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A review by singsthewren
The City Stained Red by Sam Sykes
3.0
This was a strange read for me. I didn't like it very much, but I liked it just enough to want to finish it and see where it went. The entire read felt like I was watching other people play DnD, down to character decisions, character archetypes, the world, the mysterious and helpful villains who appeared randomly for no reason when the characters got stuck... seriously did he just write up one of his DnD campaigns?!
I love roleplaying, but I don't really like watching other people roleplay, and I think that was part of my issue with the book. I felt really emotionally distanced as a reader instead of a participant. I also found the characters really obsessed with the idea that fear is the main driving principal behind all human actions, which didn't strike as realistic to me and also kept drawing me out of the narrative. It's very grim-dark but sort of silly at the same time, and that incongruity kept me from really diving in.
I love roleplaying, but I don't really like watching other people roleplay, and I think that was part of my issue with the book. I felt really emotionally distanced as a reader instead of a participant. I also found the characters really obsessed with the idea that fear is the main driving principal behind all human actions, which didn't strike as realistic to me and also kept drawing me out of the narrative. It's very grim-dark but sort of silly at the same time, and that incongruity kept me from really diving in.