Pokémon Book Reviews

Individual Review of Swanna Girl and Braviary Man by JunieWeather

(blue___22 )

Swanna Girl and Braviary Man by JunieWeather is the book that finally motivated me take a study break to write a review. Part of participating in the live stream for this year's Pokémon Watty awards is reading all the books. And fine, you can make general notes about each book and talk about general things, but this book deserves a review. Why? Because it's interesting to talk about, to think about. It's the kind of book you want to comment on, or at least, I wanted to comment on.

I think the first thing I want to address is character development. There were times that the author was spot on with characterization. In particular, I loved the characterization of Rudi and Sylvia. They were well thought out, well planned, and had some substance to them. I like how even if they had rather simplistic pasts, it was easy to understand their viewpoints and thoughts. I also like how even though Sylvia's thoughts changed towards certain things (like Rudi and his reasons for being the way he was being) over the length of the book, her defense mechanisms didn't. You can see it too. She denies and shuns the things that make her uncomfortable, even if it is a new thing that she has to learn. And personally, I find that it speaks a lot to how people are. They may make changes to their lives, but some of the base behaviors will continue to remain the same. Like angry people will get angry over things, and shy people will run from things.

Of course, that's not to say characterization was perfect. There were things that could've been improved and expounded upon. The first was Rhea's character. Personally, I feel like Rhea was a little bit over-tempered, and her reactions to Sylvia were pretty off-beat. *SPOILERS* The scene where Rhea slaps Sylvia, while dramatic, was very out of place. I get that Rudi was hurt. However, I also feel like Rhea would understand that Sylvia had to hide because people were threatening to kill her. Just in general her over-protectiveness as a sister was very confusing and frustrating to read. *SPOILERS END*

Also, speaking of Rudi, I feel like perhaps the explanations of his past could have been not only better timed but better explained overall. In general I could grasp his situation, but the specifics were confusing to me. *SPOILERS* I couldn't quite process what went down with Gila and why Rhea reacted the way she did in the beginning where she went all bezerk on Sylvia saying that she would take advantage of him. I get that Gila was both a characterization and a plot device, but I feel like her ickiness could have been used more effectively. Like she could've been harsher in the final battle, because I kind of felt a lack of impact and care to what she had to say. Also, as a side note, I didn't like the random point of view changes to her POV since it was in first person. *SPOILERS END*

The villain I found the most interesting was actually Hunter Krait. He was the one who fought with Sylvia the most and who I found most relevant overall. From what you said, I really felt like his battles could've been exciting more towards the end. *SPOILERS* I would have enjoyed him more as a final villain than Taipan. Personally, the way I would've gone about writing it is that Rudi would have to face off against Gila to recover from his heart break and get "revenge" and that Taipan would be there as well for Rhea to help face off as Rudi's sister. Then, I would make the Krait twins be the final battle. Archer would be for comedic relief, since he's not very strong, and Hunter would get to face off against Sylvia for a third time. This would give some credence to the fact that she would best him for beating her with dirty tricks, and it would also fulfill an overall rule of writing villains. *SPOILERS END*

For reference, this overall rule of thumb is that your main villain should be a pretty present figure in the story. The goal/idea is that you want to make some stakes for your villain as an obstacle. And no, by stakes I don't mean saving Unova. I mean personal in-your-face stakes. Like for example if Nurse Joy was taken hostage. Then that gives the reader a reason to care. Stakes are kind of a confusing topic in this book. There is the beginning of what can be stakes, but they don't really become stakes, which is why you need to add more personal goals for a rewrite. Remember, the ultimate idea is "why should this matter". I think for me as a reader the things I cared the most about were the relationship between Rudi and Sylvia and Patrat's pizza. I was very disappointed when Miasma attacked there because that was where they went to go eat pizza.

*SPOILERS* Something very important in terms of stakes is the death of Swanna. There wasn't quite enough oomph into this death because while Swanna died, it wasn't on the spot. I realize that you were going for something symbolic, but I also feel that it would've been more fitting had you made Swanna die in battle. In that moment you could've made the emotions of the climax stronger, and Swanna's death would've brought more stakes towards Sylvia winning. Death in a book has to be very important and emotional to make an impact. You need to see Sylvia get mowed down and lose hope, but the character turn it around for it to be meaningful. It's the climax, after all. *SPOILERS END*

Plot twists were also an interesting aspect of the story. As a mystery writer it was pretty easy to pick them out in the story. Which is fine. It's good to have a mix of predictable twists, mostly unpredictable twists, and out of the blue twists. Predictability is what allows readers to follow along and theorize. However, unpredictability and out of the blue type twists keep the reader on their toes. I typically use a mix of suspense, mostly unpredictable twists, and a few out of the blue twists to fuel my story. I feel like the author wanted most of the twists to be unpredictable, but they were actually pretty good as predictable twists. I really enjoyed being able to map out the story in my mind. Of course, I didn't know what the ending was going to be, so it all worked out in the end. I feel like with the superhero genre in general being able to follow along is nice.

I also like the simplicity of the story. I feel like every once in a while the site needs to take a moment to read something simple and medium length as something to relax. I think that in particular the simplicity works for the story because it avoids a lot of confusion for the events between characters. It was cut and dry, but obviously still had a lot to think and talk about or else I wouldn't have written this review. The amount of characters was about what it should've been, and for the most part the story was short enough that it didn't drag on. It was also pretty consistent in tempo, so it wasn't easy to stop reading. The cover and the synopsis also do well for the book.

Of course, all that being said, as a standalone book it was alright up until the epilogue. The epilogue left me with a lot of frustration and questions that, of course, will be addressed in the sequel. I think that merit of the book overall can be judged without the sequel, so I will leave a score. However, I intend to do a follow-up review since I feel like the series itself also has a merit. So, until then, the score listed here is how I felt regarding the first book in the series.

GRA score - 7.5/10: really great