Menacing Misfits are the first book in the Darkthorn Academy series by Robyn Wideman. It seem to have been self-published 2019, and the audiobook I listened to was narrated by Vikas Adam. It is a Young Adult fantasy book with hints of LitRPG in it, but that comes into play far later in the book.
Now, the story follows Jack Vance, a half-human and half-dwarf, soon to be sixteen years old boy living with his tinker grandfather, travelling from city to city. Jack has a tendency to get himself into fights and since his grandfather is dying, he decides to take Jack to the place Jack was born. Jack soon learns about his family and heritage, and is sent after his grandfather’s death to Darkthorn Academy, just like his mother, to train and make something out of himself but it isn’t easy when status and wealth is everything and Jack has none of it. He gets enemies, but also friends as he starts to traverse a dangerous world filled with intrigues, dragons and magic.
The most prominent of the characters are Jack, Colin, Lana, Talia and Stan. There are other characters such as the rich snob Isaac, but he has barely any scenes and just shows up randomly to be the villain. The characters are cliché and if you have watch, read or played anything with the label fantasy, then you have encountered these characters before. Jack is the hotheaded boy who cannot handle his temper but for some reason are given magical artifacts and a dragon despite only being a first year and he is “natural” leader, which isn’t something he has shown before. With other words he is the Percy Jackson of the group.
Colin is the map reader and researcher, being the comical relief. Lana is the elven archer who is in love with Jack. Talia is the sexy sorceress and Stan is orc warrior. They are pretty much what you expect them to be. There is also another girl at the start but the book isn’t discreet with her role in the story. It is so obvious that she is, spoilers, a bad guy that it isn’t even funny. Making something to obvious for the readers only make the characters seem stupid for not noticing the obvious.
The biggest problem with this book is that it is a bundle of ideas that are quickly forgotten. The story is set in a straight line only for the author to abandon it, a pattern that is repeated several times. For example, at the start we see racism as humans hate anything nonhuman. Then the grandfather dies and Jack get to the school. Then the racism angle is abandoned and replaced by status and wealth. At first the story is very fantasy like, only for then be replaced by a magical system that is a copy of rpg games with levels, stats and mana/health bars along with team roles such as warrior, healer and so on. The dragon is also introduced into the story, the author is showing Lord Scratches (yes, that is the dragon’s name) as a rare one that only two other’s have bonded with before, only to then not use the dragon much in the story. Effectively wasting a good plotline.
I was excited when it is hinted that Jack is a healer, as a healer myself in games, I was excited to see a healer as the leader. Only to clarify that he wasn’t a healer. He was a healer warrior. Which… Is really stupid. That’s a bad combination. Healer mage, fine, but Healer warrior? Warriors add stats into melee and defense while healers have to add stats into the opposite side. It makes sense to take on a role (if you are going double) that is similar to healers such as mage, archers and the like with similar stats other than trying to add stats into the opposite. The result is that you will become a bad warrior and healer.
Well, I guess a boy must be a warrior and the class system are rather strange in this book. Such as the mages getting swords, and warriors using magic. Jack hardly does any fighting and mostly heal in the book, though it makes no sense when he suddenly become a great fighter despite not fighting much but I guess that comes with being the main character.
They also get too much too soon. For example, you only become a quester in second year because of the danger. Most don’t survive despite being second years. The group doesn’t just survive, they also get respect from the second year, plenty of ultimate and ancient loot. All they had to do is make the mapper a researcher because of an injury and the book has already hinted that would be his role in any case. They keep stumbling over great things and people who help them and rarely does it feel earned.
I cannot say this story inspired me, but I personally wasn’t bothered too much. I found a reviewer who hated all the strong girls in the book, but considering the boys were just as great and the differences between races then that is a really silly argument. If you do hate women being able to beat men in a fight, despite the women using magic while the men uses a sword, then maybe don’t read this book, but I think you have to be really sensitive for that to be a bother in a fantasy book.
All in all, I would give it a 5 out of 10, maybe a 6 if I consider that there are some good plotlines, they just aren’t used and often dropped throughout the story. But otherwise, it is fine book for those who want to waste time and want a fantasy with game elements, otherwise this one is filled with tropes and old clichés that might annoy you.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
Read with Senefer 