Book Review: Small Medium: Big Trouble

Welcome to the first book review on my site. My review methods focus more on my takeaways and over feeling of the story and do not feature a score or rating. Go to goodreads if you want ratings and listings. Rather, I’ll try to move more towards a short critique and inspect stories with a critical eye. So, let’s begin!

Author’s Description:

Chase Berrymore dreams of adventure, excitement, and getting the heck out of her pastoral halven village. But when adventure finds her, she'll be scrambling to save her family and friends from a necromancer's wrath. Outmatched in almost every way, she'll have to use her wits, charisma, and a bit of divine favor to figure out the path to victory.

Even worse, she'll have to figure out ways to deal with the weird and nigh-immortal beings that call themselves "playas..." And she'll have to do it with the most powerful weapon she has available: words.

Violence is not her forte, but cunning, deception, and careful negotiation with unstable and self-centered sociopaths might just win the day, and save herself and her family from this horrible situation which she is absolutely not to blame for in the slightest.

A LitRPG romp from an NPC's point of view!

Characters:

For me the story lives and dies on its characters. I might be interested in a particular setting or plot progression, but I won’t stay for the whole book if the characters are flat or boring. The novel’s protagonist, Chase Berrymore, is the spunky and spirited perspective throughout the novel. She’s a short halven teen that’s fed up with the boring pastoral lifestyle of the farming village of Bothernot. Halven are a fun take on the halfling/hobbit fantasy trope, replete with furry feet and prodigious appetites.

While I generally avoid YA-type protagonists because I can’t stand much of the teen angst permeating the trope, Chase fortunately avoids much of the mopey teen saves the word that plagues so many other stories. However, I never got a good feel of Chase’s motivations other than she yearns for adventure like something from one of her adventure books. Essentially, she wants to travel away from her family, who she loves and has a decent relationship with, and jump into the thick of danger because of her general dissatisfaction with her quiet village.

Other than a slight hollowness, I found Chase a fun and compelling figure. She’s clever, manipulative, and is well-aware of her weaknesses. She’s also fiercely independent and has a good idea of what she wants from life. When she’s faced with a challenge, she tries to tackle it in her own way, which is something I like in a character.

The supporting characters don’t get as much flesh on their bones however. Greta, Chase’s sister, gets the second-most screen time. We get the idea that she is a pragmatic, sturdy, and some what obtuse young woman, but there isn’t much history or development shared between the sisters. I would have liked to see a few dialogue-heavy scenes to develop their relationship. Renny, an animated toy, is the other prominent supporting character. His motivations feel detached from Chase and they only move into each other’s orbit because of convenience, they never seem to grow a strong friendship with one another.

Don’t mistake my nitpicks for dislike, I only point out that these characters are so fun that I wanted more of them. Each of the characters in the story add their own humor to the book, and I’d love to see more of them.

Plot:

The basic arc of the book (no spoilers included) has Chase wishing for adventure, and getting more than she bargained for. The overall plot is very similar to many other plots where a teen gets embroiled in a dangerous situation and blunders through the story.

This books twist on the typical adventure is that it’s set in a lit-rpg style gameified setting. The characters are actively aware of how the world works with hp pools, levels, and other game mechanics in their life. The way the characters interact with the plot is directly informed by this game framework and many plot points hinge on these mechanics.

Chase’s cunning use of lit-rpg mechanics is a big plus in the plot’s favor, and adds much in the way of entertainment and fun to the narrative. Also, Chase is a native of the game world, otherwise known as an NPC, so the perspective of a non player is refreshing and spirited in the lit-rpg field. Drew Hayes’ NPC’s is another book that centers on this perspective, but unlike that book, Small Medium: Big Trouble is wholly present in the game word and is firmly rooted in the NPC’s perspective.

One issue I had with the plot is that I felt it was split between two stories. I won’t talk specifics to spare everyone spoilers, but the plot at the middle of the book feels divorced from the beginning and end of the story. By the time they moved away from the swampy middle, I actually had a moment where I went oh yeah, the village was being attacked, I forgot. I would have like the plot arcs linked a bit better to each other.

Setting:

The setting for the book was pretty much what you’d expect for a fantasy novel, practically pilfered from the shire. Since the story is centered on Halven (halflings) the idyllic countryside serves the story well, and is even used a plot point. The setting is so idyllic and peaceful that it drives the protagonist bonkers with boredom.

Under the surface there are a few nods to the Threadbare universe and the game setting on a whole. Also, there is an interesting subtext of a previous Italian-style city that the town of Bothernot is built upon, lending some interest and history to the place. I look forward to seeing how the author integrates this history in the future novels in the Small Medium books.

Conclusion: I found this story a fun a fast read, well worth the time and money, and I look forward to the next book in the series, which I have on my TBR pile presently.