Scan barcode
A review by niseag
The Tome of Syyx (The Fateful Force Book 1) by Stavros Saristavros
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Thank you Reedsy for the ARC. see my origional review here https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/the...
I was thrilled for this book based on its synopsis: Orcs and Dragons and Adventure bode for an amazing story ready to unfold. And I cannot fault it: a great story did unfold! Before I speak of the bits I adored, however, there is an elephant in the room: This is a Dungeons and Dragons adventure. It might be something people less familiar with DnD would overlook, but for someone that plays weekly themselves certain things become painfully obvious. By those things I mean the description of the use of Ki, or spell slots, or something that looked a lot like the warcaster feat... Many characters also seemed to have very clearly defined and recognisable classes and races, doing things that fit those as by game rules. I will not be convinced that Panthor are not copyright-free tabaxi, for example. This needs to be mentionned as I feel like it stiffened the world and worldbuilding. This story kept making me wish for just that bit more inventiveness, yet it continued to feel like something I had seen before. I spend this entire book waiting and hoping for it to break the mold, but it never truly did. This has another side too, however, as it made the book feel very familiar: which is not necessarily a bad thing. I was happy to lift onto the familiar ride, similar to how someone might watch a streamed campaign and there is something to say for a book to follow the same idea. It would be a great read for people that enjoy that kind of thing!
Another thing that I think might stem from the roleplay aspect of this story, is that character arcs were slightly stunted by constant flipping between characters: Every time something important happened, a cutaway made it really hard to get a real overview of what was going on the resolve the arisen issues. which was a shame, because I was really invested! Coming to the good part of this review: I genuinely cared for these characters and their quests. Zom's arch was my personal favourite, leaving me excited to come back to his POV but I can see that there was something for many tastes. The character's archs carried this book for me. I cared more for those than the epic battles and dragon riding and whatever...I wanted to know what happened to these people I was introduced to and I think that is commendable.
I was thrilled for this book based on its synopsis: Orcs and Dragons and Adventure bode for an amazing story ready to unfold. And I cannot fault it: a great story did unfold! Before I speak of the bits I adored, however, there is an elephant in the room: This is a Dungeons and Dragons adventure. It might be something people less familiar with DnD would overlook, but for someone that plays weekly themselves certain things become painfully obvious. By those things I mean the description of the use of Ki, or spell slots, or something that looked a lot like the warcaster feat... Many characters also seemed to have very clearly defined and recognisable classes and races, doing things that fit those as by game rules. I will not be convinced that Panthor are not copyright-free tabaxi, for example. This needs to be mentionned as I feel like it stiffened the world and worldbuilding. This story kept making me wish for just that bit more inventiveness, yet it continued to feel like something I had seen before. I spend this entire book waiting and hoping for it to break the mold, but it never truly did. This has another side too, however, as it made the book feel very familiar: which is not necessarily a bad thing. I was happy to lift onto the familiar ride, similar to how someone might watch a streamed campaign and there is something to say for a book to follow the same idea. It would be a great read for people that enjoy that kind of thing!
Another thing that I think might stem from the roleplay aspect of this story, is that character arcs were slightly stunted by constant flipping between characters: Every time something important happened, a cutaway made it really hard to get a real overview of what was going on the resolve the arisen issues. which was a shame, because I was really invested! Coming to the good part of this review: I genuinely cared for these characters and their quests. Zom's arch was my personal favourite, leaving me excited to come back to his POV but I can see that there was something for many tastes. The character's archs carried this book for me. I cared more for those than the epic battles and dragon riding and whatever...I wanted to know what happened to these people I was introduced to and I think that is commendable.