Any scene with him was actively annoying, and I disliked the character not because he was a good antagonist, but because of how much he resembled a bad comic book villain. The antagonist is a cliché, worse than many terrible comic book villains.

This is probably my first full LitRPG, and the audiobook was really well narrated.īut there are some glaring flaws. It had a likable protagonist, a fun setting, and in interesting premise. My guess is that since he's not so embarrassed by this one to make it free or to rewrite it or remove it entirely, nothing has changed. My hope is that he's gotten better with future books. It takes 10,000 hours of practice to get good at anything, and writing is no exception. There's an experience gap that has no easy fix other than for Bagwell to hunker down with dozens of books on the craft of writing and slowly start to get these issues under control. I want to be clear that I'm not saying 'hire an editor' or 'there's typos,' as some other reviewers have put it. Just like the child playing the concerto can be spirited and entertaining, this was spirited and entertaining.

Doesn't consider how internal and external global shape can contrast to create dramatic tension Lack of consideration of prose style (bonus points for reflecting mood or action) Lack of clear value shifts and turning points at the scene level When showing, chooses unimportant or common details Lack of motivation or tension to move the story forward Here's a few consistent issues that come to mind (meaning they weren't typos).

It shocks me that Bagwell didn't even look up basic things every grade-school student learns before hitting publish. A first-year creative writing course could use this book for an entire semester as an example of what not to do. Just like any profession, the art and craft of writing takes years of practice to get good at. This belongs on a personal webpage or in the hands of family and friends, or, at the very least, make it free on Amazon. That's kind of why it baffles me that people think it's okay to slap up the book they wrote on Amazon and charge people money for it. No one would dare try to represent someone in court without the years of necessary legal training. No one would dare put her on a stage and charge money as if she were a professional.ĭo you see where this is going? Let's take Travis Bagwell's own profession. It's a spirited and entertaining rendition, but far from professional. Your ten year old (non-prodigy) plays through a challenging violin concerto in the privacy of your home in front of family. Yikes! This better not be the best it has to offer. I did a bunch of research to find the 'best' place to get into the LitRPG genre. I'm not sure, but I'm doing one to counteract all the positivity.

Catharsis by Travis Bagwell