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samueldhall's review against another edition
3.0
Breach of Peace is Daniel Greene's debut novella, released earlier this year it skyrocketed onto lot of fantasy fan’s radars through Daniel’s youtube channel. It follows Khlid, Samuel and Chapman on a murder mystery investigation. The book opens with a pretty grim, dark murder scene that immediately caught my attention and promises what sort of story we’re going to get from there.
My booktube review - https://youtu.be/ioP7iKY0ak4
Trigger warning here. If you're uncomfortable with gory scenes, the opening of this book will be uncomfortable and potentially unpalatable for some people.
The book is teeny tiny, like only 134 pages, and so one of Daniel’s biggest challenges is trying to build his world as well as develop characters and a plot in such a quick timeline. The shortness of this book is a major impact point on if people will seriously enjoy this story or not.
Being his debut piece of writing, and self publishing, I thought that making it a short novella was incredibly smart by Daniel. We all make mistakes early on in new adventures, and this way Daniel could experiment without making certain mistakes in a major major piece of published writing. Daniel’s prose is fairly straight to the point, with some clunky moments but that’s too be expected. There is some awkward moments of dialogue, and his sentence length and structure can get a little same same at times. If you’re sensitive to prose, and you want to read things like the name of the wind, this book isn’t going to be to your liking. Unfortunately the world building and character development was too short for me, I can tell you a little bit about the world and a little bit about Khlid and chapman, but next to nothing about Samuel, and I would’ve liked a little bit more of it all.
Personally I think a lot of people’s enjoyment, or non enjoyment of this novella may come down to trusting Daniel or not. I know that’s a funny thing to say, being his first bit of writing, coming into this book expecting just a little crumb in a much larger world I quite enjoyed it, whereas I think some people would be let down if they came into this expecting a fully fleshed out fantasy story. I hoped for something that was more self contained, but I certainly have enough interest to pick up the next book especially now that Daniel has announced it will be longer.
There was a lot of noise initially at the time of release around the ideas surfaced in this book in regards to police power. This book was published in a time that police brutality was at the forefront of american politics and news media and Daniel had to even come out at one stage and talk about authorial intent.
If you haven’t picked up Breach of Peace yet, but you’re interested in doing so, I’d sit and wait to get it till the release date of the second book in this set. On its own, it’s just a little crumb, which may leave you hungry and wanting more or it may just leave you frustrated, either way, with the second book being longer, you’ll have a more well founded idea of what to expect and where to go from there. I like the premise of the police force being almost a religious organisation, and look forward to seeing where that will go from here. If you’re looking for a name of the wind opening, this definitely isn’t it, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. On it’s own i’m going to give this book a 3 out of 5 but I do believe that Daniel has the talent and knowledge to release a second book that makes this a more enjoyable read in an intro type of context.
My booktube review - https://youtu.be/ioP7iKY0ak4
Trigger warning here. If you're uncomfortable with gory scenes, the opening of this book will be uncomfortable and potentially unpalatable for some people.
The book is teeny tiny, like only 134 pages, and so one of Daniel’s biggest challenges is trying to build his world as well as develop characters and a plot in such a quick timeline. The shortness of this book is a major impact point on if people will seriously enjoy this story or not.
Being his debut piece of writing, and self publishing, I thought that making it a short novella was incredibly smart by Daniel. We all make mistakes early on in new adventures, and this way Daniel could experiment without making certain mistakes in a major major piece of published writing. Daniel’s prose is fairly straight to the point, with some clunky moments but that’s too be expected. There is some awkward moments of dialogue, and his sentence length and structure can get a little same same at times. If you’re sensitive to prose, and you want to read things like the name of the wind, this book isn’t going to be to your liking. Unfortunately the world building and character development was too short for me, I can tell you a little bit about the world and a little bit about Khlid and chapman, but next to nothing about Samuel, and I would’ve liked a little bit more of it all.
Personally I think a lot of people’s enjoyment, or non enjoyment of this novella may come down to trusting Daniel or not. I know that’s a funny thing to say, being his first bit of writing, coming into this book expecting just a little crumb in a much larger world I quite enjoyed it, whereas I think some people would be let down if they came into this expecting a fully fleshed out fantasy story. I hoped for something that was more self contained, but I certainly have enough interest to pick up the next book especially now that Daniel has announced it will be longer.
There was a lot of noise initially at the time of release around the ideas surfaced in this book in regards to police power. This book was published in a time that police brutality was at the forefront of american politics and news media and Daniel had to even come out at one stage and talk about authorial intent.
If you haven’t picked up Breach of Peace yet, but you’re interested in doing so, I’d sit and wait to get it till the release date of the second book in this set. On its own, it’s just a little crumb, which may leave you hungry and wanting more or it may just leave you frustrated, either way, with the second book being longer, you’ll have a more well founded idea of what to expect and where to go from there. I like the premise of the police force being almost a religious organisation, and look forward to seeing where that will go from here. If you’re looking for a name of the wind opening, this definitely isn’t it, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. On it’s own i’m going to give this book a 3 out of 5 but I do believe that Daniel has the talent and knowledge to release a second book that makes this a more enjoyable read in an intro type of context.
debyik's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
I feel like you get three books in one in this short novella. We get the start of an interesting fantasy story, an intriguing mystery, and an atmospheric police-procedural crime thriller. The story is continued in book two but also works as a standalone.
lilaezz's review against another edition
4.0
Actual rating: 3.75/5
How dare you make me care about these characters and then do THAT?
How dare you make me care about these characters and then do THAT?
youngthespian42's review against another edition
3.0
Daniel manages to pack a rich world into a tiny text. The characters are a little type cast, but the setting has you begging for more. The action towards the end feels a little rushed and seems like it could use more space to flesh out. All in all a respectable first outing for an indie author.
eesh25's review against another edition
3.0
Full disclosure, I was actually familiar with Daniel Greene before reading the book. I started watching his channel a few months ago. He's the reason I'm reading The Eye of the World. That said, this review is as unbiased as I could make it.
I don't know if y'all are familiar with the reputation of YouTuber books, but it's pretty bad. I've never read any of them so I don't know how bad they truly are, but this one seemed to be getting decent reviews, so I decided to give it a shot. And while it's not a great book, I do see potential in the series. And really, it's an okay read. And short, which I think was a good decision on Greene's part.
The book followed three police inspectors belonging to a government that considered itself chosen by god. They're investigating the brutal murders of the members of an imperial family. Setting-wise, it seems to be going for a Lies of Locke Lamora vibe but isn't nearly as well done.
Starting with some positives... Again, I can see potential in the series. Greene clearly has an idea of what he wants the world to be. And the novella does a good job of introducing us to parts of the world, parts that will likely be involved in the main series. Also, the pace is good, there's plenty of action, and the writing is fine. I wouldn't call it great—it's still finding its feet—but it's definitely coherent, even with the action. And I liked that the climax showed us the magnitude of the threat.
As for negatives, I think there was some confusion regarding the narrator. For most of the book, it's in third-person limited. But there are a few occasions when a character, during their POV, would describe their own facial expression or refer to themself as "his wife" like it's third-person omniscient. An editor should've caught that.
Another thing they should've caught, some of the really stiff and awkward dialogue. Like this one line said by one of the inspectors,
My biggest issue, though, was the "officers of god" thing. The author wants us to believe that this is a very religious society where people believe in god enough that even law enforcement is based around religion and their power and righteousness come from being chosen by god. Except, no part of the setting reflects that. It has about as much meaning as me saying, "oh my god" when I read a plot twist. It makes the world feel very surface level.
Overall, this wasn't a bad starting point. And I hope Greene will improve as he writes more books.
I don't know if y'all are familiar with the reputation of YouTuber books, but it's pretty bad. I've never read any of them so I don't know how bad they truly are, but this one seemed to be getting decent reviews, so I decided to give it a shot. And while it's not a great book, I do see potential in the series. And really, it's an okay read. And short, which I think was a good decision on Greene's part.
The book followed three police inspectors belonging to a government that considered itself chosen by god. They're investigating the brutal murders of the members of an imperial family. Setting-wise, it seems to be going for a Lies of Locke Lamora vibe but isn't nearly as well done.
Starting with some positives... Again, I can see potential in the series. Greene clearly has an idea of what he wants the world to be. And the novella does a good job of introducing us to parts of the world, parts that will likely be involved in the main series. Also, the pace is good, there's plenty of action, and the writing is fine. I wouldn't call it great—it's still finding its feet—but it's definitely coherent, even with the action. And I liked that the climax showed us the magnitude of the threat.
As for negatives, I think there was some confusion regarding the narrator. For most of the book, it's in third-person limited. But there are a few occasions when a character, during their POV, would describe their own facial expression or refer to themself as "his wife" like it's third-person omniscient. An editor should've caught that.
Another thing they should've caught, some of the really stiff and awkward dialogue. Like this one line said by one of the inspectors,
"You know I wouldn't say it if it were true. I often say things I do not mean because I think they are funny."That's so bad. And in all fairness, most of the dialogue isn't like this, but there are still lines here and there.
My biggest issue, though, was the "officers of god" thing. The author wants us to believe that this is a very religious society where people believe in god enough that even law enforcement is based around religion and their power and righteousness come from being chosen by god. Except, no part of the setting reflects that. It has about as much meaning as me saying, "oh my god" when I read a plot twist. It makes the world feel very surface level.
Overall, this wasn't a bad starting point. And I hope Greene will improve as he writes more books.
hannahhew's review against another edition
5.0
5 stars because I managed to read almost all of this in one sitting even though I'm in a reading slump, and I truly cannot wait for more of this world.
Maybe I should actually try some more detective fantasy..
Maybe I should actually try some more detective fantasy..
evgswin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
wavesturneddown's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
hungryhightning's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5