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A review by capesandcovers
Glitch Kingdom by Sheena Boekweg
2.0
I had been so excited for Glitch Kingdom when it was first announced, a fat gamer girl MC? Sign me UP. Unfortunately once I finally got around to reading my ARC of it, it just didn't work for me.
To start off, the first few chapters of the book weren't what I thought it was going to, which threw me off for a bit, even if I figured out why it had been written like that. Then there was the fact that I just couldn't really connect with both the story and the cast of characters. I couldn't stand Ryo, Grig was just kind of there, and Dagney seemed cool, but I just never held any attachment to her. There's just too much constantly being thrown at the reader in order to make the game aspect of the plot work, and it makes it impossible to correctly get to know the characters. The entire plot was driven by the game's instructions, rather than player actions, which made the whole thing fall flat since it was literally all tell rather than show. The fact that McKenna randomly had chapters that didn't seem to really add anything to the story didn't help either. I'd like to say something about Bluebird, who had some potential, but she literally didn't show up until more than halfway through the book.
I think if Boekweg had just stuck to making this a fantasy standalone it might have worked, or maybe divided the book into a duology so readers could actually see and get to know her world and characters. Instead, Glitch Kingdom lived up to it's cover, which is such a disappointment to me, considering this had been one of my most anticipated releases of the year.
To start off, the first few chapters of the book weren't what I thought it was going to, which threw me off for a bit, even if I figured out why it had been written like that. Then there was the fact that I just couldn't really connect with both the story and the cast of characters. I couldn't stand Ryo, Grig was just kind of there, and Dagney seemed cool, but I just never held any attachment to her. There's just too much constantly being thrown at the reader in order to make the game aspect of the plot work, and it makes it impossible to correctly get to know the characters. The entire plot was driven by the game's instructions, rather than player actions, which made the whole thing fall flat since it was literally all tell rather than show. The fact that McKenna randomly had chapters that didn't seem to really add anything to the story didn't help either. I'd like to say something about Bluebird, who had some potential, but she literally didn't show up until more than halfway through the book.
I think if Boekweg had just stuck to making this a fantasy standalone it might have worked, or maybe divided the book into a duology so readers could actually see and get to know her world and characters. Instead, Glitch Kingdom lived up to it's cover, which is such a disappointment to me, considering this had been one of my most anticipated releases of the year.