Official Review: Beastly by Matt Khourie

[CactusSmasher]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Beastly" by Matt Khourie.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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It is morning in the forest of Briarburn. A great and powerful beast wakes to another day of hunting, killing, and eating. But something is missing. For as long as he can remember, this beast has never remembered his name. He has always been a nameless creature, living within the forest. Vague memories come to him, but they are like half-remembered dreams. As far as he knows, he has always been the Beast of Briarburn. That is, until he meets a strange old crone who gifts him with knowledge that may lead to uncovering his past life. In order to find his answers, he must first find a young girl, a girl who has an awesome and potentially world-saving power. Along the way, the evil Liche Queen, who worships the evil magic of Blight and rules the Once Kingdom with an iron fist, dispatches her right-hand man, Malachai, to retrieve the child for herself.

The main thing that Beastly has above many other fantasy novels is a unique and intriguing main character. Among a genre that is unfortunately plague to cliches, with characters who are almost always white humans, the Beast of Briarburn stands out as an unusual non-human character, with a beast's instinct and sensibilities, and a human's intellect and wit. He isn't treated as a dumb animal, nor is he merely a human with fur. He's given a fully rounded sense of being, and he is by far the best part of the novel. The first third of Beastly focuses almost exclusively on him and his daily life, and it's fascinating to read about his unique view on the world, and to experience the way that others react to him, which is surprisingly nuanced. Many of the other characters he meets, though occasionally intimidated by him, treat him as a normal individual, which is yet another breath of fresh air compared to the common trope of oppressed non-humans in fantasy novels.

On top of having an interesting main character, the novel is written well, too, with a deft sense of poetic lyricism that lends a mythic tone to the events. It reads a bit like an old fairy tale, or a manuscript that was dug out of an old decaying church. The prose style is very dense and very fun to read. We have the ingredients for an excellent epic fantasy novel.

Unfortunately, these few positives are where the good ends and the bad begins. Despite a very interesting beginning and a character that is fascinating to read about, once the actual adventure gets started, the story becomes much less interesting. It's a hodgepodge of Star Wars and The Hobbit, with the Dark Side and the Light Side (Blight and Life magic) , and an unlikely hero who must go on a quest to defeat the evil bad guy. The characters that the Beast of Briarburn meets are just as generic and uninteresting, including the aforementioned “chosen girl,” a wise, supernatural mentor, and a roguish pirate (sound familiar?).

Similarly, the villains are bog standard bad guys, with no motivation beyond being evil or gaining power, and although a potentially interesting backstory is hinted at with the Liche Queen, said backstory is never expanded upon, and she is given nothing to do beyond gnash her teeth and monologue about her evil plans. Presumably this is because her storyline is meant to be expanded upon in the sequel that is heavily hinted at at the end of the book, but taking out a potentially interesting storyline just because you want to save it for the next book doesn't keep me in suspense, it just makes me wish I was reading the more interesting book.

But the absolute worst of all is the way the book treats the Beast himself. He starts out as the most interesting character, but quickly gets lost in the shuffle of the ensemble cast that quickly gathers around him. And once more information gets revealed about him, he becomes much less interesting. His “secret” past is such an obvious and overdone trope that you could probably see it coming just by reading the plot synopsis on the back of the book, and once that past is revealed, everything interesting about him is lost, as the author needlessly connects him to the other characters in the book in a shoehorned attempt to give him a sense of purpose.

And the whole thing ends with an overlong, painfully dull epic fantasy fight, where the Fellowship (sorry, the group) leads a charge against the Liche Queen for the fate of the entire Once Kingdom. I'm so tired of fantasy novels that feel the need to stick to this three-act Hollywood structure where everything must decide the fate of the world and everything needs to be solved with a gigantic battle. Is there no room for intimacy in these books? For genuine pathos and emotion? Is there no use for breathing room?

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. If Beastly had been a journey of discovery for an intelligent beast, as it was sold to me from the synopsis, then I would have found the book much more interesting, but the fact that the author felt the need to rest on the laurels of the countless fantasy authors who came before him makes a potentially interesting book into a generic and boring one. And that's a shame, because not only can the author spin a pretty sentence, but there are momentary flashes of imagination here that are very intoxicating, and give a sense of what the book could have been. As it is, it's only a gigantic missed opportunity.

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Beastly
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Like CactusSmasher's review? Post a comment saying so!

[mkhourie]

Thanks for the honest review. It is greatly appreciated. Your in depth analysis will be considered carefully as I continue to write and develop my voice and skill set. Thanks again.

[CactusSmasher]

Thank you for your appreciation of the review, Matt. I'm glad that my review didn't discourage you from continuing to hone your craft, and I'm glad my little satirical jabs at the expense of your book didn't offend you. I always try to review harshly, but fairly, as I feel that it helps me improve with my own writing, so thank you for not taking it personally.

[mkhourie]

No worries at all. As a child of the eighties it's definitely going to be difficult to ignore the fiction I grew up on (most of which you mentioned in the spear job haha) but I see the merit in your criticism and often wondered during the drafting if I should've taken the story in a different direction.

I am currently working on a second project (possibly ready this summer) and would love for you to take a look if interested so as to maintain a continuity of criticism. I'd be happy to log the request on the site when I'm finished. All the best.