Everything (Full Murderhobo Book 3)
By Dakota Krout
This series did seem a little strange to me as it keeps feeling like we are missing something, not being given an inch by inch record of their growth. The main gist of the story is all there, for sure, but I sort of miss the smaller bits that would expand this from a three book series into something longer. Although, despite saying that, this is a good story!
We see character development in this book, and I mean in their personal characters rather than just their stats and skills. Our team get a deeper insight into Luke’s character, or lack of it, by spending time in his own training world, and once they manage to cope woith the excess of mana, they manage to make their way through sections with Luke. In fact, they balance him out a little on occasion. It is hilarious to see Taylor’s use of fire in the realm. It made me laugh and made me think of her as being a teenager,rather than the mature woman she has become. We all make mistakes, no matter what out age and it is great to see such a simple one made. it made her feel more real to me.
Luke has an excessive distrust of trees, summed up in this quote, quite nicely:
“Luke is out of the portal and one of the trees waved at him too excitely>”
He mulched it?”
“Yes.”
It is so matter of fact, that it made me giggle more than Luke’s “mulching” of trees. Whilst Luke remains very one dimensional for most of the book, he really does make an effort to try and be more likeable. He even tried to use the thumbs up gesture, wich doid not go so well for him.
“Thank you, Luke. You know, I was just trying to figure out how to make giving someone a thumbs up as creepy as possible, then you stepped up in a big way.”
we see our heros being forced to do things they don’t want to, using the kingdom’s sigil on them to control them. This feels very uncomfortable to me as the reader, as their true lack of free will becomes manifest. I feel the injustice of it, and it made me angry on the team’s behalf. of course, Luke had his own little way to make it as hard as possible to be controlled by being as literal as he could. King Vir is not shy to use the sigil to his advantage, although, indirectly that turns out to works for the team’s goals in the end. King Vir is not a nice king. He is involved in a little plot twist involving Luke’s sister, Cindy, which I did not expect.
André moons about after Taylor as usual, and she doesn’t make it any easier on him. There are times when you just want to slap them silly for not getting together. By the end of the book, you really think…. ah, no spoilers…. Zed does give André a bit of advice on this., advising André that even though he makes analagoies like waterint and fertilizing relationsships, it all basically boils down to one thing:
“Relationships are not a problem to be solved; they are a tension to be managed.”
It sort of rings true, doesn’t it, yet makes it all seem like such hard work!
I really feel sorry for Zed. No matter how powerful he grows, or what great deeds he performs, he is always like the lesser kid brother to the team and it reaches a point where you just feel a bit hopeless on his behalf. I do have questions though. In the series Zed mentions IT, and I am not sure, but it looks like his character sheet is in Welsh. I feel like he may come from earth, but that is not resolved in the book. In fact, if he does, it makes the ending of his part of the story not make much sense. If he is from earth, there may be a teeny tiny conflict there with how his tale wraps up.
In this book we see The Four move out of the Scarrocco Desert, and onto the front lines, then into the Dynasty of Dogs. The Emporor is also not such a nice man. It makes me wonder if it is normal in books for powerful people to become mean and arrogant and if this isn’t an insight into us as humans.
Luke’s battle scenes are quite interesting, and his tactic, to go Full Murderhobo, doesn’t change at all, which is great. He has a conversation with an Ascender that brings into question the place of honour on the battleground:
“There are rules of decorum to be followed even when fighting, even when you are fighting for your life or your honour!”
“Honour is stupid. What good is your standing and reputation if you don’t survive the fight?”
In this book, for the first time in a long time, I learned three new words.
Vestibular – Related to balance and spatial orientation, controlled by the vestibular system in the inner ear. It helps you stay upright and move without falling over.
Proprioception – Your body's sense of position and movement, often called the "sixth sense." It allows you to know where your limbs are without looking, like touching your nose with your eyes closed.
Excrescence – An abnormal or excessive growth, often used to describe things like warts, tumors, or unnecessary additions (even metaphorically, like "an excrescence of bureaucracy").
To sum this book and series up, whilst I did enjoy it, I felt it to be a little sparse for my usual reading pleasure. worth the read though, for the unusual approach to the main characters who are verging on totally dysfunctional, yet still manage to be legendary heroes, and an unusual and intrsting story line.
“Don’t forget that, sometimes, it is neccessary to go… Full Murderhobo.”