Set Sytes

Wulf
By Set Sytes

This unusual take on the "portal fantasy" genre sees a... Person? An unidentified man from what I assume is our Earth get soul-shifted to another, wildly different Earth in a the frame similar to the American old West. The man wakes up in the body of Jay Wulf, a killer and horndog. And then he goes off and kills price and wrestles with his libido.

This novel is weird. Not in the genre "weird" sense, but in the sense of, I'm not sure what's going on here?

There really isn't a plot, just a bunch of stuff happening. The characters don't seem to have motivation for what they do, they just kind of do it. There are all these threads (celestial robots?) that don't go anywhere or make any sense. And the ending just erases all the stuff that came before, basically.

But at the same time, there's something compelling here. There are some dazzlingly good sentences, and well written dialog. The world is interesting and hints at intense possibilities. But all of those lovely prefecture aren't out together into what I'd call a story.

I think this is could have been dynamite with a really good editor, someone who could pick out the broken bits and tighten the leftovers pieces into a running engine, but at it is, it's just some interesting stuff happening.… (more)

This book took me completely by surprise, in a great way.

I will say that the overall story was a bit lacking. The beginning and the ending were interesting and moved the plot along quite well but the middle was fairly plodding and didn't really go anywhere.

Where this really shined were its world building and characters. Set Sytes did an amazing job introducing a varied cast of unique, different and interesting characters all with different personalities and motivations. He also painted gorgeous pictures of the world around them that they were traveling in. And he did that without getting into the purple prose world.

The description 'A weird west sci-fantasy' hits this novel on the head. It perfectly fills a great fantasy world with the gratuitous sex and violence you would expect from a wild west story, although it strays a little bit too far into campy territory sometimes.

The overarching plot of the series was introduced fairly well and intriguing although I found it a bit convoluted and difficult to fully understand. Hopefully the picture gets clearer throughout the sequels.… (more)

I was drawn to the title because I thought it should properly be called "How to Not Kill Yourself" (and I remain of that view), then, because it looked like a young person's view of depression and suicidality, a useful perspective as I've not fitted the descriptor "Young Person" for some time.

So: I think it's an excellent resource for young adults, being written in an engaging (sweary) way, and, actually, I found it personally helpful, so I'd recommend it for us fossils, too. Also, like the author, I love the TV show Gotham, so I kind of bonded with him over that!… (more)