Blade & Bastard

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Give me back every millisecond of time I spend reading this. From start to finish I was so utterly unentertained. I think the word that best describes this story would be shallow. Everything from the characters and their interactions, the world the story is set in, the fight scenes, and the dungeon where a lot of the story takes place in. The most interesting chapter by far was the prologue, from there it just went downhill.

I think my biggest irk is the character Garbage. The author thought it would be a fun idea to have a character talk like a dog and to describe ... this character as a feral animal. He goes further by having the characters also treat her like some puppy or wild animal, and for the ENTIRETY of this book call her Garbage. Nobody thought not to call a human being anything other than Garbage, there isn't some final scene where they finally give her a name, they kept treating her like a pet to end. Sometimes they even call her Garbage-chan, which I do find to be infuriating and funny at the same time. Through her POV's it shown that she isn't in fact an wild beast just someone with a sad past and likely developmental issues(these aren't touched on though). It's like the author can't see the problem how literally every time you read Garbage, it just breaks immersion. It's utterly frustrating how the author adds one line where a character says "If Garbage is her real name, I’ll give her parents a thrashing", and they continue to call her Garbage. This only adds to the fact that her dialogue is absolutely terrible with “Woof"s and “Growl"s being her only communication method. She's never treated like a human being by the author despite being one, even the scene where she gets a bath is treated like how you would wash a stray dog you've decided to take in. Then there's the audacity of the author to try to make a future storyline surrounding this character.

I'm thoroughly incensed by this terrible writing, but that's the only memorable feeling I got reading this piece of fiction. The rest of the story just wasn't interesting. Nothing is fleshed out in this story, the dungeon isn't, the magic isn't, the characters aren't with the exception of Raraja who isn't even slightly compelling despite the author's best efforts. This book had by far the most uninteresting fights I've read so far. They aren't unreadable, just really unengaging. It was the first time I just got bored in the middle of what was supposed to be a climatic fight scene. The world isn't really fleshed out with the exception of a few tidbits that could have made for a more compelling world if actually explored. I found none of the characters interesting despite there being potential at the beginning. There wasn't any part of this book that made me feel anything other than anger. I didn't laugh, smile, or get excited. Ultimately I'm just glad it's over, and I feel I could have found much better use for my evening.
I've had a lot more fun writing this review than droning over the pages of this book.