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georgewrfisher's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
sami's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
hidekisohma's review
2.0
So I was recommended this book since i like portal fantasies. and let's just say...um... yeah this wasn't a good recommendation for me.
The premise is essentially people from other universes get teleported into this magical castle that has 100,000+ rooms in it. 2 humans and a snow beast get sucked in and wander around trying to find their way back all while seeing the wacky rooms.
See, this is what the book SHOULD be about. unfortunately it can't stay that simple and has to get incredibly convoluted.
The biggest issue with this book was there were WAY too many points of view. As I began to read this, i equated it to something similar of the "Myth" series by Robert Asprin. it was a shorter fantasy comedy series with wacky shenanigans. and by far and large, i LIKE the myth series. But myth did something this book didn't. It paced itself. I'm around book 11 of the myth series, and yes, there are like 10 main characters, but that's the thing. It's book 11. It started with 2 and gradually got more and more main characters added on so you weren't overwhelmed. It didn't do that here. It immediately jumped in with "NOPE! HERE'S 10 PEOPLE FIGURE IT OUT!" and it was SUPER overwhelming.
There are a lot of characters and they all have their different emotions, goals, and everything so yeah, jumping into the middle of a conversation with a guy you never met after just having 3 chapters of 3 different characters you never met before can get very confusing, very fast.
This book should have simply been about the 3 main characters learning about the castle. But that's apparently not enough as we had to add in this "Wizard lady is attacking the castle" storyline and something about a magical stone that's the brain of the castle and the owner of the castle handling the battle. And that's just the major storyline, let alone the smaller ones.
Another issue i had with this book was the juxtaposition of violence and comedy. it tries to play itself off as a whimsical fantasy, but then characters are getting violently murdered quite often. and it's not really given any sense of gravity, it's kind of just like "welp, that's a thing." There's a way of doing dark comedy, but this doesn't really feel like one. it just feels like a fantasy comedy that threw violence in there because they could.
We learn that everybody who stays in the castle gets a special power. the girl gets the ability to conjure stuff, snowbeast can teleport, and Gene gets.... super good sword fighting abilities i think? Still, a bit of a lame power for Gene who doesn't even know he has one until WAY late in the book.
There's i think 2 other main characters that show up sometimes but i honestly couldn't even remember their names. I think one was Kwip? They were thieves or something, i don't know. That's how much i cared.
*Spoiler warning*
For those of you who care, here's my spoiler warning.
You think, well, even though the book isn't great and it's confusing, at least you get the main characters having character development. NOPE! Once the big baddie is defeated, everyone gets sent back to the beginning and they all lose their memories. WAH WAH WAHHHHHHHHH. Yep...it's one of THOSE endings. So you don't even get to say "Well, at least i got some good character development." because it was deleted.
*End Spoiler warning*
All in all, this book was a major letdown. I really was looking forward to this one and hoped for something really fun, but in the end, i got something that was confusing, couldn't figure out what genre it wanted to be, and had WAYYY too many cooks and it spoiled the pot.
I found myself skimming a lot towards the end when the Gene crew wasn't doing stuff, but honestly, i didn't care about the rest. As i went on, i found myself caring less and less about the characters as they're honestly not good people. For example, at one point Linda (the human girl) randomly body shames the main villain. someone says about her "she's still beautiful-" and linda cuts in with "But skinny, and her bust is nothing to write home about" like...what? what does that have to do with ANYTHING? Snowbeast is basically a murderer, Linda is annoying, and Gene whines a lot. Yes, i get the idea that people who come to the castle are kinda F-ed up in the head. i get that. But like... it would be nice to have characters i actually want to be around.
It's really sad i couldn't enjoy this book. Because i really wanted to. It should not have taken me nearly a week to read a 250 page book. it really shouldn't have. but i kept dreading picking it back up. There were a few interesting tidbits here and there, but overall, i just couldn't find myself enjoying this.
2 out of 5.
The premise is essentially people from other universes get teleported into this magical castle that has 100,000+ rooms in it. 2 humans and a snow beast get sucked in and wander around trying to find their way back all while seeing the wacky rooms.
See, this is what the book SHOULD be about. unfortunately it can't stay that simple and has to get incredibly convoluted.
The biggest issue with this book was there were WAY too many points of view. As I began to read this, i equated it to something similar of the "Myth" series by Robert Asprin. it was a shorter fantasy comedy series with wacky shenanigans. and by far and large, i LIKE the myth series. But myth did something this book didn't. It paced itself. I'm around book 11 of the myth series, and yes, there are like 10 main characters, but that's the thing. It's book 11. It started with 2 and gradually got more and more main characters added on so you weren't overwhelmed. It didn't do that here. It immediately jumped in with "NOPE! HERE'S 10 PEOPLE FIGURE IT OUT!" and it was SUPER overwhelming.
There are a lot of characters and they all have their different emotions, goals, and everything so yeah, jumping into the middle of a conversation with a guy you never met after just having 3 chapters of 3 different characters you never met before can get very confusing, very fast.
This book should have simply been about the 3 main characters learning about the castle. But that's apparently not enough as we had to add in this "Wizard lady is attacking the castle" storyline and something about a magical stone that's the brain of the castle and the owner of the castle handling the battle. And that's just the major storyline, let alone the smaller ones.
Another issue i had with this book was the juxtaposition of violence and comedy. it tries to play itself off as a whimsical fantasy, but then characters are getting violently murdered quite often. and it's not really given any sense of gravity, it's kind of just like "welp, that's a thing." There's a way of doing dark comedy, but this doesn't really feel like one. it just feels like a fantasy comedy that threw violence in there because they could.
We learn that everybody who stays in the castle gets a special power. the girl gets the ability to conjure stuff, snowbeast can teleport, and Gene gets.... super good sword fighting abilities i think? Still, a bit of a lame power for Gene who doesn't even know he has one until WAY late in the book.
There's i think 2 other main characters that show up sometimes but i honestly couldn't even remember their names. I think one was Kwip? They were thieves or something, i don't know. That's how much i cared.
*Spoiler warning*
For those of you who care, here's my spoiler warning.
You think, well, even though the book isn't great and it's confusing, at least you get the main characters having character development. NOPE! Once the big baddie is defeated, everyone gets sent back to the beginning and they all lose their memories. WAH WAH WAHHHHHHHHH. Yep...it's one of THOSE endings. So you don't even get to say "Well, at least i got some good character development." because it was deleted.
*End Spoiler warning*
All in all, this book was a major letdown. I really was looking forward to this one and hoped for something really fun, but in the end, i got something that was confusing, couldn't figure out what genre it wanted to be, and had WAYYY too many cooks and it spoiled the pot.
I found myself skimming a lot towards the end when the Gene crew wasn't doing stuff, but honestly, i didn't care about the rest. As i went on, i found myself caring less and less about the characters as they're honestly not good people. For example, at one point Linda (the human girl) randomly body shames the main villain. someone says about her "she's still beautiful-" and linda cuts in with "But skinny, and her bust is nothing to write home about" like...what? what does that have to do with ANYTHING? Snowbeast is basically a murderer, Linda is annoying, and Gene whines a lot. Yes, i get the idea that people who come to the castle are kinda F-ed up in the head. i get that. But like... it would be nice to have characters i actually want to be around.
It's really sad i couldn't enjoy this book. Because i really wanted to. It should not have taken me nearly a week to read a 250 page book. it really shouldn't have. but i kept dreading picking it back up. There were a few interesting tidbits here and there, but overall, i just couldn't find myself enjoying this.
2 out of 5.
kimk1972's review
3.0
Definitely a quick read and mildly entertaining. Sadly, I wanted to get to know the main characters better. They aren't well fleshed out.
feelingferal's review
2.0
This book was similar to the later M.Y.T.H. Inc and Xanth books in that the author spends a lot of time showcasing their random "cool" ideas and obscure witticisms and fails to spend enough time on things like plot line or characterization.
cheryl6of8's review
3.0
I have been struggling to concentrate lately and picked up this book because it looked light enough to be enjoyable without requiring a lot of heavy thought. It also worked for the May reading theme (royalty). And, most importantly, I was sort of challenged to read it by my friend Melydia (not her legal name) because it is the source of the screen name she has used for almost 25 years. I can report now that she is not as mad as her namesake.
This is not the easiest book to review, because it has so many 'aspects'. Castle Perilous is a place where people from all over (and I include Snowclaw -- a yeti-like fellow -- in the term people) can end up when they are out of options in life and ready to surrender everything. There are 144,000 portals to other places within the castle, referred to as aspects, and sometimes they appear out of nowhere, both inside the castle and in those other places. Stepping through the portal could land you in a golf course with wild and tame dinosaurs, 17th century Italy, or the middle of an ocean inhabited by scary things. Oh, and the castle is being attacked by an army guided by the sorceress Melydia who wants to capture the magical source of its existence and destroy it.
All of the main characters in this book are compelling, but my favorite is probably Linda, a woman from California who ends up being a real leader among her group. I would follow her anywhere because she can whip up a meal out of nothing. Snowclaw is just a chill dude you don't want to mess with. Osmirik grows on you. And Incarnadins is an enigma. All in all, this was an enjoyable read. I will keep my eyes open for other books by this author.
This is not the easiest book to review, because it has so many 'aspects'. Castle Perilous is a place where people from all over (and I include Snowclaw -- a yeti-like fellow -- in the term people) can end up when they are out of options in life and ready to surrender everything. There are 144,000 portals to other places within the castle, referred to as aspects, and sometimes they appear out of nowhere, both inside the castle and in those other places. Stepping through the portal could land you in a golf course with wild and tame dinosaurs, 17th century Italy, or the middle of an ocean inhabited by scary things. Oh, and the castle is being attacked by an army guided by the sorceress Melydia who wants to capture the magical source of its existence and destroy it.
All of the main characters in this book are compelling, but my favorite is probably Linda, a woman from California who ends up being a real leader among her group. I would follow her anywhere because she can whip up a meal out of nothing. Snowclaw is just a chill dude you don't want to mess with. Osmirik grows on you. And Incarnadins is an enigma. All in all, this was an enjoyable read. I will keep my eyes open for other books by this author.
wolverinefactor's review
2.0
More like a 2.5 there’s a lot to enjoy but there’s a lot of characters bouncing around And it all seemed kind of confusing to be honest
shminsington's review
5.0
I had so much fun reading this, it was quick and easy and I loved the concept, and there are so many that follow it for those that like a series. I've only gotten through the first three but someday!
catsofdeath's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
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