 This next book is called On the Island of the Grotesque, and it was written and requested by a patron, Joel Gillum, so Thanks Joel. Here's the review. This is the introduction song. It's not very good, but it's not too long. Now, unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot to say about this book, but that's really because this is a short short book. Like it's not even really a novel or novella. It's just a Pretty long short story. It's a little over 50 pages. Now that said, On the Island of the Grotesque is still enjoyable. I liked it. And it's only $2 on the Kindle store, so if you're looking to kill an hour and this sounds interesting to you, then go ahead and check it out. So the plot is basically this guy named Jalsper going to an island, which is famous for being like just huge and not having any civilization on it and being full of just crazy creatures which are almost impossible to kill. And Jalsper decides to go there to gain a bunch of riches and fame and glory for himself so that he can marry this girl that he really likes. Seems pretty straightforward. And actually, yeah, it is a very straightforward setup for a plot, which is also pretty straightforward. If you just look at the cover of the book, which I will say is actually really cool looking. I don't know if Joel Gillam made that himself or if he had it commissioned, but either way, cool cover. And it gets across the idea of what this book was definitely trying to do. Like, you know, it's going on crazy adventures with knights, and then they go off and fight crazy animals. Like, that sounds fun. And that is what this book is. But at the same time, it takes like five or six hundred pages worth of plot and character development and world building and it squeezes it into about 50 pages. And, well, I'm not going to pretend that there aren't positives to that because like, it is kind of neat to see this world and just basically dip your toes in the pool of it and then immediately leave. Like, that's kind of cool. It gives you this idea that, wow, this place is huge and we barely know anything about it. But other than that, I am a guy who likes really long, in-depth, big fantasy stories, so this was definitely just not of my alley. Now that said, if you're somebody that likes the idea of fantasy but doesn't like reading those giant doorstopper books, then yeah, this might interest you. And while the plot is, you know, fine, it's pretty straightforward. Like, he goes to the island with some friends and then he meets some new allies while he's on there and then he goes off, gets some treasures, he fights some creatures and then he manages to escape. But he also finds out some weird information about the true origin of the island and the true origins of the creatures on there. And that's all, you know, that's all cool. It's just, none of it is really given enough time to sink in. And that's the biggest issue with this short format. Like, had this been just really, really focused on Joel, or not Joel, Jasper, Jalsper going to the island, fighting a creature or two and escaping, then yeah, it probably would have worked pretty well. And I should say that the end of this pretty heavily sequel baits. So, like, while it is a pretty self-contained story, it also sets itself up for much more in the future. So, I guess you could look at it as just a very long prologue, but I don't know. It's not that a straightforward plot is bad or anything, it's just that, well, Jalsper, while he is an okay character, like he has a decent setup and he does go through some development in the story, even though it's really short, I never really got that into it. Like, I never really felt that, oh yeah, he's in love with this girl and I want him to be able to marry her. It just felt kind of like, and it wasn't like, oh, he's really young and he's just out to, for attention, he's out to prove himself and all that. And it's not like he learned a lesson about that at the end, at least I don't think he did. And I don't know, it's just a little bit difficult to follow all of this because it happens so fast and nothing has ever gone into a proper amount of detail, at least what I would feel is a proper amount of detail. So, yeah, like, overall, this feels like it was trying to do something different and, yeah, it is something different. And you also have this weird plot point of Joel wanting to create his own kingdom, which, again, could be interesting but they don't really go into why he wanted to create it and he doesn't really start creating it even by the end of the story, so it feels like it's just there, I don't know, but at the end of the day, yeah, I enjoyed this. Like, the writing was a little clumsy at times, but I'm pretty sure Joel Gillum is not a super-experienced writer, so that's kind of to be expected. So Joel, just, you know, work on that a little bit. Like, I would say that's the biggest thing you got to work on. But other than that, yeah, like, it's just, there's not a lot to say about this book because it's so short. Like, the action scenes are over in the blink of an eye, the characters are introduced and then get thrust into danger right away. All the adventures, they go on, have like a couple of little smaller sub-adventures which are just like pop, pop, pop, pop, and then it's over. So, yeah, if a really fast-paced short fantasy story appeals to you, then you might want to check this one out. You know, you could kill an hour or two with it, but if you're looking for a really big epic fantasy story, then this is definitely not for you. And I don't know, Joel, if you want to do something like Stephen King does where you take a short story that he wrote a long time ago, or what Stephen King does, if you don't know, is that he writes short stories a lot and then he'll often expand upon them into full novels, like Salem's Lot was like that, for example. And if Joel wants to do something like that with this, then I would probably check out the full-length novel, as it is not really my cup of tea, but enjoyable enough. Thanks again to Joel for requesting this, and thanks to all of my other patrons, including Appo Savalainen, Brother Santotys, Christopher Hawkins, Christopher Quinten, Joseph Pendergraft, and Tobacco Crow. You guys are pretty cool. I couldn't do this without you. And yeah, I know I should probably shave, but I've been trapped inside for two and a half weeks now, and I don't really feel like it. And if you want early access to my videos, or if you have a work that you want me to review and promote, then check out my Patreon page and consider donating. If you can't do that, then please rate this video, comment on this video, and subscribe to this video so that it gets spread throughout YouTube some more. And I will see you at a later date and or time. Bye.