For all of you ignorant dweebs its time to show you what a real book looks like!
Because holy shit have we found one. I was reached out to by an old friend Elven-Ink to reread her book since it was finished. I read it, I commented, I get the feeling I may have touched a nerve so she became hesitant about this review, but its time to smash those hesitations and show what a review looks like!
I had reviewed Mask of Mirrors before in chapter 9 of this review book, and if I recall it was rated at a 4.5/5. I don't remember why I didn't give it a higher rating, but I think it may have been because I didn't know what the quality of the book would be later because authors will either get steadily better or decline in quality over the course of the story, and usually the latter. But now the story is finished, I read the whole thing in two days, I commented the shit out of it, discussed some things with her, and now will give you my full review of the book without spoiling... much. :P
TLDR; A philosophical debate on several modern day hot-topic issues wrapped in a nice fantasy box tied with a bow of werewolves, vampires, monsters, murder, spieing, lies, espionage, and lots and lots of juicy angst!
Main Character: To Smash or not to Smash, he will never know - If the Main Character (MC) can be described in a single word it is anxiety. Because holy shit from start to finish is like one perpetual, and well warranted, panic attack! I've never, in my memory, ever read a character who thinks, worries, frets, and just feels so much while purposefully shoving himself between the immovable object and the unstoppable force chapter after chapter. I almost wonder if the guy has a death wish, but he is just that big of a heart that he is constantly bleeding inside. His motivations are clear, his desires are crystal, his ambitions and flaws and strengths and everything you could ever want in a Main Character is presented flawlessly including the fact he is very proactive and tries to constantly take control of the situation, even to his detriment. He falls on his mistakes and his flaws, rather than them be ignored. He does have a shred of plot armor at times, as if he was anyone else, the person likely would be dead or alone multiple times over, but its a shred at most and well within the established 'rules' of the text without deviating from it. (Books very quickly tend to show how far they are willing to go when things go poor and there is always some acceptable deviation from reality in any story. Because without plot armor stories tend to end VERY quickly unless you have an endless supply of bodies to throw at it. AKA. Game of Thrones.)
SC: Smashing! - Every SC is worthy of being a MC in their own right. Each of them are worthy of their own seperate books and installments. Each of them are capable of carrying their own weight and keeping it interesting. Yet they are still SCs because they never really get a POV, which can be a little bit of a shame as they were easily worthy of ones, but it would also have hurt the story I feel by confusing who the MC is vs who the SCs are, because they are simply that good. There is a bit of... shall we say... role confusion? Multiple characters fulfil basically the same role or have unclear roles for most of the story, but their sheer personality, fun, depth of backstory, and strength of character more than make up for it as you don't confuse any of them after a few chapters of getting to know them. Their backstories affect the story in profound ways. Their views and believes cause glorious tension as they clash with the MC stuck in the middle, not just because they clash, but because of how well they are presented. As said this is a philosophical story and that is handled very well by the SCs as they have understandable viewpoints and offer their own inputs into the debate that the story presents. People are in pain, people hate, people fear, and each emotion is handled tactfully and with nuance, given all the time it needs to breath, and is shown in such a way that it is easily understandable why they are the way they are even when they clearly have taken wrong paths. Some you pity, some you don't, but you understand them and what they are trying to say. In a way the MC is nothing more than a mirror to all of the SCs. The MC almost doesn't exist except as a platform for the SCs to have that philosophical debate, it is so well done by them. At least until a bit towards the final acts when he develops a voice of his own against the rest rather than constantly bouncing between them trying to keep the peace, which is incredible growth.
One small minute flaw, really towards the ending, is that one character felt... underused and neglected. The daughter. Almost all of her story comes from the final act and that made it feel a bit rushed, so as incredible as the ending was, it felt slightly unmoving because a key character wasn't given time to breath as much as everyone else, even though she was at the center of it at the end. Even one good scene where she can be met with, spent time with, and seen as more early on, instead of 99.9% of her shown in the final act, I think would have brought the ending 10x more resonance. She also turned the story into a whole new direction that no one saw coming in the philosophical debate within the story, quite suddenly and without warning towards a direction that... felt very of a different tone to the rest of the story.
Word Usage: Smashing! - Didn't see any grammar issues and the story is written so well and simply that it took almost no focus on my part. Whatever issue there was previously with the information dumping is gone and it has been handled and shined to near perfection. And that doesn't even mention the level of subplot, nuance, finesse, meaning, and foreshadowing that goes into every single word. Every sentence has purpose. Every action has clear meaning, not just within the plot and world, but to the SCs and MC and to future events like a grand mystery you didn't realize was there. Something as simple as a coincidental bruise sent my mind racing and my inner theorist went nuts and I may have annoyed the shit out of her trying to predict things in the first few chapters haha
World Building: Smashing! - The WB is at once the most subtle and most obvious part of the story. The world around the cast is presented on occassion, just enough to know there is more going on around them, but the SCs themselves are what offer the WB. They all had lives and experiences before entering the story, and so through that you gain the majority of the WB. This is... I can almost not put words into it. Its just beautiful. It increases the value of the cast many times over, it makes everything have meaning and value, it virtually erases the need for information dumps and instead presents the information in character-driven ways.
Plot: Smashing! - The plot can be best summarized as the philosphical conflict between the SCs on a modern political issue. Usually this annoys me. Normally when I see a story emphasis modern politics, I despise the story because everything good about it is sacrificed on the altar of a political agenda. Such as Captain Marvel, ghostbusters 2016, Watchmen HBO, and pretty much anything touched by Kathleen Kennedy. Even though this is more or less what art is. Art is a reflection of the times. The problem is that people half-ass it and ruin the IP in an effort to make the reflection towards a clearly biased, and usually unwarranted, agenda without proper exploration all as a parasite and side-topic to a real story that is left half-assed.
But then you can have stories that manage to avoid sacrificing the story because they don't pretend and lie about what the story is and isn't, but rather turn the philosophical debate and politics into the story itself as a true satire or parody to life. Some that are well done include Death Note (debate on justice), Watchmen (satire of heroes), One Punchman (parody of heroes), Peppermint (female/femanisim diehard), One Piece (debate on like 50 topics!), Avatar (enviromentalism and british colonism and US/Indian conflict), Star Wars before Kathleen Kennedy, and Rick and Morty (too many debates to mention).
The latter is what art has always been through the ages. The latter is what youtube channels like Wirecrack exist to analyze and debate. The latter is what excites me. The latter is what this story is. It explores deep and complicated subjects without mocking any viewpoint, allowing everyone a voice, exploring their reasons and motivations behind that viewpoint, and respects everyone. It does come to a conclusion rather than leave it completely open-ended, but that just means you may agree or disagree with the decision ultimately made as to what is right towards the end, which is fine. Even if you disagree with the ultimate conclusion to the debate, you should never feel as if your viewpoint is looked down because every character that represents every viewpoint is handled well.
The plot is fast paced, yet allowed to breath. The tension is so thick from start to finish my butt still hasn't unclenched. The action is properly placed and corregraphed amazingly. The dialogue and conversations never fail to make sense both in the flow of ideas and bouncing-back-and-forth and never get out of character.
There is one flaw. Just the one. And to be fair, it may not even be a flaw. But I can't help but wonder if the ending was really the one the author would have wanted in a perfect story in a perfect world. Because you have a story that is deep and philosophical and debating and filled with espionage and deceit and spying for 99% of it, and then it turns into basically a hero-vs-villain MCU some-what stereotype where all of the talking is decided, not by reason and words, but by fisticuffs. Is the ending bad? HELL NO. It was jaw dropping, mouth watering, eye-candy. Was it intentional? Yes. There were hints all through the story and a very clear, smooth plotline that leads towards a very natural conclusion. The thing that makes me feel like as if it even 1% unnatural is the tone of it. Its like listening to Beethoven's 4th orchestra and then the last 2 minutes is 'El Dorado' by Two Steps from Hell. Both are incredible, but are by nature very different. So I am left wondering if the author really wanted the ending to be one that falls into a steoreotype of satisfying people with flashy action. Yet even as I say all this, I truly cannot think of the ending going any other way because the the ultimate conclusion of everyone's beliefs became a literally physical embodiment, where, once their beliefs reached their natural conclusions, words no longer sufficed and it was plain to see where those ideas would go if allowed to come to fruition. (This, in addition to what I said about the daughter before about emotional resonance.)
Overall I would rate this 5 smashing out of 5! The highest rating I give non-sequels! The early quality stuck to the end, if not improved. As you can see words have not failed me, but I don't know how I can summarize it all except to wonder how the hell this isn't published as a book yet?! There is no flaw I can truly find. Everything works together seamlessly and clearly and deeply.
This is an experience. Now if you excuse me, I need to find a way to unclench my butt.
I'm out with a smashing!
If you are interested in learning to write, mastering the craft, want some really good reads, or just to chat and hang out with a mature group of adults, feel free to hit me up for a smashing discord book club that has lasted years.