforced and weaknesses worked upon. Sadly, there's still a lot of room for improvement.
One major issue I had with this book – which didn't exist for me in his last 2 books – was the protagonist. I didn't vibe with Taya, couldn't find myself liking her despite her backstory, and just got annoyed with her overall. She doesn't seem to have as much agency as a protagonist should; Taya's decisions feel plot-driven, making her remain a puppet even in the end. With a different treatment, maybe this aspect would've felt damning and nihilistic, but here it felt weak.
The book also has a lot of pacing issues. I pretty much skipped James Labor's speeches and debates cause they felt very dry. There was a ton of exposition that felt repetitive and at times overloaded me with information I might or might not need. And these expositions bring me to my last point.
The build-ups weren't appropriate enough. The first third of the book was a drag tbh.
The book could've started from the point that and building the story non-linearly would've fixed the pacing issues significantly. There was a lot of teasing for the future instalments, which again didn't feel satisfying cause most of it isn't resolved. Lack of enough closure is mostly why I ended up not liking the ending. I strongly believe a few more rounds of edits could've benefited the book in many ways.
The book was a 3/3 for me. But seeing Daniel's progress as a writer makes me hopeful that the coming instalments will be better.
TL;DR:
WHAT I LIKED: Setting, world-building, plot
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: protagonist, pacing issues, too much focus on teasing the future
WHAT I LIKED:
I genuinely liked the world of Neon Ghosts. It isn't the most original Sci-Fi Cyberpunk world out there, but it felt realised enough for me to immerse in. The megastructures were sinister and fascinating all at once. The whole concept of Vampires living among humans in a post-apocalyptic Cyberpunk megastructure was intriguing, and I wanted to learn more about this class of society more than anything else.
The plot too was full of exciting moments. I can see the similarities in themes and plot points that the Dishevelled Goblin has re-explored here. Every major plot point makes up for an explosive event that adds to the world-building, keeping the book ever-expanding. Even with the climax.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Can't mention the positives without the negatives. I'll repeat myself and say that I believe our beloved Goblin has the potential to become a good writer. And Neon Ghosts is definitely a step up from his previous works, where his strengths are reinforced and weaknesses worked upon. Sadly, there's still a lot of room for improvement.
One major issue I had with this book – which didn't exist for me in his last 2 books – was the protagonist. I didn't vibe with Taya, couldn't find myself liking her despite her backstory, and just got annoyed with her overall. She doesn't seem to have as much agency as a protagonist should; Taya's decisions feel plot-driven, making her remain a puppet even in the end. With a different treatment, maybe this aspect would've felt damning and nihilistic, but here it felt weak.
The book also has a lot of pacing issues. I pretty much skipped James Labor's speeches and debates cause they felt very dry. There was a ton of exposition that felt repetitive and at times overloaded me with information I might or might not need. And these expositions bring me to my last point.
The build-ups weren't appropriate enough. The first third of the book was a drag tbh.
The book could've started from the point that
Spoiler
Taya discovers Mrs Carlson's bodyThe book was a 3/3 for me. But seeing Daniel's progress as a writer makes me hopeful that the coming instalments will be better.
TL;DR:
WHAT I LIKED: Setting, world-building, plot
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: protagonist, pacing issues, too much focus on teasing the future