d_s_t_e's Wattpad Reviews

The Last Philosopher by NickfEast [Fantasy]

On the planet of Huom, there is a prison filled to the brim with seemingly harmless philosophers. On a distant part of that same continent, there is a nation populated and ruled by sorcerers. At the top of his tower, one of the leaders of the sorcerers has terrible nightmares about an oncoming darkness, while in the prison, a single philosopher makes an escape. In the greater universe surrounding them, events are in motion that will connect these two, events that could possibly even involve the destruction of that universe.

I think it's fairly easy to see that the biggest strength of this book is its incredibly complex fantasy world. In the very first part of the book, we see that the planet of Huom has a unique history and position in its galaxy and in the greater universe. That planet has multiple continents, each with multiple unique locations, many of which also have their own backstories. The planet is populated by multiple races and types of creature, from the lizard-like Akri to the eccentric gnomes. Even the nation of the sorcerers itself is divided into different schools of magic, each with their own focus, goals, and clothing. And every different part of the world has its own unique culture.

With so much uniqueness and complexity, this fantastical world should shine on the page. Unfortunately, the way that beautifully complex world is presented leaves so much to be desired that each new world-building detail quickly begins to seem like nothing more than a nuisance.

I attempted to describe the plot of the book in the first paragraph of this review, as I always do. Unfortunately, I'm not totally sure what the plot even is. Is it about the potential destruction of the universe? After 103 parts, I can honestly say that's little more than an educated guess. Do the characters even have a chance at saving the universe? I haven't a clue.

The plot started off with a prologue about the planet on which the story takes place and a black hole at the edge of its galaxy. Up to this point, I still don't know how that's relevant. The story then moves to the philosopher making a prison escape. Up to this point, I still don't know what he was imprisoned for, why he decided to escape, or what he is trying to accomplish. After just a few parts, we jump again to the city of the sorcerers, where we meet an entirely new character, who is fighting off sleep because he's having nightmares that he thinks might be important. It took many parts before I got to read about one of these nightmares and many many more before I even got a clue as to how these two characters could be related to each other in any way. And before that connection was revealed, I was met with yet another new character perspective that seemed completely unrelated to anything that had come before.

I really don't like reading and reading and reading and not knowing how any of it relates to the plot. I like it even less when, to all appearances, there simply is no plot. I shouldn't constantly be asking "what was the point of this chapter?".

The plot should be established quickly, and the events of the book should represent points of conflict in relation to that plot. If the plot is that the universe is dying and needs to be saved, I need to know that up front. Then I need to know that there is hope for saving it, even if the odds are long and the scenario seemingly impossible. In fact, if those two things are true, all the better because it gives the story a sense of tension and suspense. The characters would have a purpose. I would have a reason to care about how they are faring.

I think that one of the major problems of this book is that it seems to love hoarding away all of the secrets of what you need to know while simultaneously overloading you with information that you were never given a reason to care about. I know all about why the sorcerer's nation of Empris was founded. I know about the contentious history between the people of Agalaland and a tribe called the Nontie. I learned quite a bit about a dog named Rascal who has an odd habit of chewing on rocks. All of this was introduced at a point in the story where I didn't have any reason to care. I was told the history of Empris after reading just one story part that had taken place there, a story part in which an old sorcerer sat in his room and did a lot of thinking while I wondered why I was reading about him instead of the escaping prisoner the book had started with. I learned about the history of Agaland and the Nontie many story parts in, while a character was visiting the Nontie and was clearly not intent upon staying for long, which suggested that it had no relevance at all to the greater plot. And I learned about Rascal from the perspective of a character who had seemingly popped into the story out of nowhere and was unconnected to everything I was then aware of, while the dog was only barely connected even to his life.