Dreadful
I am a very “to each their own” book reader/reviewer/blogger, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what other readers liked about this book! In order to give a fair review, I try to finish the book, but with Dreadful, if just wasn’t going to happen. Then it came down to the other book club members opinions on the book and even they didn’t care much for it either. Out of the four of us…none of us finished the book. It was disappointing because this book has so much potential! There is humor, and I must admit, I laughed out loud plenty of times, but it seems the plot development gets neglected for the jokes. The same could be said for character development. On a positive note, I thought Rozakis did a good job on world building, but at times I felt a trapped because the world is what I would consider small for a fantasy novel.
Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis
The Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks…
It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something.
It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is… you.
Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed.
But as he realizes that nothing—from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess—is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all—who does he want to be?
Overall Rating: ⭐⭐
*Ratings are based on the CAWPILE system and an average of book club members and their ratings of seven different categories.
Characters: ⭐⭐
The characters are funny and that’s about all. It seems as though Rozakis went for humor and sacrificed their background stories. I got about 80 percent through the book myself before I through it in the volcano, and I still didn’t give one eff about any of the characters.
Atmosphere/World Building: ⭐⭐⭐
Rozakis did an alright job at building her world. I loved the whimsical setting of the stereotypical evil wizard’s castle and the village below. I just wished that there was more to it than those two settings.
Writing Style: ⭐⭐⭐
Rozakis’s writing is not awful. In fact it’s actually really good. I would describe it as vivid and articulate. I learned some new vocabulary words while reading Dreadful. Here’s the thing. It feels too familiar. While I was reading this book, I kept thinking about the movie Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves that was released in 2023, and SNL skits, where everything is funny but a little over the top.
Plot: ⭐
What plot???
Intrigue: ⭐
Ummm…yeah. No. The synopsis and the first three chapters had me practically salivating to figure out what’s going on. After that I kept asking myself: “what’s going on?” I thought I was going to blaze through this book from beginning to end. That didn’t happen. I was almost in tears trying to finish this book.
Logic: (No Stars)
We couldn’t even rate the book on Logic. For instance, the story is told from Gavrax’s point of view, and he lost his memories, but he somehow remembered how to do some magic. Even Gavrax couldn’t piece it together.
Enjoyment: ⭐⭐
Would have rather been doing ANY thing else.
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"A Game of Thrones," authored by George R. R. Martin, is the inaugural novel in the acclaimed fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire." The narrative unfolds across the mythical continents of Westeros and Essos, intertwining the fates of noble houses as they contend for the Iron Throne. Prominent figures such as Eddard Stark, Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and Tyrion Lannister drive the story. Celebrated for its complex plot, multifaceted characters, and exploration of themes like power, treachery, and honor, the book, published in 1996, has garnered numerous accolades and spawned the highly successful HBO series "Game of Thrones."
