Pokémon Book Reviews

"Pokemon Chronicles VIII: Wrath of the Crystal Queen" - by SGMijumaru

[Note: this book is not available on wattpad]

Pokemon Chronicles VII: Wrath of the Crystal Queen:

"YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE, NO MATTER WHAT...

This is the story of Eve, a young Eevee living in the beautiful region of Kalos. Rife with legend and once ravaged by the conflict of war, our young hero spends his days uneducated about life, constantly mothered and unaware of the true outside world. However when a pretty assassin called Nymphina shows up, gets injured before his eyes and has to live with him, Eve starts getting thrown into all sorts of strange occurrences. Pokemon are suddenly out of control and fight in the streets, mutations are hoarded here and there to ravage the world and a mysterious team of villains start making themselves known to the region as Spirle, the future kings of kalos!

Can our immature Eve get it together and survive the whole mess? And of course, with the first time experiences of having to be close to a girl, who knows what kind of silly scenes the little Eevee will end up in? Now is the time to grow up, find out who you really are and make dreams come true!"

Genre: Fanfiction

Ivy (@RiverIvy)'s Review:

"Pokemon Chronicles: Wrath of the Crystal Queen" was possibly one of the most unusual, unique, thrilling, and enjoyable Pokemon fics that I've read and reviewed for the Gotta Read Em All. It's based off PMD (Pokemon Mystery Dungeon) , something I've never read before nor have I played the game of, yet still I was able to fully understand the story, since it focused on a lot of aspects original to the author.

Without a doubt the best element of this story were its themes. Very occasionally in Pokemon stories, or fanfiction in general, do I come across deep, thought-provoking themes that make you question yourself quite a lot. The ones present were those universal as friendship and loyalty, which, in most cases are quite childish and simple themes, but in here was taken to whole new depth. Throughout the story, the main character Eve faces certain conflict concerning those two themes that aren't only the cliché "be a good friend and people will like you" - but more like "should I have my friendship sacrificed for a more important cause?" "should I be friends with this person even if I'm putting myself in grave danger?" "should I trust this friend even if I've been lied to, but for my own good?", etc.

Other, much rarer, and more unique themes were present as well: the shades of gray present between good VS bad (the good guys aren't all good, the bad guys aren't all bad), sacrifice (not necessarily one's entire life, but giving up parts of it), how the truth really is VS how society perceives it to be, wickedness of high members of power/authority...

Another great thing about the story was its plot. It had an incredibly detailed, complex plot that had so many back-stories too it - like that of both minor and major characters, even those whom you've had last expected, from the seemingly cold and tough mercenary, to the sadistic villain, to the loving mom.

What I also love is how, in each chapter, some small hints of a mystery is introduced, through unanswered or odd events that make the reader think, "Huh? What's this about?" As a reader, I felt that it was these things that really compelled me to move on and kept my interest taut and fresh at all times. Similarly, major questions and outcomes built a general suspense for the entire book! How is the battle going to turn out? What will Eve's decision be? What will the villains do next? What's going to become of this guy?

Characterization is spectacular and realistic. Each Pokemon, no matter how insignificant, still had their own defining characteristic that made a great job of bringing each character right out of the page and into being more life-like. The snappish, yet faithful one, who has an aching origin that haunts and destroys her, the main character who although is described as the "pure-hearted one", isn't at all a Mary-Sue and has his own flaws, the shy, unhappy, but kind-hearted love interest, the harsh, cold mercenary with a scarred past. The development is great, too; it's clear how each character, from start to finish, slowly grew into being more mature, knowledgeable and wise Pokemon, yet still retained their main personalities. Good characters are essential for a good book. No exceptions.