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A review by fihli
The Brilliant Death by A.R. Capetta
3.0
3 stars
Excerpt from:
A guide to writing mediocre YA fantasy
Rule #2: Have the main character be an orphan/ half-orphan
Optional:
Rule #2.1: Give the mc evil step parents Not fulfilled, thankfully.
Rule #6: Kill off a younger sibling that the mc wants to protect.
Optional:
Rule #6.1: Preferably at the start oft he story or at the character’s lowest point, right before the climax of the story. Not fulfilled. Also, not really a spoiler, as this happens early on (but not early enough, making the timing of this character’s death kind of awkward).
Rule #13: When including a traitor, it should be someone the main character doesn’t see coming, so a really likable person that is one of the only/ first people to be friendly to the main character. Bonus points if the traitor is somehow family to the mc.
Optional::
Rule #13.1:Have the love interest be the traitor
Optional:
Rule #13.11: But he is really sorry and already changed his mind!
Optional::
Rule #13.4: Have an antagonistic character set this up, but have said character suspecting the main character, and have the main character not believing them.
Rule #73: Have a parent that is as special as the mc so that they can bondin a later chapter of the book over their powers.
Optional:
Rule #73.1: Have said powers revealed in a way that is a surprise to the protagonist and only the protagonist, as this is a great way to show how the main character is flawed: By making them too stupid for their own good (and certainly too stupid to defeat the antagonist/ solve the conflict, which will happen nonetheless).
Honestly, The Brilliant Death isn’t bad. It’s certainly not perfect either, but it has its strengths. The genderfluid love interest was by far my favourite character (and the only one I cared about in the least, because the other characters weren’t nearly developed enough for me to care about). And I liked the relationship between him/her and the main character, although it was somewhat lacking in chemistry.
Would I recommend this? Err, to readers who are new to fanatsy, maybe. And to readers who are looking for a bit more diversity in their books. And of course I’d recommend this to people interested in the blurb, everyone else can gladly skip this.
Excerpt from:
A guide to writing mediocre YA fantasy
Rule #2: Have the main character be an orphan/ half-orphan
Rule #2.1: Give the mc evil step parents
Rule #6: Kill off a younger sibling that the mc wants to protect.
Rule #6.1: Preferably at the start oft he story or at the character’s lowest point, right before the climax of the story.
Rule #13: When including a traitor, it should be someone the main character doesn’t see coming, so a really likable person that is one of the only/ first people to be friendly to the main character. Bonus points if the traitor is somehow family to the mc.
Rule #13.1:
Spoiler
Optional:
Rule #13.11: But he is really sorry and already changed his mind!
Optional::
Rule #13.4: Have an antagonistic character set this up, but have said character suspecting the main character, and have the main character not believing them.
Rule #73: Have a parent that is as special as the mc so that they can bond
Optional:
Rule #73.1: Have said powers revealed in a way that is a surprise to the protagonist and only the protagonist, as this is a great way to show how the main character is flawed: By making them too stupid for their own good (and certainly too stupid to defeat the antagonist/ solve the conflict, which will happen nonetheless).
Honestly, The Brilliant Death isn’t bad. It’s certainly not perfect either, but it has its strengths. The genderfluid love interest was by far my favourite character (and the only one I cared about in the least, because the other characters weren’t nearly developed enough for me to care about). And I liked the relationship between him/her and the main character, although it was somewhat lacking in chemistry.
Would I recommend this? Err, to readers who are new to fanatsy, maybe. And to readers who are looking for a bit more diversity in their books. And of course I’d recommend this to people interested in the blurb, everyone else can gladly skip this.