Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: BREACH OF PEACE

Top positive review

Be pulled into a world through dark, yet captivating writing.

Reviewed in Australia on 31 March 2021

Daniel Greene pulls you into his world by weaving plot and characters with his dark, yet captivating writing.

I must admit I am not a fan of horror or reading grizzly details of terrible murders, but I both read and skimmed these parts, without any loss of the storyline. These detailed descriptions, which I was warned about, were the only things I did not like about this book, although I am sure there are many out there that appreciate them.

What I did appreciate is, that I came to care about these characters in such a short time, which takes some brilliant writing skills. Also, I had a bit of a giggle at Greene’s take on the character releasing the breath they didn’t know they were holding -
<i>“Khlid realized she was taking a drag from a cigarette she did not remember lighting.”</i>

This short book was a real page-turner. I would recommend this book and I look forward to reading the series to come.

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Senda

OK for a first effort

Reviewed in Australia on 2 August 2021

This feels like a first act and not a complete story. There isn't much by way of resolution and it would be nice to know a little bit more about a literal God showing up in the world.

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Tetleynick

Prologue

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 April 2021

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It is quite hard to review this book without spoilers.
I have read that this is supposed to be the first in a trilogy. Well if this is correct, this very short book is a prologue for the next two.
The writing is sharp but the characters are two dimensional. No background or history to any of them.
I liked the premise and hopefully the stage is now set so I will read the next instalment.

3 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Too short for proper world-building or character development

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 October 2021

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Too short to get attached to the characters, who stay rather flat. The world-building with its theocracy and creatures is interesting but not given enough space to develop.
Overall I enjoyed the novella, rounding down to 3 stars because it is quite overpriced for what you’re getting.

aaron johns

Good tease of things to come

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 April 2021

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Breach of Peace is a solid introduction to the world Daniel Greene is creating. For me the only downside to this novella is that it was a novella and not a full book. I didn’t feel cheated in anyway, I just would have liked more. Still, I would recommend this novella if you’re a fan of Daniel or if you’re interested in the world he is creating.

Amazon Customer

nice read I wanted more

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 July 2021

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irs a novela so you will be done in a day

Toniahe

Short, but intrieguing enough!

Reviewed in Germany on 29 April 2021

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(3.5)

This is a very short read (134 pages), and I had a blast going through this (I finished it all in one afternoon, almost at a stretch)!

Due to its brevity I don't have all that much to say about the story itself: I liked the premise fine, as well as the unexpectedly gripping murder mystery and really relatable characters (I especially loved the description of Khlid and Samuel's relationship, but also felt strongly for Chapman).

Starting slow(er) but gaining pace somewhere around the half-time mark, the ending was intensely eventful and left me craving for more - I do have a lot of questions now, and am very curious about the next novels in this universe and how things will continue!

The only issues I had with this book were some minor logical inconsistencies (especially towards the beginning), as well as the writing style in general. While the writing is quite good for the most part, both descriptions and some dialogue felt a bit cumbersome to me at times. In my mind, the story-telling needs to become somewhat more refined to make for a smoother reading. But I know that this is the author's first published novel, so I have high hopes yet that his writing will improve in the course of his next few books.

2 people found this helpful

Gabriele

Lights and shadows

Reviewed in Italy on 2 April 2021

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Breach of Peace, the first work of entertainer and reviewer Daniel Greene, is an industrial fantasy thriller focused on the investigation into the murder of a noble family. The novella, a first work by a very young author, has lights and shadows.
Let's start with the good stuff: the tone is solid and has a strong character. This means that, in the first part of the novel, we can forgive the prose tending to the "tell" rather than the "show", since it is supported by a strong authorial voice: in this the main influences come from Jim Butcher and especially Stephen King, an author who supports his omniscient "tell" with the greatness of his tone. The characters have a strong characterization and the dialogues are really well written, and it is no small feat when it comes to a first work by a young author.
The choice of a nineteenth-century-like industrial setting is to be rewarded, it gives a totally different flavor to a fantasy story - BUT - unfortunately it is not supported by descriptions of clothing and environment, which in a fantasy whose purpose is to catapult the reader into a secondary world should be fundamental. I would have liked to know more about the city, to have even sketched out the description of the buildings, of the sky or why not, of the industrial chimneys - not necessarily detailed descriptions, but a minimum to immerse myself in the atmosphere of a new world - would have helped the story.
Moving on to the defects of the work: the prose. The novel finds its biggest problem in a narrative too much based on the "tell": it never seems to really live the situations, to be immersed in the scene with the characters, because the feeling is always of having someone who is telling you a story, and this keeps the reader from actually experiencing it. When Greene will one day master the "show" his stories will benefit enormously and level up.
Another defect is the narrative construction: the story seems almost a three-act opera in which the second act is absent. It doesn't seem built to be a novella, it looks like a maimed novel: the first act is very good, but after the hook (the pub), that is the point where the introduction ends and you should move on to the development of the story, we immediately find ourselves in the third act. The preparations for the final mission begin and I found myself saying "Hey, wait, I'm interested but not fully involved yet! I need some development after the hook!". The second half of the story (what I call the third act) is the weaker, I experienced it as a rush, as if it belonged to a longer story but cut and glued too soon.
Considering that the merits of the novel are very good and the faults are ... well, faults, I think there is a lot of room for improvement for Daniel Greene.
If Daniel becomes a great author in the next few years, and he has the chances to become one, he'll probably hate Breach of Peace when he looks back.
In the meantime, don't give up, and work hard.

Christopher Jiménez Meneses

An okay start to a world of potential.

Reviewed in Mexico on 5 April 2021

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If I could give this a 3.5 star I absolutely would. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoyed the read, I actually considere it one of the best YouTuber novels I've read, not because of the prose or the character or even the story itself, but because of the potential it has for future stories.
This certainly feels like a first attempt by the way the book it's structured and written. Sometimes the dialog feels a bit rough and corny but I could get by it pretty easily.
I was quite surprised with the ending and with that note, and the hope that Daniel will improve, I most say I expect and want to read future entries to this world.
Also, I'm still upset that where I live didn't even get the chance to buy physical copies.

Trinculo

Noir-ish Law & Order meets Judge Dread as an urban fantasy

Reviewed in the United States on 27 April 2022

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I follow his Youtube channel, and his taste in fantasy differs from mine. I was very surprised at how taut and readable this noir-ish, quasi-urban fantasy turned out to be. I say noirish because most of the major tropes of noir are absent except the cigarettes.

There are a few phrases here and there that stand out as puzzling (someone “freezes like glass” at one point, whatever that means…) but overall it’s a well plotted story with solid, if not wholly original, characterization. As a novella, it does an able job of preventing scope creep everywhere except in the type of story it wants to tells—not quite mystery, not quite police procedural, not quite noir, not quite whodunnit,…the only area where focus is lacking is genre, which might have helped to refocus the conflict and balance the glimpses of lore in places.

Where the larger world peaks in there are also huge gaps in lore continuity that much of the interest in reading a sequel is in seeing how he’ll reconcile the most obvious thorns. For instance there’s an empire, but also precincts—the latter are hyperlocal , the former by national international, yet one gets the feeling the this empire is more a stand in for a big region rather than a potentially intercontinental political presence. Still maybe it’s more Holy Roman Empire than Roman Empire, which would beg all sorts of other questions. Greene is smart not to approach those questions very closely, but maybe if he had he would have given readers more reason to want to revisit the world. As it is, although the story is solid the current conclusion doesn’t give me much reason to want to go back to this world.

Matthew Ries

An Okay Debut Work

Reviewed in the United States on 17 October 2021

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You begin the day in the heart of an empire lead by the Almighty who came personally to change life and at the end of the day, you realize you live in a dystopia. Breach of Peace is the debut work of Daniel B. Greene, the first of a trilogy of novellas that introduce his world.

Though the book follows the investigation of an extremely violent crime by three top inspectors of God’s own police, it gives a look into how average people view the area they live in and by the end how what they believed is completely wrong. Greene mixes a crime mystery in a fantasy world that quickly is ensnarled in political intrigue with significant religious overtones that is a lot to attempt in 134 pages with so-so results. The three main characters—Inspectors Khlid, her husband Sam, and their colleague Chapman—are a mix of good and cliché. The main narrative viewpoint of Khlid is well written in which we get a feel for the world an average person experiences—though from a law enforcement perception—and how it comes crashing down, Sam comes off as a quick-tempered cliché while Chapman comes off as a smart incompetent especially when one considers his divided loyalties. Given that the beginning s dark with the aftermath of a violent crime, the fact that the ending is darker not in violence but how a character’s worldview is completely shattered is effective.

Breach of Peace is a nice debut work as Daniel B. Greene gives readers a look into the fantasy world he is creating. Some elements work as well as some characters, he attempts to put a lot in a small page count to mixed results, but he does have good prose that makes for an engaging reading experience.

Kaley Quinn

A good start

Reviewed in the United States on 17 April 2021

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There were a lot of interesting things in this book. A trio of detectives in a fantasy world setting, mysterious murders, strange and creepy creatures, magic...The beginning pulled me in, although I thought that a bit too much time was spent describing the very gruesome and violent murders. I also didn't really like how the detectives were just constantly arguing with each other.

The second half of the book was more interesting. The plot thickened, secrets were revealed, the detectives got into even more risky situations...and then the book ended. I know it was supposed to be a novella, not a full novel, so it was like the first part of an interesting novel, a taste of a story. It paved the way for at least a sequel or series.

I thought the fantasy world and its rules could have been fleshed out a bit more. The detectives use guns, which is somewhat unusual in this type of fantasy setting (it's not an "urban fantasy"). Magic seems to exist in this world but we don't know the rules or even how common it is. And there seems to be some sort of oppressive, authoritative government but we don't learn much about it. I know he was trying to avoid awkward exposition, but in a novella this short I think you need to immerse the reader more in the world and its characters; I guess I also just wanted more of a fantasy setting.

This is a debut novel and it's a good start to what will most likely be series. I look forward to reading future books to find out what happens because it did intrigue me enough to continue.

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