Short Review: Guardian · 5:44pm Jul 21st, 2023
When I first read this, I left off just before the 'half-way' point in the story. I forgot a fair bit of it, so on returning, it was like starting over from nothing. All I remembered was that is felt rushed near to the point I was at. On return, I understood why I got that feeling.
SPOILERS FOR 'Guardian', OBVIOUSLY
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Are they gone? Good.
The whole Twilight romance of the story was the most rushed part of reading it. She fell in love fast, despite the romance happening over two weeks (Welcome Back). So the whole 'herd' acceptance seemed impulsive to say the least. I feel as if it could have been handled better, however, without major rewrites I don't know how. I've dealt with quick romance before in 'Dreams of Forever', but that at least that had the excuse of reincarnation feelings emerging, while this is just rushed.
What wasn't rushed was the descriptions. At numerous points, inconsequential details were over-explained to the point where it was a waste of words. Definitely some of the biggest wastes in the story was the description of Derran's companions (Truth is Stranger) and the different 'Guards' (And Their Name Was Legion. . .). While highly detailed, it didn't add much to the story itself. I forgot what they looked like before the end of the descriptions. Unfortunately, this applies to much more than just the flashback section.
The last major issue I had with the story was the flashback section in general ('In The Beginning. . .' to 'A Sound of Thunder'). It felt unnecessarily long. Seven near-full chapters were Derran's backstory, 40% of the entire story! It could have made a story on its own, but instead choked up the modern narrative. Mix this with the description problem before, and I was getting bored.
There is an irony I find with the story about the author being so worried about including lyrics in their story that, by the end, a chunk of lyrics is just thrown in. One of the good parts of the story was the 'soundtrack' included. Got three new songs to listen to out of it. Sometimes the choice of music wasn't to my tastes, but overall, it added to the experience of reading the story.
Speaking of the good things, the fight scenes! Those were great! The detail added really did fit the flying organs and dismembered limbs more than it did Twilight's dress or the restaurant exterior. Combine it with adequate music (personally, I listened to the recommended Pacific Rim theme for most of the final fight), and it is truly awesome!
In case you couldn't tell, it is a total power fantasy. Derran Grandel (and the Doom Slayer) is pretty much a Gary Stu. Sometimes the praise got seriously annoying, I won't disparage anybody who says that. If you have a low tolerance for these sorts of stories, you probably wouldn't enjoy it.
The story was pretty gory and bloody, to the point it made me question if it should have kept the M-rating. Besides that, I'd have to agree with the author that the one point available for a sex scene was unnecessary to add it. Spelling and grammar was fairly on point, so no loss of points for the occasional mistake.
Overall, did I enjoy it? Yes. Is it a masterpiece? Buck no. Would I recommend it? Eh. It wasn't horrible, but that dragging last half before the epic battle really grated away at my patience. For how great of final battle it had, it doesn't excuse the slowness since the timber wolf battle or the other flaws.
