Katch reviewed Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon by Matt Dinniman
Excellent Dark Fantasy Worldbuilding
This kicks off with the trapped-in-a-video-game trope and puts a few horror and thriller elements in. The world the main character is trapped in combines some excellent dark fantasy plotlines with common video game elements that are kept interesting by having unique twists. The basic premise is that players are healing kaiju to fight demons; however, there is so much more to the story as it evolves than that. I thought the fantasy world explored in the book was expertly handled, but the frame story that involves the world outside the game felt underdeveloped. On the whole, I was pleasantly surprised by this title, even if the bookends of it felt less adequate.
There's a lot to take from this title about effective worldbuilding in this isekai genre-adjacent format. It made me think about how so many of the stories currently being written in this subgenre often feel very similar …
This kicks off with the trapped-in-a-video-game trope and puts a few horror and thriller elements in. The world the main character is trapped in combines some excellent dark fantasy plotlines with common video game elements that are kept interesting by having unique twists. The basic premise is that players are healing kaiju to fight demons; however, there is so much more to the story as it evolves than that. I thought the fantasy world explored in the book was expertly handled, but the frame story that involves the world outside the game felt underdeveloped. On the whole, I was pleasantly surprised by this title, even if the bookends of it felt less adequate.
There's a lot to take from this title about effective worldbuilding in this isekai genre-adjacent format. It made me think about how so many of the stories currently being written in this subgenre often feel very similar with mostly the same basic tropes thrown together when it comes to the video game, outside world, and general fantasy setting elements. It was an interesting ride.
