Across the Room: This was a really fun, short read, and I’m excited to see how Daniel evolves as a writer!
Vitals
Temperature: Hypothermic: Not necessarily a bad thing. I noticed it was quite dark and dreary in some cases. However, I immersed immediately, and I love how Daniel doesn’t pull and punches when it comes to the violence and gore. I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff!
Heart Rate: Normal rate and rhythm: I loved the pacing, here. It had a great balance of fast and slow. Just enough to get to know the characters, but also enough to not get bored with backstory.
Blood Pressure: Normotensive: Being a shorter plot, there wasn’t a lot of time to establish any subplots. I think it’s simply because of this, that the plot itself was really easy to follow. I wouldn’t go so far as saying that it was predictable, however.
Respirations: Normal respirations, slightly brady: Here, I think the shorter length worked against Daniel just a tad. Since there wasn’t a whole lot of time to establish characterisation, a couple of the characters came out sorta flat. However, this was very slightly, as the three MC’s were incredibly well-rounded.
Oxygenation: Hypoxic: I would have loved to see more world building, here. While we get a lot of explanations on the magic systems, and the necessary background information on the world building through Daniel’s videos, I found myself a bit disappointed in the lack of in-text building. Length—being a novella—worked against him, here.
Work of Breathing: relatively easy, but a little air hungry: there were a couple of things in the grammar and vitals signs above that made it a little difficult at times to stay immersed in the story. That said, I was pulled back into the story pretty quickly. Overall, there are just a couple of things I would have liked to see more of.
Histories
Family: Fantasy-noir
Medical: Grammatically correct. Stylistic-wise, however, I feel like Daniel did himself a bit of a disservice by adhering so strictly to the grammar laws. Some of his sentences could have used a lot more variety, as it seemed to be just a laundry list of sounds and sights while describing some of the settings.
Psychiatric: This was one of the strong-points of the novella. The relationships between each of the three mains are so dynamic. I could feel the betrayals, the love, the sorrow…My heart was invested in these characters.
Socio-economic: I’d say it was marketed to the right audience. Marketed as adult, definitely reads adult.
Head to Toe Assessment
Head and Face: The cover is stunning! It brings the whole feel of the book to life. If I didn’t follow Daniel on YouTube, however, I’m not 100% sure I would have picked it up in the bookstore. However, I’m still new to the novella readership, so I don’t think I would have picked it up, regardless. I’m much more open-minded now. The blurb on the back, however, sucked me in.
Neck: This got me immediately. First two lines, and I was hooked.
Chest: This is where the grammar/author’s voice sort of got me. I had a hard time staying immersed in the story for a little while, because the prose itself read a tiny bit clunky. However, I’m glad I stuck through it.
Abdomen and Flanks: I was fully immersed here. I couldn’t make myself put the book down at this point.
Perineum: Oh gawd. I sobbed here. Well done!
Extremities: What a twist! I was floored by this big reveal! I think this is where Daniel’s writing truly shines.
Backside: This was a little abrupt, but at the same time, well paced. I’m looking forward to book 2 in the series.
Prognosis: I’m going to give this one a "Good" prognosis (four stars). There were a few things in the prose that took me out of the story—mainly the lack of sentence structure variety in the settings and descriptions. Overall, I fully enjoyed this book, and am looking forward to the next one in the series.
Since it's been such a long hiatus, I'm continuing the trend of posting the link to my triage formula:
Once again,
Stay safe. Stay sane. Keep healthy. Keep smiling. Much love!