ARC Review: Knight Watch or the secret (or not so secret) dream of us nerdy people!

Hello people! How are you? August wasn’t a great month for my reviews, between the hiatus, the constant tiredness, and headaches, but I really hope to do better in September, and it seems that I am having a good start since I am here with a review as the first post of the month. And if this is not a good beginning, I don’t know what else it could be! And today I would talk about an indie book, so that’ even better, since we are celebrating Self-Published Fantasy Month!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to the Editor and to Edelweiss+.

Title: Knight Watch
Author: Tim Akers
Publication Date: September 1st, 2020
Page Count: 320

MEN IN BLACK AT THE REN FAIRE!

John Rast went to the Ren Faire looking for a fight. Well, a simulated fight, with blunt swords and safety equipment. But when his final opponent turns into a living, fire-breathing dragon, John finds himself in the fight of his life. It’s John or nothing stopping a disaster in its tracks—and the only real weapon at hand is his mom’s Volvo. So John decides to let it roll . . .
And that’s when destiny comes to call. John is spirited away to the well-hidden base of Knight Watch, the organization that stands between humanity and the real nasties the rest of the world doesn’t know about.
Knight Watch would be John’s dream job—except for the storm goddess that destroys his parents’ house, the abandoned mall replete with too much dead, and the Fetch that aims to make John’s domain a final resting place. All this has John’s putative allies in the Knight Watch worried that John is the one bringing bad things into multiple worlds. John and his reluctant teammates have to figure out who, or what, is pulling the strings before all of Knight Watch falls prey to a well-concealed puppetmaster and far worse things enter this world.

This book was a pleasant surprise. I am not saying that I was expecting something bad, but to be honest I was a bit skeptical. I was expecting something good to entertain you for a time, something not demanding and fast-paced, but nothing more. And in some ways I get all of this, but I get way more from this reading!
It is a book that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, but that gives us quite a lot: we have action, interesting characters (and, overmost, characters with whom is very easy to simphatize because, let’s be honest: there is a bit of John in every one of us!), and a compelling worldbuilding, one which we definitely want to inhabit. Because for us, nerdy people, who are constantly living with our nose buried in a book (a fantasy one, at that), this is an amazing dream.
And we have also ton of humor, and banter. So, yeah… I don’t think we could ask for much more.

This book is like Hogwarts for grown-up, for crying it out loud! Ok, ok, we don’t have a magical school (and yes, I know, this is a shame!), and Hogwarts and the magic and the wizards are just so compelling, and fantastical, and amazing. I know, I know. But in there we have a magical world right next to our mundane one, we have the power of imagination, and we see the characters meet (or crashing, that would be more accurate) this new reality. A new and magical world exist right there, together with the one we are used to, and in creating the rules for this new world the author was quite bright, let me tell you this.

I know I am not being so informative here, but I don’t want to ruin something for you. To be completely honest, the best feature of this book is that is about a dream coming true, in some sense. And it is brilliant in some parts, fun and interesting enough. It is not boring, and John is such a reliable character. But the plot is somewhat standard, so I try and don’t say anything more about it, and the characters aren’t bad, are all quite relatable in some ways, and interesting, but they are not amazing. You won’t keep them around for a long time after finishing this reading. So yes, it is far from perfect, and it is not a masterpiece. All of this is true. But… yes, there is a big but.
This book is fascinating, it is fun and for us, nerdy fantasy people, it is like a dream coming true.

So yeah, it is far from the better book I have read this year, and ok, it is not near the top 10 even, but sometimes we don’t need masterpiece, we just need something to take our mind from all the worldly concerns, and just give us some respite, with a touch of fun. And this book would do exactly that!

and half!