Review
“Provide them a mystery and the obsession will take over.”
The story starts off with an investigation of the Pruit family murder; as our main heroine [Khlid] investigates who the perpetrator is of this mysterious murder, threads unravel and her life takes a deep dive into a dramatical change.
Holding on to his quote, Greene really did an amazing job with wrapping up his chapters. He leaves his readers with the right amount of mystery to keep you invested with the story. I’d say that this is an unputdownable book with how the story was laid out alone. Fair warning, though, Greene did not shy away from gore. There is a numerous amount of blood and textures in this novel that might scream grimdark.
A strong contender for minimalist fantasy, the novel has an engaging structure of social hierarchy—having a living god as the highest form. The construct of the story revolves around technology more than magic but there are glimpses of unexplainable moments that exhibits the existence of magic. However—taking into consideration that this is just a novella—what the novel exceeded in providing an eccentric social structure, it was frail in elaborating its foundation and rules.
The world building is weak; nevertheless, ideas of visuals for the setting is cleanly placed in conversations and small descriptions. The scenery contributes strongly with how gritty and intense the events are. Not adhering to info dumping, it does not fall into becoming a tiring read. On the other hand, the characters are engaging and I truly felt a connection with them but found that they did not have a strong and concrete background to really hold on to.
It has been a while since I last read a story that pulled me out of this messy world we live in! Daniel B. Greene’s ‘Breach of Peace’ is not just a book. It is a dedication to time and effort in crafting a story with an immersive plot, curious world, and interesting characters. And although his storytelling truly projects his love for fantasy, I believe that this book could have been so much more. For a newly published author, he is definitely someone to look forward to.
About the Author
Daniel Greene is an American YouTuber who created his channel in 2016. He creates videos about fantasy books, from reviews to rankings, to discussions, to news, to countdowns, to fantasy hot takes.
