Dreadful was anything but! A fun, funny, romp of a tale, this book follows the newly christened Gav as he tries to come to terms with who he is, and who he was, following a sudden loss of memory. Cut lose from the ties of his life, with only the barest sense of who he had been and why, he must try not to foil his own nefarious plans, whilst also trying to make then considerably less nefarious.
Set in a fantasy world that ‘hero’ cannot introduce us to, Dreadful was a brilliant mix of character-development, questions on the human condition, and mad-cap fun. The characters were well-drawn, and expertly fleshed out. No one was quite what you expected, and their decisions felt genuine and true to character. Rozakis did a brilliant job of making Gav sympathetic, whilst also forcing him to face his own privilege and past head-on. I also enjoyed her commitment to representing the female experience. In fantasy it is easy to erase the parts of our world that we don’t like, and whilst I enjoy escapism as much as the next fantasy reader, this was a refreshingly honest representation of the assumptions, and barriers to success, women live with day-to-day.
This book loses a star because some of the sentences were a little clunky, or unclear. This is definitely a pit-fall of a more casual, conversational writing style. It is hard to punctuate things for the most clarity without losing some of that. I enjoyed this book immensely, but it could have been a little more polished in places.
Overall, just a really wonderful time. If you were a fan of Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s Assistant to the Villain, or any Medieval inspired fantasy-comedies, I think you will really enjoy this book.
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