Review of "Elements of Growth" by Keynin Battle

Score: 89/100 (8.9 out of 10)

Elements of Growth by Keynin Battle is the exciting sequel to Elements of Change, a previous OCA winning novel!

This book pretty much picks up right where the previous book left off.

We once again join the unlikely young hero, Keith Cottam, a teenage boy swept into a magical, fantasy world that desperately needs him.

Let's just put it this way: this is a pretty much a male child's power fantasy.

Pretty much everything that a male child could possibly want, he has: the magical powers to win every duel, the loyal friends who admire him, the dragon mount to ride across kingdoms, the harem-like attention of beautiful girls from every race, the adoration of kings and queens, and even a comforting home life. It’s wish-fulfillment turned up to eleven, and the book doesn’t apologize for it. Instead, it revels in it.

It's borderline impossible to take the plot or its characters too seriously. This exists for FUN and entertainment.

And there's a place for that kind of fiction.

Fiction and fantasy largely exist for expression and entertainment. But there's another huge purpose for fiction and fantasy: escape.

Fiction and fantasy serve as a form of escape for a lot of people—an escape from lives full of real-life stresses, anxieties, vulnerabilities, and the crushing feeling of powerlessness. In real life, you it's normal to take a lot of crap from people: your parents, your spouse, your boss, police, the property manager, HOA, your customers and clients. It's like everyone is trying to control you and tell you what to do and what to think.

Fiction and fantasy like Elements of Growth invites readers to imagine a world and a scenario in which they are the center of the universe, the hero of their own story, and the person whom everyone defers to.

This series might be the best example of that.

Seriously, if Keith wants to fly a dragon, he can fly a dragon. If Keith wants to use an oddly specific magical power for an oddly specific magical task, he can do that too. He can use fire magic to bake a cake, ice magic to chill banana pudding, and use wind magic to fly. He can use healing to heal pretty much whoever he wants however he wants. And he can summon his shadow wolf familiar, Ash, to be at his side whenever he wants.

It's cool and fun, but it really breaks any dramatic tension this book may have had. Keith is literally the epitome of what it means to be a Gary Stu: everyone loves him and he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants.

Speaking of which... his cute girl companions and fans of all species/races rejoin him in this book. There’s Catherine Rodante, the noble vampire whose tsundere-like affection keeps spiking at the most convenient times. Lulu Infernus, the bubbly demon girl who takes him home to meet her mom (who is, naturally, a stunningly powerful demon queen). Violet Everglen, his sweet and tragic fairy maid who now doubles as family. Even Princess Gemstarzah Sunstrider, the high elf royal, can’t help but admire Keith’s kindness and loyalty. Add in Olivia Cottam, his adoptive demon little sister, and you’ve got a full supporting cast designed to orbit around him.

Oh, and there's Zosk, the lizard man, and the other lizard folk. And the Goblin folk.
And the Demon folk.

By the way, the villain, Lord Valac seems to have his own entourage that mirrors Keith's: “My demon Abaddon, my dark elf Korshra, my lizardman Balam, my lovely vampire Abchanchu, and my beautiful demon Evilyn."

Ok, Skeletor! Whatever you say.

A lot of this book seems derivative, like we've seen it somewhere before. We'll get to another example later.

Lord Valac and his cronies never quite come across as serious threats including when Keith is having nightmares about them. Part of that is just how OP Keith and his friends are.

The villains are pretty much Team Rocket mixed with the Decepticons. You're always expecting them to lose and be foiled by the end. We're not saying that's what happens, but you expect it.

Something that we noticed is that Keith is really attached to his MP3 players (which he got from his grandma), listening to a lot of classics on it. This is reminiscent of Starlord's CD player (which he got from his mom). We would not be shocked if that's where the idea came from.

Another thing we have to say is that the writing in this book can be unintentionally hilarious.

There's a fight scene in this book which reads like a turn-based game. One character launches an attack, the other character launches an attack, back and forth, rinse and repeat. It's really clunky and probably not how an experienced author would have written a fight scene. It's actually a humorous scene to read.

Anyway, despite its flaws, it's still a fun book.

Check it out on Amazon!