Pokémon Book Reviews

"Pokemon: Drown" - by Alko-Hitch [Not on wattpad]

Pokemon: Drown:

"Alko is many things. Alko is a teen dewott, a swordsman, a thief, a robber, a mercenary, and many more.

Alko is not however a murder. The worst thing he has ever done to any pokemon was break arms and legs. He will never do worse than that.

One day, desperate for some money, he does an armed robbery. He doesn't get caught, but on the way out, when the authority found him just like that, he takes a combusken and uses her for a hostage.

What Alko didn't know was that he held the teen who happens to be one of the heroes that saved the world in the past as hostage. But somehow, Alko managed to escape.

Curious on what drove Alko towards this, the combusken took it upon herself to find out for herself.

Little does anyone know, Alko has many secrets he does not want anyone to know. Many dark, painful, secrets."

Genre: Fanfiction

Ivy (RiverIvy )'s review:

Pokemon: Drown is a fanfiction written in the point of view of a Dewott named Alko, who works as a mercenary. I don't think it was exactly specified where it took place, but, because of the diverse amount of Pokemon from different regions and other context hints, I'm guessing that it didn't take place in any of the main six regions.

It's only logical for me to start off by saying that I loved the plot - everything about it, from the occurrences in the beginning with Alko's jobs and the twists along the middle to the ultimate revelations in the end, each and every single aspect of it was thrilling and utterly original; not one chapter failed to introduce something that was of interest or a great cliffhanger.

I think what made this book such an intense read was all the action and they way it was described with various battle scenes, escape scenes, and full-out near war-like scenes. One that especially stuck to me, I don't know why, was one part where Alko is fleeing from two cops. It took place in a supermarket, if I remember correctly. There's just something so exhilarating about taking a completely ordinary place, a grocery store, and turning it into such an amazing chase - again, I don't why I liked this specific part so much, but I thought it really enjoyable the way Alko leapt and hid between the aisles, and other actions such as that.

One of the finest things of Drown was, amid all the great action and battle, the author still managed to incorporate such great, unusual themes for a Pokemon fanfiction, like drugs and drug abuse, the effects of a person's condition depending on their childhood, how so many things link to and affect so many others. The book also goes very in-depth in the concept of good VS. evil, and explores both the villains and heroes as well as their motives and backstories. An example being, Alko, the main character himself.

Small, tense mysteries and unanswered question subtly weaved in each chapter challenges the reader, and makes him or her puzzled about this and that, hence compelling him or her greatly to read on. This, I found, added a really great effect to the overall book.

Small thing to add - there was a bit of a twist on Alko's past and how he came to be, aside from trauma from drug abuse and such. It doesn't have anything much to do with childhood and realistic themes, nor was it really too unique or special, but I found it not bad nonetheless. I won't say what it is here for the sake of remaining spoiler-free, but I really think that it could've done with a little more explanation to it.

Now! - to the cons...

One very major problem with this book was that it told, it didn't show. Whenever something was going on, the narration stated the obvious instead of showing us, the readers, through things like the actions, words, thoughts of the characters, and things like that - showing is the best way for the reader to be able to pick up on what's going on and not feel frustrated or bored by it!