A review of Skyclad

[Blake Skies]

Neat gimmick, wish he did something with it.

There that's my catch all phrase for this book. So if the gimmick of this story hauled you in, like it did me, be prepared for a very long and very slow burn. Which is weird considering the first chapter. So what positives can I say about it? I like the MC, I like the world building, and the light RPG elements drew me in. But every single one of those positives fail to hold tight if you think about them.

First off the MC. We get ONE chapter of her in the Real World, that's it. Her struggles are told to us, we see one glimpse of her cheating BF, and even then we're given a line of "Oh they weren't that into each other anyway." To say nothing of the fact that her transition to the next World is only treated as a vague handwave.

Next the gimmick. Here's a fun drinking game, take a shot every time the book says the word "Naked." Your liver will hate you for the first 13 chapters then you'll rarely touch that bottle again. Her nudity is a gimmick, plain and simple. Take it off of the story and you lose nothing. If this had any conversations about the freedom of nudity or the fears of having your body on display I might give it a pass. But no, it's just there so the writer can say it's there.

Finally the story struggles. Outside of Morgan, I struggle to remember who or what's in this book cuz these guys aren't compelling. We're told of a big bad killer and/or a naughty enemy force running around but that's got little to do with the world Morgan finds herself in. Even more so I think someone forgot to properly explain what this world is? Are we in a Fantasy world like Warcraft or are we in Magical Harry Potter? I can't for the life of me name the planet they're on. Furthermore, I really don't care cuz it's not interesting. You thought about it, great. Why should we care when Morgan basically knows Jack as she escapes the wildlands?

I gave up after chapter 25, and hearing that the reviews mention a bad ending doesn't want to make me go on.