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Nightvale Novels #1
The Long Moonlight
MENUVIA
A sparkling gem made rough stone, the seat of political power in the Kingdom of Vale. Revolt foments among the patrician class and open gang war looms on the horizon. As the Argentine Tower plots revolution, a lone thief with a past as dark as Menuvia itself picks the wrong lock and opens the wrong door. Shadows still cast in the dark of night, underneath THE LONG MOONLIGHT.
Featuring a series of original illustrations.
Paperback edition, 126 pages.
Dark Legion Books
A sparkling gem made rough stone, the seat of political power in the Kingdom of Vale. Revolt foments among the patrician class and open gang war looms on the horizon. As the Argentine Tower plots revolution, a lone thief with a past as dark as Menuvia itself picks the wrong lock and opens the wrong door. Shadows still cast in the dark of night, underneath THE LONG MOONLIGHT.
Featuring a series of original illustrations.
Paperback edition, 126 pages.
Dark Legion Books
125 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2020
13 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
RazörFist
3 books48 followersRazörFist was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. He produces several web series, including Film Noirchives, Metal Mythos, and the popular Rageaholic review and commentary series. Prior to that, he studied Political Science at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
The Long Moonlight is his first published novel, but not his first published work, having previously illustrated short stories in various anthology magazines as a comic artist.
The Long Moonlight is his first published novel, but not his first published work, having previously illustrated short stories in various anthology magazines as a comic artist.
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December 4, 2021In the 1980s, Alan Moore would change the face of mainstream American comics with titles such as Swamp Thing, Watchmen, and V For Vendetta, dealing a hefty blow to the Comics Code Authority that had stifled creative expression in American comics for several decades and finally causing its hold on the industry to be broken. Of course, he didn't do it alone, as writers like Miller, Gerber, and O'Neil were already writing darker, morally complex stories under the Code's nose before Moore gave it the final kick to the teeth in order to get it out of mainstream comics for good.
Certainly when people criticize your heroes, you have a natural impulse to respond, rather it be with insults or a refutation of the person's arguments. Admittedly, I like some of Razorfist's videos, as they can be entertaining and he certainly shows that he's intelligent despite his profane tirades throughout his videos, but as I began to explore his channel, I began to notice some cracks that could never fully be fixed. He's pilfered the Nostalgia Critic and AVGN's sthick, yet without any of the charm or humor that makes them so enjoyable.
Now, it's fine for someone to not like Moore or to think that he's overrated, he's not a writer for everyone of course, yet what pisses me off about Razorfist is his flagrant intellectual dishonesty when criticizing Moore. Razorfist has claimed that Moore took the time in the Jonathan Ross documentary In Search of Steve Ditko, to criticize his politics, knowing that Ditko would probably not be able to defend himself (nor do I think he would've cared to) though that argument quickly falls apart if you do some research, which showcases that Moore has always been clear in his admiration for Ditko as an artist, even if he disagrees with his political opinions and he even praises him many times in interviews and in the documentary that Razorfist cited. I tried pointing this out to him, though he didn't seem very concerned with my criticisms and wrote me off as a fanboy.
Certainly he's entitled to believe that, and I'll admit that perhaps I got too caught up in my fanboy id when I first responded to him, but I still found that my concerns were well founded. I'm surprised that he likes Moorcock, as he's basically the Alan Moore of pulp fantasy, sapping down old genre cliches and adding new twists and turns to the genre, he's also never been shy about attacking authors for their political beliefs (and with far less subtlety than Alan), so by his own standards that would make Moorcock childish and cowardly for attacking Tolkien for his political beliefs when the man couldn't defend himself, and even better yet Razorfist does that himself when he criticized Moore in his own video memorializing Steve Ditko, in his own words:
"People who enjoy superheroes are emotionally deranged and childish", you say? Capital stuff coming from the guy who participated in a full-length documentary on the life and career of Steve Ditko, only to dedicate its entire runtime to bashing the man and his politics knowing full well he would never publicly rebuff you or your incredibly pedestrian worldview. I hate to break it to you, Alan, but that's not only childish, it's the intellectual equivalent of Duck Duck Goose."
It'd be ironic if it wasn't so lost on him. Then again, I'm not too surprised, as people who are as short sighted and self serving as he is often tend to lack any sort of self-awareness. For someone who hates hypocrites and intellectual dishonesty so much, it seems that he can't help but fall into those things himself. He also falls into the same traps that the SJWs that he criticizes fall into by using condescension, ad hominem, and confirmation bias to get his points across.
Yet again, this is another guy who likes to hear himself talk, and who thinks that he's profound and sophisticated simply because he criticizes products and authors and artists that other people like. I sometimes think that he has to be some sort of troll or is toying with the audience with his antics, but there's so sense of irony or self awareness in anything that he does and if that's the case in such things like his 'criticism' on Youtube, then how should I be able to find it in something that he writes. This book gets my hard earned pass.
Note: If you're going to be one of those commenters who say 'wHaT dOeS tHiS hAvE tO dO wItH tHe bOoK' or 'yOu'Re sO pEtTy dUdE, yOu dIdN't eVeN rEaD tHe bOoK.' You can kindly leave, while you're entitled to like this man's work, he's a intellectually dishonest, reactionary moron and not a person who I want to be wasting my time on or giving any sort of attention to. Thank you.
Certainly when people criticize your heroes, you have a natural impulse to respond, rather it be with insults or a refutation of the person's arguments. Admittedly, I like some of Razorfist's videos, as they can be entertaining and he certainly shows that he's intelligent despite his profane tirades throughout his videos, but as I began to explore his channel, I began to notice some cracks that could never fully be fixed. He's pilfered the Nostalgia Critic and AVGN's sthick, yet without any of the charm or humor that makes them so enjoyable.
Now, it's fine for someone to not like Moore or to think that he's overrated, he's not a writer for everyone of course, yet what pisses me off about Razorfist is his flagrant intellectual dishonesty when criticizing Moore. Razorfist has claimed that Moore took the time in the Jonathan Ross documentary In Search of Steve Ditko, to criticize his politics, knowing that Ditko would probably not be able to defend himself (nor do I think he would've cared to) though that argument quickly falls apart if you do some research, which showcases that Moore has always been clear in his admiration for Ditko as an artist, even if he disagrees with his political opinions and he even praises him many times in interviews and in the documentary that Razorfist cited. I tried pointing this out to him, though he didn't seem very concerned with my criticisms and wrote me off as a fanboy.
Certainly he's entitled to believe that, and I'll admit that perhaps I got too caught up in my fanboy id when I first responded to him, but I still found that my concerns were well founded. I'm surprised that he likes Moorcock, as he's basically the Alan Moore of pulp fantasy, sapping down old genre cliches and adding new twists and turns to the genre, he's also never been shy about attacking authors for their political beliefs (and with far less subtlety than Alan), so by his own standards that would make Moorcock childish and cowardly for attacking Tolkien for his political beliefs when the man couldn't defend himself, and even better yet Razorfist does that himself when he criticized Moore in his own video memorializing Steve Ditko, in his own words:
"People who enjoy superheroes are emotionally deranged and childish", you say? Capital stuff coming from the guy who participated in a full-length documentary on the life and career of Steve Ditko, only to dedicate its entire runtime to bashing the man and his politics knowing full well he would never publicly rebuff you or your incredibly pedestrian worldview. I hate to break it to you, Alan, but that's not only childish, it's the intellectual equivalent of Duck Duck Goose."
It'd be ironic if it wasn't so lost on him. Then again, I'm not too surprised, as people who are as short sighted and self serving as he is often tend to lack any sort of self-awareness. For someone who hates hypocrites and intellectual dishonesty so much, it seems that he can't help but fall into those things himself. He also falls into the same traps that the SJWs that he criticizes fall into by using condescension, ad hominem, and confirmation bias to get his points across.
Yet again, this is another guy who likes to hear himself talk, and who thinks that he's profound and sophisticated simply because he criticizes products and authors and artists that other people like. I sometimes think that he has to be some sort of troll or is toying with the audience with his antics, but there's so sense of irony or self awareness in anything that he does and if that's the case in such things like his 'criticism' on Youtube, then how should I be able to find it in something that he writes. This book gets my hard earned pass.
Note: If you're going to be one of those commenters who say 'wHaT dOeS tHiS hAvE tO dO wItH tHe bOoK' or 'yOu'Re sO pEtTy dUdE, yOu dIdN't eVeN rEaD tHe bOoK.' You can kindly leave, while you're entitled to like this man's work, he's a intellectually dishonest, reactionary moron and not a person who I want to be wasting my time on or giving any sort of attention to. Thank you.
December 31, 2020
Penned with the assumption that the curious Goodreader would like a review of the content, and not the creator.
As a viewer and fan of Razorfist's content for the better part of the last 4 years, watching his skills with wordplay and art develop to the point of pulp publication has been a very rewarding process to follow. And repulsed as I am by the state of modern fantasy, with its masturbatory hard magic systems, young adult affectations and the endlessly unoriginal mimicking of Martin, Tolkein or Le Guin, it is infinitely refreshing to finally read something that takes influence more from the likes of Walter B Gibson, Robert E Howard and Michael Moorcock.
In addition to the many nods to classic fantasy, The Long Moonlight is tempered by a fidelity to film noir and other depression-era crime classics, plot points and character traits passionately ripped straight from the screen and the magazine. Lurking in the primordial shadows of the pulp’s influences are stealth scenes echoing The Shadow or Chandleresque characters. The immortal Phillip Marlowe is aped, for example, that great patron saint of knights in dirty armour providing the model for our thief protagonist, Xerdes. The occupation of the pulp hero has created many comparisons to the Thief video game series, as well as the motif of warring gangland factions. With scaled down supernatural elements, however, the gangs of Menuvia draw more from Hammett’s Red Harvest, or Milch’s Deadwood series(as one could glean from the name ‘Cy Welliver’)
In short, The Long Moonlight is based on the good shit. Entirely worthy of association with any of the classics catalogued above. Indeed, the primary purpose of this preamble is to suggest that any fan of pulp fantasy or pulp crime will enjoy The Long Moonlight. As a result of a highly *cultured* gestation process, Razor has successfully produced an exciting pulp that simultaneously pays homage to the dime novel demigods of old while charting a bold new course for fantasy at large in the future.
What then, will this book provide for the nostalgic fantasy reader? One pining for the pulp adventures of old, before Tolkein and, more appropriately, his ilk froze the genre into an endless series of epics and eddas, convoluted in ambition and content, while deficient in meaning and fun? The Long Moonlight, most impressively for a fantasy novel in 2020, shells out a simple but tight plot, a little over a hundred pages.
We follow Xerdes, a wisecracking thief with an enigmatic past, navigating through a bitter gang war in the old Fistful of Dollars/Red Harvest/Yojimbo style. He pulls off heists, seduces fantastical vixens and, at last, picks a side in the larger urban power struggle. The story’s low fantasy affectations result in Razor drawing deep from the noir trope well, spicing the whole thing up with an interwar pulpy flair not often seen in fantasy. The fight scenes are fluid, and the stealth sections are tense, as one would expect from a student of The Shadow, the first superhero.
The artwork, though quantitatively more sparse than I expected at purchase, is much more fluid than Razor’s old art nouveau scribblings, penned back in those halcyon deviantart days. The crosshatching is comic book quality(I mean this as a compliment), and would be perfect as desktop wallpaper.
Where the book’s quality starts to sour however, is with the prose. At its worst it’s a fleet of five dollar words, this time undisguised by Razor’s trademarked motormouth; when it is at its best, there are moments of fluid pulp brilliance, dripping with atmosphere and action in equal parts. There is a little too much alliteration in places, some convoluted similes, and in general a sense that the author is too busy riffing with wordplay to build character or world. The purple prose is fun, but labyrinthine and overdone, an awkward middle ground between Hawthorne and Ian Fleming. I have a feeling this will likely be ironed out by time and practice. It is, after all, a debut novel.
To put a number value on it, The Long Moonlight would be a 7/10, but a high 7. It was pretty much exactly what I expected, a fun fantasy read for a day or two, with an interesting world and unique hardboiled tone. Most significantly, I recommend it as a method of getting in on the ground floor of an up and coming genre now. If you harbour even a fleeting interest in a new-wave, pulp-fantasy revival, utterly distinct from and superior to the doldrums of modern epic fantasy, The Long Moonlight is a flagbearer fit for the modern 20s.
As a viewer and fan of Razorfist's content for the better part of the last 4 years, watching his skills with wordplay and art develop to the point of pulp publication has been a very rewarding process to follow. And repulsed as I am by the state of modern fantasy, with its masturbatory hard magic systems, young adult affectations and the endlessly unoriginal mimicking of Martin, Tolkein or Le Guin, it is infinitely refreshing to finally read something that takes influence more from the likes of Walter B Gibson, Robert E Howard and Michael Moorcock.
In addition to the many nods to classic fantasy, The Long Moonlight is tempered by a fidelity to film noir and other depression-era crime classics, plot points and character traits passionately ripped straight from the screen and the magazine. Lurking in the primordial shadows of the pulp’s influences are stealth scenes echoing The Shadow or Chandleresque characters. The immortal Phillip Marlowe is aped, for example, that great patron saint of knights in dirty armour providing the model for our thief protagonist, Xerdes. The occupation of the pulp hero has created many comparisons to the Thief video game series, as well as the motif of warring gangland factions. With scaled down supernatural elements, however, the gangs of Menuvia draw more from Hammett’s Red Harvest, or Milch’s Deadwood series(as one could glean from the name ‘Cy Welliver’)
In short, The Long Moonlight is based on the good shit. Entirely worthy of association with any of the classics catalogued above. Indeed, the primary purpose of this preamble is to suggest that any fan of pulp fantasy or pulp crime will enjoy The Long Moonlight. As a result of a highly *cultured* gestation process, Razor has successfully produced an exciting pulp that simultaneously pays homage to the dime novel demigods of old while charting a bold new course for fantasy at large in the future.
What then, will this book provide for the nostalgic fantasy reader? One pining for the pulp adventures of old, before Tolkein and, more appropriately, his ilk froze the genre into an endless series of epics and eddas, convoluted in ambition and content, while deficient in meaning and fun? The Long Moonlight, most impressively for a fantasy novel in 2020, shells out a simple but tight plot, a little over a hundred pages.
We follow Xerdes, a wisecracking thief with an enigmatic past, navigating through a bitter gang war in the old Fistful of Dollars/Red Harvest/Yojimbo style. He pulls off heists, seduces fantastical vixens and, at last, picks a side in the larger urban power struggle. The story’s low fantasy affectations result in Razor drawing deep from the noir trope well, spicing the whole thing up with an interwar pulpy flair not often seen in fantasy. The fight scenes are fluid, and the stealth sections are tense, as one would expect from a student of The Shadow, the first superhero.
The artwork, though quantitatively more sparse than I expected at purchase, is much more fluid than Razor’s old art nouveau scribblings, penned back in those halcyon deviantart days. The crosshatching is comic book quality(I mean this as a compliment), and would be perfect as desktop wallpaper.
Where the book’s quality starts to sour however, is with the prose. At its worst it’s a fleet of five dollar words, this time undisguised by Razor’s trademarked motormouth; when it is at its best, there are moments of fluid pulp brilliance, dripping with atmosphere and action in equal parts. There is a little too much alliteration in places, some convoluted similes, and in general a sense that the author is too busy riffing with wordplay to build character or world. The purple prose is fun, but labyrinthine and overdone, an awkward middle ground between Hawthorne and Ian Fleming. I have a feeling this will likely be ironed out by time and practice. It is, after all, a debut novel.
To put a number value on it, The Long Moonlight would be a 7/10, but a high 7. It was pretty much exactly what I expected, a fun fantasy read for a day or two, with an interesting world and unique hardboiled tone. Most significantly, I recommend it as a method of getting in on the ground floor of an up and coming genre now. If you harbour even a fleeting interest in a new-wave, pulp-fantasy revival, utterly distinct from and superior to the doldrums of modern epic fantasy, The Long Moonlight is a flagbearer fit for the modern 20s.
January 19, 2023
The Long Moonlight by Daniel Harris is a glorified fan fiction written by a man who obviously has a mastery of his thesaurus. The story follows Garrett as he navigates the underworld of Menuvia. My biggest problem with this book is the diction. I could perhaps look past the fact this is fan fiction of Mr. Harris' favorite game, Thief, if he wasn't so concerned with flaunting his verbose vocabulary. It drags down the story and ultimately leaves the reader incredibly bored.
I know his fans will argue against my points and Mr. Harris himself will most likely rant on a stream about how some terrible author criticized his book. Daniel, I mean no disrespect, and would really like to see you improve as a writer. Just ease off the word salad.
Oh and lay off the pregnant pauses.
I know his fans will argue against my points and Mr. Harris himself will most likely rant on a stream about how some terrible author criticized his book. Daniel, I mean no disrespect, and would really like to see you improve as a writer. Just ease off the word salad.
Oh and lay off the pregnant pauses.
February 18, 2022
The author intends for this to be the first book in what he calls the Nightvale series, which is in no way connected to the podcast Welcome to Nightvale or anything in it
When asked if he thought there would be any confusion, he said no because - direct quote - "No one knows what the fuck that is."
He was then shown that the podcast's pilot episode on YouTube had about three times more views than his most viewed video, but did not correct himself.
That's the first red flag.
The author gloated that an attempt to "cancel" him resulted in this book being stocked in Barnes and Noble. I did a search on the Barnes and Noble website and found they didn't have it in stock, and when I went to the closest location in person, they confirmed they didn't have it in stock. Perhaps this will be taken merely as anecdotal evidence, but either way, that's the second red flag.
And when I got to actually reading the book against my better judgment, it was the single most boring thing I ever read. Do not read and do not support this poor excuse of an author.
When asked if he thought there would be any confusion, he said no because - direct quote - "No one knows what the fuck that is."
He was then shown that the podcast's pilot episode on YouTube had about three times more views than his most viewed video, but did not correct himself.
That's the first red flag.
The author gloated that an attempt to "cancel" him resulted in this book being stocked in Barnes and Noble. I did a search on the Barnes and Noble website and found they didn't have it in stock, and when I went to the closest location in person, they confirmed they didn't have it in stock. Perhaps this will be taken merely as anecdotal evidence, but either way, that's the second red flag.
And when I got to actually reading the book against my better judgment, it was the single most boring thing I ever read. Do not read and do not support this poor excuse of an author.
March 19, 2022
Mr. Fist is in desperate need of an editor who is willing to take his thesaurus away from him. The prose is purple in the extreme. Adverb usage makes word salad of nearly every sentence. Word usage is clumsy when not outright incorrect (referring to an immense wooden door as "obese".... No... Just no.)
The amateurish writing would have been somewhat forgivable were it not for lackluster characters and the use of cliché and tired tropes.
That said, the climactic scene works and is a compelling bit.
I wanted to like this more. I find Razor's commentary on gaming, music, film and politics entertaining. His writing needs a lot of work, though.
The amateurish writing would have been somewhat forgivable were it not for lackluster characters and the use of cliché and tired tropes.
That said, the climactic scene works and is a compelling bit.
I wanted to like this more. I find Razor's commentary on gaming, music, film and politics entertaining. His writing needs a lot of work, though.
August 8, 2022
I haven't had great results with books written by internet personalities. Almost all of them serve as a prime example of how critiquers critique because they cannot do, a lot like teachers, except somehow even more vapid and prone to child molestation. I've read 'em all, from Daniel Greene's piddly attempt to give Brandon Sanderson a hard edge to Shadiversity's embarrassing rape-obsessed Hitler redemption story. None have been really worth the ink and paper wasted to print them.
But this!? Well... this is also not really that great.
I suppose I should specify, before I dive headlong into this review, that I am not a particularly large fan of Razorfist's media output, nor am I a detractor. Similar to the quality of his writing I find his videos to range wildly in quality from upload to upload. At times, an insightful and entertaining character dropping refreshing opinions or spotlights on old media that has long since fallen out of the limelight, at others, an embarrassing lolcow riding the contrarian stick-shift so hard it's buried deep inside his puckered 'totally not gay, I just love smoky-voiced protagonists with Marlborough man good looks and judge people for the poor application of their eyeliner while wearing hot pants and fretting over my wardrobe more than your average internet ethot' anus. I can certainly get behind some of his messaging, less so others, but I found his recent video on how we should supplant woke culture with our own pretty compelling and mostly agreeable. So, I decided to check out his own attempt to wade into the fictional sphere with his own Thief fanf-, I mean, totally original fantasy pulp and see how it held up.
It's okay. For all intents and purposes I've certainly read worse, and in comparison to other internet personality output it's pretty much a shining example of the medium. But it does have problems, more than a few.
Chief among them is the general purpleness and amateur nature of the prose and word choice. For a fan of classical pulp fiction, Danny doesn't seem to emulate their particular design very well, outside of the refreshingly brief length of his literary debut. A few other reviews have pointed out clunky description and needlessly complex word-choice, and while I wasn't stumped by any of the vernacular on display, it had a tendency to feel arbitrary and largely out of place. Pulps are meant to be simple and punchy, and I can understand why a not-insignificant number of the reviews for this book mention mild confusion.
The problem that leapt out to me most often was the inconsistent and aggressive shifts in tense, from present to past at the drop of a hat, or whenever Razor felt like it made sense. "The Horrand blood in Saryss’s veins—hardened as it is against the
frigid elements—ran like ice water. Her allies were convulsing in what
might well be their death throes,"
Other issues in terms of awkward grammar and sloppy punctuation are also present, bordering on rampant. While it's not uncommon for an author to break traditional rules regarding these things (A period goes at the end of a sentence, but more than a few authors use it incorrectly to add a harsh stop for effect, for instance) it's never kept consistent in this book. I couldn't consider it a well-honed style. Unless, of course, you consider shit editing a style.
I don't.
In effect, the issues that plague The Long Moonlight are the same issues that effect most self-published internet personality works. A lack of editing is chief amongst them, though given Razor's abrasive personality, I'm not surprised. I'm sure his massive ego would prevent any editor from really delving in and helping him in the way he needs.
Lastly, I'd be remiss not to mention the hypocrisy on display in this book, and sadly this is mostly unrelated to the quality of the work but is something that still irks me. For someone who has taken a hardline stance against unoriginality and plagiarism, particularly in the case of The Witcher vs. Elric of Melnibone, I find it endlessly entertaining that Razor's first foray into the literary sphere comes in the form of a blatant and shameless pastiche of the videogame series Thief. Oh, sure, he was careful not to use any similar names (though the appearance of his hooded larceny-prone-protagonist is certainly up for debate) so as to cautiously eschew his hard rules of what condones plagiarism "A similar NAME and a similar FUCKING appearance!" but anyone remotely familiar with that particular franchise, good as it is, will undoubtedly notice the similarities. Xerdes is Garrett, a gayer and more effeminate version of the protagonist, (seriously, how many times are you going to mention Xerdes' 'slender' build with reverence, Razor? The closet isn't a home, you can come out at any time. Unless you're self-aggrandizing your own twinkish shape. Hard to be an alpha male when you could put on a mask and some knee-highs to pass better than most trannies I've met. Oops! There I go being a catty bitch again! Sorry.)
Irony, thy name is Razorfist.
But it's not all bad. There's certainly redemptive qualities about the work, and I think it deserves its three star rating, generous as it might seem. Clunky grammar and word-choice aside, the book has a solid sense of place and atmosphere. The characters are archetypal, but functional, and it was refreshing to read a fantasy novel released past the turn of the century that was free of awkward asides into progressive politics for the sake of appeasing a hook-nosed publisher or literary agent. The pacing is solid and quick, and though the novel's got a lot of disconnected parts and POVs (particularly for a pulp) it comes together well enough by the end that I didn't come away confused or disappointed.
I think the footnote/endnote style worldbuilding information is a somewhat inelegant but effective solution to handling fantasy worldbuilding. Rather than bogging the work down with extended asides describing the ins and outs of his setting this stuff is all shunted to the back-end where it can be ignored or read at your leisure. It's not immersive, but it works.
Ultimately, an okay read, I'd recommend you not spend money on it but you could do worse I guess.
But this!? Well... this is also not really that great.
I suppose I should specify, before I dive headlong into this review, that I am not a particularly large fan of Razorfist's media output, nor am I a detractor. Similar to the quality of his writing I find his videos to range wildly in quality from upload to upload. At times, an insightful and entertaining character dropping refreshing opinions or spotlights on old media that has long since fallen out of the limelight, at others, an embarrassing lolcow riding the contrarian stick-shift so hard it's buried deep inside his puckered 'totally not gay, I just love smoky-voiced protagonists with Marlborough man good looks and judge people for the poor application of their eyeliner while wearing hot pants and fretting over my wardrobe more than your average internet ethot' anus. I can certainly get behind some of his messaging, less so others, but I found his recent video on how we should supplant woke culture with our own pretty compelling and mostly agreeable. So, I decided to check out his own attempt to wade into the fictional sphere with his own Thief fanf-, I mean, totally original fantasy pulp and see how it held up.
It's okay. For all intents and purposes I've certainly read worse, and in comparison to other internet personality output it's pretty much a shining example of the medium. But it does have problems, more than a few.
Chief among them is the general purpleness and amateur nature of the prose and word choice. For a fan of classical pulp fiction, Danny doesn't seem to emulate their particular design very well, outside of the refreshingly brief length of his literary debut. A few other reviews have pointed out clunky description and needlessly complex word-choice, and while I wasn't stumped by any of the vernacular on display, it had a tendency to feel arbitrary and largely out of place. Pulps are meant to be simple and punchy, and I can understand why a not-insignificant number of the reviews for this book mention mild confusion.
The problem that leapt out to me most often was the inconsistent and aggressive shifts in tense, from present to past at the drop of a hat, or whenever Razor felt like it made sense. "The Horrand blood in Saryss’s veins—hardened as it is against the
frigid elements—ran like ice water. Her allies were convulsing in what
might well be their death throes,"
Other issues in terms of awkward grammar and sloppy punctuation are also present, bordering on rampant. While it's not uncommon for an author to break traditional rules regarding these things (A period goes at the end of a sentence, but more than a few authors use it incorrectly to add a harsh stop for effect, for instance) it's never kept consistent in this book. I couldn't consider it a well-honed style. Unless, of course, you consider shit editing a style.
I don't.
In effect, the issues that plague The Long Moonlight are the same issues that effect most self-published internet personality works. A lack of editing is chief amongst them, though given Razor's abrasive personality, I'm not surprised. I'm sure his massive ego would prevent any editor from really delving in and helping him in the way he needs.
Lastly, I'd be remiss not to mention the hypocrisy on display in this book, and sadly this is mostly unrelated to the quality of the work but is something that still irks me. For someone who has taken a hardline stance against unoriginality and plagiarism, particularly in the case of The Witcher vs. Elric of Melnibone, I find it endlessly entertaining that Razor's first foray into the literary sphere comes in the form of a blatant and shameless pastiche of the videogame series Thief. Oh, sure, he was careful not to use any similar names (though the appearance of his hooded larceny-prone-protagonist is certainly up for debate) so as to cautiously eschew his hard rules of what condones plagiarism "A similar NAME and a similar FUCKING appearance!" but anyone remotely familiar with that particular franchise, good as it is, will undoubtedly notice the similarities. Xerdes is Garrett, a gayer and more effeminate version of the protagonist, (seriously, how many times are you going to mention Xerdes' 'slender' build with reverence, Razor? The closet isn't a home, you can come out at any time. Unless you're self-aggrandizing your own twinkish shape. Hard to be an alpha male when you could put on a mask and some knee-highs to pass better than most trannies I've met. Oops! There I go being a catty bitch again! Sorry.)
Irony, thy name is Razorfist.
But it's not all bad. There's certainly redemptive qualities about the work, and I think it deserves its three star rating, generous as it might seem. Clunky grammar and word-choice aside, the book has a solid sense of place and atmosphere. The characters are archetypal, but functional, and it was refreshing to read a fantasy novel released past the turn of the century that was free of awkward asides into progressive politics for the sake of appeasing a hook-nosed publisher or literary agent. The pacing is solid and quick, and though the novel's got a lot of disconnected parts and POVs (particularly for a pulp) it comes together well enough by the end that I didn't come away confused or disappointed.
I think the footnote/endnote style worldbuilding information is a somewhat inelegant but effective solution to handling fantasy worldbuilding. Rather than bogging the work down with extended asides describing the ins and outs of his setting this stuff is all shunted to the back-end where it can be ignored or read at your leisure. It's not immersive, but it works.
Ultimately, an okay read, I'd recommend you not spend money on it but you could do worse I guess.
July 12, 2022
3.5/5
This book is rather good, particularly for a first novel (novella) and I'm looking forward to further releases from Razorfist's Nightvale series. The book is short enough that I could comfortably read it in a lazy afternoon, but detailed enough that I don't feel it lacks sufficient atmosphere or character detail. The book's style is clearly influenced by early pulp novels, such as Robert E. Howard and Walter B. Gibson.
The prose is often excellent - though occasionally a little over-indulgent. Razorfist has a broad vocabulary and skill for coining phrases and uses it to good effect in this book. My only criticism would be that some paragraphs are a little overladen with polysyllabic verbiage, making some sentences a little convoluted and requiring that I had to re-read them to fully understand what is being said. (This is a tendency he should correct in future works.) That was irritating, at times. However, the prose is still more engaging than most contemporary fantasy (i.e., stuff written in the last 10 years) that I have read.
The characters are likeable - except when they're not supposed to be. The plot has enough twists in it that it kept me interested until the final pages. Finally, the fictional world has enough detail that I'm looking forward to learning more about it.
This series has real potential.
This book is rather good, particularly for a first novel (novella) and I'm looking forward to further releases from Razorfist's Nightvale series. The book is short enough that I could comfortably read it in a lazy afternoon, but detailed enough that I don't feel it lacks sufficient atmosphere or character detail. The book's style is clearly influenced by early pulp novels, such as Robert E. Howard and Walter B. Gibson.
The prose is often excellent - though occasionally a little over-indulgent. Razorfist has a broad vocabulary and skill for coining phrases and uses it to good effect in this book. My only criticism would be that some paragraphs are a little overladen with polysyllabic verbiage, making some sentences a little convoluted and requiring that I had to re-read them to fully understand what is being said. (This is a tendency he should correct in future works.) That was irritating, at times. However, the prose is still more engaging than most contemporary fantasy (i.e., stuff written in the last 10 years) that I have read.
The characters are likeable - except when they're not supposed to be. The plot has enough twists in it that it kept me interested until the final pages. Finally, the fictional world has enough detail that I'm looking forward to learning more about it.
This series has real potential.
December 13, 2020
I really wanted to love this book. It's a low fantasy noir with a master thief as our protagonist, written by a guy who loves the Thief video game series, The Shadow, and film noir. A guy who has posted highly entertaining videos on each of those subjects that I've enjoyed over the years. But I only liked the book. The story was good and I enjoyed the ride. However, the ride was rough at times. There were just too many moments where I got pulled out of the experience by odd word choices that clanged in my ears. I'd be going along happily and then a door would be described as "obese" or "corpulent" and I'd screech to a halt, wondering how a door can be fat. I'd realize he meant to say "heavy" or something similar, but chose an odd word. I don't know what the intended effect was, but it didn't work for me. I found myself thinking about word choice, when I should have been thinking about the plot, about what comes next. That's why I only liked the book.
That said, I'll probably read the next one when it comes out, because I did like the main character.
That said, I'll probably read the next one when it comes out, because I did like the main character.
August 31, 2021
Very well written. I would recommend the audiobook version because it is narrated by the author. Getting to hear the characters as intended by Razorfist as well as the tone in which the author depicts the story surpasses all expectations. The book touches on many things and beautifully paints the scenes in a manner in which you can actually see what is being presented before you. Without saying too much as to not spoiling anything, I will just say that I am anxiously awaiting the next book. The illustrations alone are beautiful and are an art in itself. Collectively, this book is a must have.
August 3, 2021
What if Raymond Chandler liked the Thief games and Deus Ex?
This is an entertaining story. The prose is rich, the action is tense, and it’s all given life by the illustrious author— who is known for his extensive vocabulary and cutting turns of phrase. The characters are distinct and well-voiced; and I much enjoyed spending time with his main characters. I’m glad Razör is writing sequels.
I do wish that an editor had given it an extra glance, though. He doesn’t need a story editor- but a good line editor would have tweaked the errors in spelling and punctuation that I noticed.
This is an entertaining story. The prose is rich, the action is tense, and it’s all given life by the illustrious author— who is known for his extensive vocabulary and cutting turns of phrase. The characters are distinct and well-voiced; and I much enjoyed spending time with his main characters. I’m glad Razör is writing sequels.
I do wish that an editor had given it an extra glance, though. He doesn’t need a story editor- but a good line editor would have tweaked the errors in spelling and punctuation that I noticed.
November 6, 2020
Excellent.
February 8, 2025
the doors are obese and prodigious. Also, the purses, pauses, and moments are pregnant. :L
Congratulations to the Obese Door for winning best supporting character in a book at Loinies 2024!
Congratulations to the Obese Door for winning best supporting character in a book at Loinies 2024!
September 16, 2022
Thievery. Betrayal. Subterfuge. Heists. Double-crossing. And above all: revenge.
This pulp fantasy featured shady characters, a restrained magical element, and plenty of action. I can't remember the last time I read a book with illustrations (for myself), but there are about 10 of them sprinkled throughout which greatly add to the story.
Only thing that might be said against it was that it is a novella, and many of the establishing details are omitted so as to focus on the action. Nothing wrong with that, but I found myself wanting more at times.
Still, overall a fun, nail-biting read. Would recommend.
This pulp fantasy featured shady characters, a restrained magical element, and plenty of action. I can't remember the last time I read a book with illustrations (for myself), but there are about 10 of them sprinkled throughout which greatly add to the story.
Only thing that might be said against it was that it is a novella, and many of the establishing details are omitted so as to focus on the action. Nothing wrong with that, but I found myself wanting more at times.
Still, overall a fun, nail-biting read. Would recommend.
May 3, 2022
The book is a thief's tale in a medieval setting, the focus being more on larceny than on heroes going off to save the day or change the world for the better. The book is noir inspired, and it shows. The dialogue is snappy, the plot happens quickly with the aid of fast description and time skips, and the story does a good job of being familiar enough to be accessible while having a few unexpected twists and turns.
First, something that's perfectly expected is the protagonist, Xerdes. Witty rogues are a dime a dozen and Xerdes is no different - if he's talking, he's cracking wise, almost without exception, so he didn't do much for me. Whether he was in the right or not, I didn't warm up to him because it's the same schtick I've seen a hundred times before. Thing is, though, his coin flips later on and he more resembles Walter B Gibson's The Shadow, less a person than a retributive force. Here he is much more serious and dire in nature, and consequentially does a lot less talking. Whether that change is circumstantial or something we will see in the future, only further installments will tell, but that was one change that might be jarring or might not be. That, dear reader, is up to you.
Next, this book has purple prose. Not a few splashings here and there, I mean prose so purple you could dye the drapes in it and sell them to royalty. Everything from description to dialogue is artistic and exaggerated and while this gave the book a voice of its own, it other times made it hard to understand what was going on - the language was so artistic that objective description was only found in the footnotes for flavor, and nowhere else. I didn't mind this as much as I expected to - there were some very clever descriptions and one-liners - but if you're looking for clear-cut, one-and-done description of a place or a person, go elsewhere because it ain't here
Speaking of artistry, the cover wasn't initially to my taste but it grew on me the more I thought about it. Portrait-style book covers aren't really my bag, but compared to the now-standard minimalistic pieces for modern titles, I'll take something that tries for something great, even if it doesn't do much for me, compared to someone who can't be bothered and gives us geometric shapes on a white background.
Next, this book is short. That's not a backhanded comment like how the best part of some films is the credits, I mean the plot moves pretty fast from start to finish and accomplishes its goal in around a hundred pages. That's impressive by itself, but the effect is spoiled by that purple prose I mentioned and by some regular repetition that wasn't really necessary. In a book this short, describing anyone once, twice at most, is all you need, but to keep mentioning this guy's mindset or that woman's build whenever they're the subject of focus, that's unnecessary and bloated.
As a side point, this book features pen and ink drawings for certain scenes or places. I'm not familiar with the art style or the tendency of adding such illustrations in a book, and I don't draw so I can't speak to their quality, but I felt that the additions were judicious and effective. They weren't predictable or bland, they set the tone well where they were presented, and they looked good from what I can see.
Finally, I like it when an author can work a unique title into the work somehow. The Long Moonlight always jarred me, felt like it was reaching for a point or reference I didn't see. That might still be the case, who knows, but the title is used in the work in quite an effective turn and I wasn't expecting that, nor the severity of what it refers to, until it came up. Inside jokes like that are a nice touch, no two ways about it.
All in all, the score I'd give this hovers at the 3.5-4/5 mark. The things it does well are done well enough to propel it above its shortcomings, but that score is very dependent on the reader. More than with other titles, I'd say, since if you aren't in the saddle for the story or the verbiage, then you're going to go nowhere fast with this one. But for what it is and how it turned out, I was entertained, and that's what I cracked the cover for.
First, something that's perfectly expected is the protagonist, Xerdes. Witty rogues are a dime a dozen and Xerdes is no different - if he's talking, he's cracking wise, almost without exception, so he didn't do much for me. Whether he was in the right or not, I didn't warm up to him because it's the same schtick I've seen a hundred times before. Thing is, though, his coin flips later on and he more resembles Walter B Gibson's The Shadow, less a person than a retributive force. Here he is much more serious and dire in nature, and consequentially does a lot less talking. Whether that change is circumstantial or something we will see in the future, only further installments will tell, but that was one change that might be jarring or might not be. That, dear reader, is up to you.
Next, this book has purple prose. Not a few splashings here and there, I mean prose so purple you could dye the drapes in it and sell them to royalty. Everything from description to dialogue is artistic and exaggerated and while this gave the book a voice of its own, it other times made it hard to understand what was going on - the language was so artistic that objective description was only found in the footnotes for flavor, and nowhere else. I didn't mind this as much as I expected to - there were some very clever descriptions and one-liners - but if you're looking for clear-cut, one-and-done description of a place or a person, go elsewhere because it ain't here
Speaking of artistry, the cover wasn't initially to my taste but it grew on me the more I thought about it. Portrait-style book covers aren't really my bag, but compared to the now-standard minimalistic pieces for modern titles, I'll take something that tries for something great, even if it doesn't do much for me, compared to someone who can't be bothered and gives us geometric shapes on a white background.
Next, this book is short. That's not a backhanded comment like how the best part of some films is the credits, I mean the plot moves pretty fast from start to finish and accomplishes its goal in around a hundred pages. That's impressive by itself, but the effect is spoiled by that purple prose I mentioned and by some regular repetition that wasn't really necessary. In a book this short, describing anyone once, twice at most, is all you need, but to keep mentioning this guy's mindset or that woman's build whenever they're the subject of focus, that's unnecessary and bloated.
As a side point, this book features pen and ink drawings for certain scenes or places. I'm not familiar with the art style or the tendency of adding such illustrations in a book, and I don't draw so I can't speak to their quality, but I felt that the additions were judicious and effective. They weren't predictable or bland, they set the tone well where they were presented, and they looked good from what I can see.
Finally, I like it when an author can work a unique title into the work somehow. The Long Moonlight always jarred me, felt like it was reaching for a point or reference I didn't see. That might still be the case, who knows, but the title is used in the work in quite an effective turn and I wasn't expecting that, nor the severity of what it refers to, until it came up. Inside jokes like that are a nice touch, no two ways about it.
All in all, the score I'd give this hovers at the 3.5-4/5 mark. The things it does well are done well enough to propel it above its shortcomings, but that score is very dependent on the reader. More than with other titles, I'd say, since if you aren't in the saddle for the story or the verbiage, then you're going to go nowhere fast with this one. But for what it is and how it turned out, I was entertained, and that's what I cracked the cover for.
June 27, 2024
It was not great. I found myself stalling out toward the end. Considering that this is a short and very tightly written crime thriller, not burning-through it is a bad sign.
I think that the brevity actually worked against the writing here. The big plot points didn't have time to sink it. They tell writers to cut down, kill your darlings, and emulate Hemmingway but sometimes things need a breather. White space is part of a drawing, rests are part of the music.
MY BIGGEST CRITISISM
The main character is somewhere in the range of thief-with-a-code and rouge-with-a-heat-of-gold. There is a save-the-cat moment early in the story to endear the audience to him, but it doesn't really work. From the very first scene our criminal is placed in a heroic position with a worse criminal, but we don't really get to see how bad either of them are.
I think this story needed a preliminary thief scene, and for the bad guy to actually kill someone, and then for the thief to save-the-cat. That sums up other areas of the book too. All the pieces are there, but they needed a little more rhythm and rhyme to click.
MY ACTUAL BIGGEST CRITISISM:
Xerdes? Xerdes?! Bro, you cannot name your mc Xerdes. Putting an X in things doesn't make them cool. They tried that in the 90's when everything was Xtreme, and you know how that ended up? With Shadow the Hedgehog holding a gun. The trans-activists are trying put X's in everything and people hate that too.
I couldn't take anything in the book seriously because of Xerdes.
I think that the brevity actually worked against the writing here. The big plot points didn't have time to sink it. They tell writers to cut down, kill your darlings, and emulate Hemmingway but sometimes things need a breather. White space is part of a drawing, rests are part of the music.
MY BIGGEST CRITISISM
The main character is somewhere in the range of thief-with-a-code and rouge-with-a-heat-of-gold. There is a save-the-cat moment early in the story to endear the audience to him, but it doesn't really work. From the very first scene our criminal is placed in a heroic position with a worse criminal, but we don't really get to see how bad either of them are.
I think this story needed a preliminary thief scene, and for the bad guy to actually kill someone, and then for the thief to save-the-cat. That sums up other areas of the book too. All the pieces are there, but they needed a little more rhythm and rhyme to click.
MY ACTUAL BIGGEST CRITISISM:
Xerdes? Xerdes?! Bro, you cannot name your mc Xerdes. Putting an X in things doesn't make them cool. They tried that in the 90's when everything was Xtreme, and you know how that ended up? With Shadow the Hedgehog holding a gun. The trans-activists are trying put X's in everything and people hate that too.
I couldn't take anything in the book seriously because of Xerdes.
February 22, 2021
I was far too focused on the prose to give the story itself proper attention/observation. There are typos and inconsistent applications of grammar, which I found to be distracting. Some feats performed by the protagonist seemed impossible to me, breaking my suspension of disbelief. But there is a solid sense of atmosphere and place throughout. The worldbuilding is light and the characters are kept relatively simple in characterization. Cause and effect is well described and explained, for the most part. And it is a decent, if not good, tale of a thief getting caught up in the machinations of crime lords. If I had a stronger imagination, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more or been more critical of the narrative. Or both. Hard for me to say. Also keep in mind I read this infrequently over the course of three weeks. So, take my review with a pinch of salt.
February 19, 2021
predictable
July 17, 2021
Razor writes like he speaks. It’s incredibly dense, but definitely enjoyable. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series when it comes out.
August 4, 2024
I read this because a relative of mine likes Razorfist and suggested I try. As someone currently getting a Master's degree in creative writing, and who knows what quality writing is, let's just say this was about what I would come to expect from a rightwing grifter, whose brand is basically just spouting thesaurus wordsalad at the screen for an hour, intermixed with racist and sexist "jokes."
RF clearly did not learn how to write while illustrating other people's work. My guess is he either (A) does not read very much or (B) does not understand what makes good reading material.
This book was basically the same thing as his YouTube channel. An underdeveloped plot with little to no substance, characters flatter than a plane with a y-axis value of 0, and the prose itself reads like baby's first thesaurus threw up on the page. Frankly, I would be embarrassed to turn this in to an undergraduate workshop class (which is honestly where it should have been sent, so it could have been steadfastly ripped apart and he could have gained some perspective). This kind of "literature" is what happens when newbies who have no idea how to work their craft get proud, only show it to friends and family, and then put it on the market.
At the very least, this book desperately needed an editor to violently rip it out of RF's hands and red-pen a good 70% of everything, from entire scenes that go nowhere, to just... ALL of the prose that needed to be rewritten in at least 5 more drafts. Like this absolute clown thought it was a good idea to describe a door as "obese"... what does that even mean? Like this sentence is just some of the worst writing I've ever seen:
"At last, he heaved aside the obese, oaken door, the practiced movements of a seasoned sneak ensuring he did so without a sound."
At this juncture, I was confident that RF had never read a book before in his life. And this is the first page of chapter 1... EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER IS LIKE THIS. My favorite part is that he uses times and dates and names which fall into the standard fantasy trope of: "Just add diacritic marks and now it is fantasy." For instance: "Trisday, 23rd of Ántilián." Wow, really creative, RF. How long did it take you to figure out the unicode for A with an acute accent? My favorite part is that this is formatted like a bad undergraduate paper. Single sentences that count as random paragraphs. No indentation. The book does not even feature full justification, so you have uneven lines everywhere. Amateurish. Oh and since this is also apparently a picture book, let's talk about the "illustrations".
They're bad. It is the kind of "art" that a teenager who doodles on a notepad gets proud of and tries to impress his teen girlfriend with, and she's like "yeah cool" while silently wishing for the sweet release of death. My favorite one is on page 9 where we see our character in the shadow and only illuminated by a source of light coming from the right. Why is it my favorite? Because RF doesn't know how lighting works and evidently he couldn't make the hand look like a hand using realistic lighting. So instead, he just illuminates the back and front of the hand, even though only the front would be actually illuminated, so the whole thing sticks out like a sore thumb (ha) compared to the rest. Page 15 has a pretty "great" piece of art, illustrating such techniques as: bad linework, line-shading that would be mediocre for a 70s comic, a general inability to know how fabric works, and my favorite: the front arm is just completely unshaded. Just a bunch of poorly drawn lines that I guess are supposed to wrappings (again, his grasp of how fabric works is minimal at best).
I guess I could also get into worldbuilding... when I find some I'll let you know.
Don't buy this, don't read this, and in general just don't trust the work of newb writers. RF's YouTube ego has just translated into him pretending he can write, and expecting us to get on board. Hence why he tries to justify it to us by going "I'm not a stranger, I illustrated comics" as if that changes the mediocre content. What I have learned over the years of reading fiction is that modern conservatives are bereft of both talent and imagination. RF is not an exception to the rule.
RF clearly did not learn how to write while illustrating other people's work. My guess is he either (A) does not read very much or (B) does not understand what makes good reading material.
This book was basically the same thing as his YouTube channel. An underdeveloped plot with little to no substance, characters flatter than a plane with a y-axis value of 0, and the prose itself reads like baby's first thesaurus threw up on the page. Frankly, I would be embarrassed to turn this in to an undergraduate workshop class (which is honestly where it should have been sent, so it could have been steadfastly ripped apart and he could have gained some perspective). This kind of "literature" is what happens when newbies who have no idea how to work their craft get proud, only show it to friends and family, and then put it on the market.
At the very least, this book desperately needed an editor to violently rip it out of RF's hands and red-pen a good 70% of everything, from entire scenes that go nowhere, to just... ALL of the prose that needed to be rewritten in at least 5 more drafts. Like this absolute clown thought it was a good idea to describe a door as "obese"... what does that even mean? Like this sentence is just some of the worst writing I've ever seen:
"At last, he heaved aside the obese, oaken door, the practiced movements of a seasoned sneak ensuring he did so without a sound."
At this juncture, I was confident that RF had never read a book before in his life. And this is the first page of chapter 1... EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER IS LIKE THIS. My favorite part is that he uses times and dates and names which fall into the standard fantasy trope of: "Just add diacritic marks and now it is fantasy." For instance: "Trisday, 23rd of Ántilián." Wow, really creative, RF. How long did it take you to figure out the unicode for A with an acute accent? My favorite part is that this is formatted like a bad undergraduate paper. Single sentences that count as random paragraphs. No indentation. The book does not even feature full justification, so you have uneven lines everywhere. Amateurish. Oh and since this is also apparently a picture book, let's talk about the "illustrations".
They're bad. It is the kind of "art" that a teenager who doodles on a notepad gets proud of and tries to impress his teen girlfriend with, and she's like "yeah cool" while silently wishing for the sweet release of death. My favorite one is on page 9 where we see our character in the shadow and only illuminated by a source of light coming from the right. Why is it my favorite? Because RF doesn't know how lighting works and evidently he couldn't make the hand look like a hand using realistic lighting. So instead, he just illuminates the back and front of the hand, even though only the front would be actually illuminated, so the whole thing sticks out like a sore thumb (ha) compared to the rest. Page 15 has a pretty "great" piece of art, illustrating such techniques as: bad linework, line-shading that would be mediocre for a 70s comic, a general inability to know how fabric works, and my favorite: the front arm is just completely unshaded. Just a bunch of poorly drawn lines that I guess are supposed to wrappings (again, his grasp of how fabric works is minimal at best).
I guess I could also get into worldbuilding... when I find some I'll let you know.
Don't buy this, don't read this, and in general just don't trust the work of newb writers. RF's YouTube ego has just translated into him pretending he can write, and expecting us to get on board. Hence why he tries to justify it to us by going "I'm not a stranger, I illustrated comics" as if that changes the mediocre content. What I have learned over the years of reading fiction is that modern conservatives are bereft of both talent and imagination. RF is not an exception to the rule.
August 23, 2023
Pulp noir in a world of magic with an antihero who has some enhanced abilities that may be supernatural in nature? Sign me up! While not feeling exactly like The Shadow there are certain magical elements in this fantasy world that are reminiscent to it. The plot points hold to a Sam Spade-type pulp detective novel with an "honorable" thief in place of the detective. The femme fatale, the honorable official detective, and underworld crime bosses and stooges all show up. The story is part mystery, part heist, and part revenge with about four different plot focuses.
While operating as a novella the story does not seem short. I believe this is helped by the use of the author's prose. While not being your typical detective noir slightly over-the-top cadence, there is a style that is intentional and unique. While some may see this as the author attempting to exhaust a thesaurus, most others would just call this entertaining. I quite enjoyed the author's use of the style and language choices. The choice of words isn't coming from someone thumbing through a college dictionary for any word; it is deliberate and adds to that slightly over-the-top story with a fun entertainment style.
Not everything fell into perfect explanation for me. There was a plot turn that I didn't quite get (which is most likely an error on my part) and some of the magic of the world wasn't explained enough. This also included possibly some magical elements of the main character, Xerdes, becoming shadowlike and a master of his craft. An interesting side character, Coggins, is a great addition to the story as almost a Commissioner Gordan-esk noble detective. However, he isn't quite the cat-and-mouse foil nor does he make a serious impact on the story until the last part of the story. For a bigger story or a bigger part in the next novella, this detective who works within the system would be a great character to follow especially in a fantasy setting.
Overall, the prose extends the life of the book and the characters provide a good small target to keep your focus on. The unique storytelling in a different type of setting adds to the uniqueness even for those of us who aren't the biggest fans of fantasy. There is enough here to at least pique the interest of an indie supporter and I would definitely check out another if the series continued or expanded. Final Grade - A-
While operating as a novella the story does not seem short. I believe this is helped by the use of the author's prose. While not being your typical detective noir slightly over-the-top cadence, there is a style that is intentional and unique. While some may see this as the author attempting to exhaust a thesaurus, most others would just call this entertaining. I quite enjoyed the author's use of the style and language choices. The choice of words isn't coming from someone thumbing through a college dictionary for any word; it is deliberate and adds to that slightly over-the-top story with a fun entertainment style.
Not everything fell into perfect explanation for me. There was a plot turn that I didn't quite get (which is most likely an error on my part) and some of the magic of the world wasn't explained enough. This also included possibly some magical elements of the main character, Xerdes, becoming shadowlike and a master of his craft. An interesting side character, Coggins, is a great addition to the story as almost a Commissioner Gordan-esk noble detective. However, he isn't quite the cat-and-mouse foil nor does he make a serious impact on the story until the last part of the story. For a bigger story or a bigger part in the next novella, this detective who works within the system would be a great character to follow especially in a fantasy setting.
Overall, the prose extends the life of the book and the characters provide a good small target to keep your focus on. The unique storytelling in a different type of setting adds to the uniqueness even for those of us who aren't the biggest fans of fantasy. There is enough here to at least pique the interest of an indie supporter and I would definitely check out another if the series continued or expanded. Final Grade - A-
August 16, 2025
So one of the things I've ended up doing as a personal challenge is read the novels published by various "culture warriors" on Youtube to see if they can walk the walk as well as they talk the talk. Before "The Long Moonlight", my average rating had been about 3 out of 5 stars as while they weren't "great" they were at least enjoyable enough that I would consider following them for another book or two. And then we have "The Long Moonlight" by punk rock libertarian Razorfist...
First things first... this is not a BAD book. It's technically competent although there are a few things I will be roasting Razor for and arguing against further down in the review. The world is interesting and might work as an RPG setting. I recognize and am a fan of the Thief franchise the author took inspiration from. All great things.
But the novel is a slow burn that takes a while to build up speed. A lot of characters are thrown at the reader all at once at the beginning but only a couple are really important to the plot further on. And while there are points that are interesting like the final heist, there are a lot of things that aren't really explored and the ending just felt unsatisfactory to me. The ending in particular is why I have to give this such a low score. Like, the protagonist goes through all that and really?
In the back of the book, Razor introduces himself as a comic writer and The Long Moonlight is his first traditional novel. And well, that explains the over-reliance on footnotes to provide exposition and the comic-book style story structuring.
TL:DR- Not terrible but the ending and a handful of stylistic issues killed my interest in following this author at this time. Razorfist should stick to comic books and I mean that as much as a compliment as an insult.
First things first... this is not a BAD book. It's technically competent although there are a few things I will be roasting Razor for and arguing against further down in the review. The world is interesting and might work as an RPG setting. I recognize and am a fan of the Thief franchise the author took inspiration from. All great things.
But the novel is a slow burn that takes a while to build up speed. A lot of characters are thrown at the reader all at once at the beginning but only a couple are really important to the plot further on. And while there are points that are interesting like the final heist, there are a lot of things that aren't really explored and the ending just felt unsatisfactory to me. The ending in particular is why I have to give this such a low score. Like, the protagonist goes through all that and really?
In the back of the book, Razor introduces himself as a comic writer and The Long Moonlight is his first traditional novel. And well, that explains the over-reliance on footnotes to provide exposition and the comic-book style story structuring.
TL:DR- Not terrible but the ending and a handful of stylistic issues killed my interest in following this author at this time. Razorfist should stick to comic books and I mean that as much as a compliment as an insult.
September 14, 2022
This book is pretty good for what it is. I enjoy Razorfist's Rageaholic clips on YouTube so I figured I'd give his novella a go, and I'll say this: He writes just like how he talks. The man is a human thesaurus who loves his adjectives. And while that can be a lot of fun during his internet rants, it can come across a bit verbose, unnecessary, and a tad confusing when in the written form. Sometimes a simple sentence is better for the reader and can still get the point across.
The plot was a bit hard to follow at first, with the world building being both vague in story, but then descriptive through the use of footnotes. I hate footnotes. They distract from the flow of the story. If the author can't figure out how to organically insert some background information into the prose, then they should just hold off on giving it.
And I know that Razorfist is trying to bring back the old fast and dirty style story of the old pulp novels, in addition to making Xerdes into the cold, loner type, but those pulps were also serials and I feel like the romantic interest in this book sparked and simmered way to quickly. I'm a bit sad we won't get to see how that could have played out as a slower burn over a few novels.
I did enjoy the characters in the book, once I sorted them out, and the story is just what he said he wanted to make, an old-fashioned pulp with a fast burn story. I'll definitely check out the sequel, Death Masks, once it's out and see if he upped his game with the feedback received.
The plot was a bit hard to follow at first, with the world building being both vague in story, but then descriptive through the use of footnotes. I hate footnotes. They distract from the flow of the story. If the author can't figure out how to organically insert some background information into the prose, then they should just hold off on giving it.
And I know that Razorfist is trying to bring back the old fast and dirty style story of the old pulp novels, in addition to making Xerdes into the cold, loner type, but those pulps were also serials and I feel like the romantic interest in this book sparked and simmered way to quickly. I'm a bit sad we won't get to see how that could have played out as a slower burn over a few novels.
I did enjoy the characters in the book, once I sorted them out, and the story is just what he said he wanted to make, an old-fashioned pulp with a fast burn story. I'll definitely check out the sequel, Death Masks, once it's out and see if he upped his game with the feedback received.
February 28, 2023
Not at all my genre, but I was held at gunpoint. Based on what admittedly little I know of pulp fiction I would place this as a solid entry into the field, alas, the conventions of said field and my expectations as a reader appear to be vastly different.
If you like worldbuilding and have the vocabulary to keep up, you may enjoy this book. The prose is articulate, but does sometimes veer between flowery and cumbersome to the point of being distracting. My tastes tend to lean towards more "invisible" wordplay rather than the sort that calls so much attention to itself, but if you're the opposite from me this will be worth checking out for that reason alone. I did get a little tired of what felt like an overuse of similes, but that's coming from someone who must exert all strength to keep from abusing them in their own writing; sane folks won't even notice.
I was reasonably satisfied with the amount of personality the characters had for being so condensed. (This clocks in at 115 pages, for reference.) I found that there was a lack of stakes or motivation given until far too late for me to care about anything. The goals of the protagonist are quite nebulous and so the plot feels aimless, despite the pieces being well set up otherwise. Until the last third-ish the protagonist is floating around and nobody's driving. This ultimately is what made it hard for me to enjoy, but fans of this genre will likely get a lot more out of it.
The Long Moonlight is crafted well enough, and I didn't hate it, but I sure was not the target audience.
If you like worldbuilding and have the vocabulary to keep up, you may enjoy this book. The prose is articulate, but does sometimes veer between flowery and cumbersome to the point of being distracting. My tastes tend to lean towards more "invisible" wordplay rather than the sort that calls so much attention to itself, but if you're the opposite from me this will be worth checking out for that reason alone. I did get a little tired of what felt like an overuse of similes, but that's coming from someone who must exert all strength to keep from abusing them in their own writing; sane folks won't even notice.
I was reasonably satisfied with the amount of personality the characters had for being so condensed. (This clocks in at 115 pages, for reference.) I found that there was a lack of stakes or motivation given until far too late for me to care about anything. The goals of the protagonist are quite nebulous and so the plot feels aimless, despite the pieces being well set up otherwise. Until the last third-ish the protagonist is floating around and nobody's driving. This ultimately is what made it hard for me to enjoy, but fans of this genre will likely get a lot more out of it.
The Long Moonlight is crafted well enough, and I didn't hate it, but I sure was not the target audience.
January 3, 2024
I stumbled across this gem. I wasn't sure about it at first as the negative reviews made me cautious(I could care less about the internet personality part), but decided to take a chance. I am glad I did. Those detractors who say it is wordy are wrong. It was strongly written with solid vernacular. The plot, characters, and story are compelling and the action is gripping. Noir is not something I normally branch out into because of the normal detective mystery element, but using a thief as the main character was brilliant. The vocabulary was refreshing and kept the tale well paced and impactful. The ending was just the icing on this delectable cake.
I took my time reading this book, just so I could spend longer in the world. His style of writing allowed me to picture the gritty crime riddle streets and the opulent patrician district of Menuvia. I strongly recommend this book. I look forward to reading the second one.
I took my time reading this book, just so I could spend longer in the world. His style of writing allowed me to picture the gritty crime riddle streets and the opulent patrician district of Menuvia. I strongly recommend this book. I look forward to reading the second one.
May 28, 2025
So this is a review I did not expect to do. But I must say I think is worth doing. There's been a number of reviews of this book which seem more interesting in attacking the creator due to sociopolitical disagreement (I'm looking at you Britton and CaptainDanRG.) However unlike those childish losers who probably still live in their mothers basements I actually think a review about the book should actually be about the fucking book and provide salient criticism
With that being said as a general fan of pulps I think this book is pretty solid. The world building is interesting. Some minor flaws I did have were some unneeded pregnant pauses at points and some odd word choice (though an Obese door is funny to think about on a conceptual level like moviebob's home reflecting his own inner evil.)
Overall solid if a bit derivative.
With that being said as a general fan of pulps I think this book is pretty solid. The world building is interesting. Some minor flaws I did have were some unneeded pregnant pauses at points and some odd word choice (though an Obese door is funny to think about on a conceptual level like moviebob's home reflecting his own inner evil.)
Overall solid if a bit derivative.
February 28, 2021
I really wanted to like this book as i am a fan of Razörfist's verve.
But unfortunately this first book was not really convincing. The story is ok, albeit a little predictable, but the style doesnt fit it at all.
Not to say that the style is not good, because it is. But it is not at all adapted for this kind of short action packed story. This would fit more some kind of noir détective story that i know Razörfist likes as well rather than this kind of format.
So i'm still interested by the follow up, but i'd really like him try another genre which would befit his style. Or if he wants to pursue this genre, his style needs to be less convoluted and dense, more so for action séquences which are rendered difficult to follow with this kind of writing.
But unfortunately this first book was not really convincing. The story is ok, albeit a little predictable, but the style doesnt fit it at all.
Not to say that the style is not good, because it is. But it is not at all adapted for this kind of short action packed story. This would fit more some kind of noir détective story that i know Razörfist likes as well rather than this kind of format.
So i'm still interested by the follow up, but i'd really like him try another genre which would befit his style. Or if he wants to pursue this genre, his style needs to be less convoluted and dense, more so for action séquences which are rendered difficult to follow with this kind of writing.
February 5, 2022
I can't really say anything that hasn't already been said in other reviews, so I'll keep this short.
Do you like fantasy? You'll like this.
Do you like a good mystery? You'll like this.
Is this a perfect story? No.
Is the prose as purple as a glass of Welch's? Absolutely (and I love that).
Most importantly: is it entertaining and does it leave you wanting more? YES and YES.
The only thing that I feel was missing was a "Hyborian Age" style essay delineating the world this tale is set in, as the footnotes can tend to take one out of the story at times.
All in all, though, a fine first novel by someone who clearly loves this style of storytelling. I look forward to future installments with bated breath.
BUY IT.
Do you like fantasy? You'll like this.
Do you like a good mystery? You'll like this.
Is this a perfect story? No.
Is the prose as purple as a glass of Welch's? Absolutely (and I love that).
Most importantly: is it entertaining and does it leave you wanting more? YES and YES.
The only thing that I feel was missing was a "Hyborian Age" style essay delineating the world this tale is set in, as the footnotes can tend to take one out of the story at times.
All in all, though, a fine first novel by someone who clearly loves this style of storytelling. I look forward to future installments with bated breath.
BUY IT.
December 15, 2022
Mr. Fist has clearly read a lot of old pulp and has done a thorough job at emulating that flowery plot-centric style. It's not going to work for everyone but it worked for me more times than not. I just didn't like all the footnotes and stuff. I prefer exposition and world building to be done within the prose itself, not stapled to the bottom third of the page.
He's got a good thing going here though. I'm not sure if/when I'll check out the sequel but I'm happy that his passion for this sort of stuff shines through.
He's got a good thing going here though. I'm not sure if/when I'll check out the sequel but I'm happy that his passion for this sort of stuff shines through.
July 23, 2023
Fundamentally flawed, poorly paced, non-existent setting, and lots of edginess sprinkled in for good measure. He can't write women. I can't even say that he's bad at writing them because the female lead basically doesn't exist. The prose is incredibly try-hard and the world relies on video game logic. Not "oh this world has levels and invetory and stuff" I mean stupid crap like guards walking over to activated booby traps and then shrugging because they don't see the theif. "Must have been the wind" tier logic.
September 3, 2023
The book really nails the atmosphere, and the purple prose is both extravagant, yet punctuated with actual story events. It's short, and I say that in a good way, as the writing and pace is not something I would want to wade through for hundreds of pages. Unless you are genius, the book will strain your vocabulary, so keep that in mind if that sounds daunting.
I would recommend it to fans of more down to earth fantasy, where both magic and combat is grisly instead of a lightshow where people get knocked back with no lasting injury.
I would recommend it to fans of more down to earth fantasy, where both magic and combat is grisly instead of a lightshow where people get knocked back with no lasting injury.
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