User blog:General Khor/Why Nightbound Failed

On August 1, 2019, the finale of Nightbound was out. But then, the Choices community got a massive shock: the series is over with just that one book. Needless to say, many fans were angry, but then I read that the book didn't reach PB's expectations, and I was surprised. The one question on my mind was: why?

When the book ended, my semester had just started, so I had no time to start it. After my exams ended, this was the first new book I started. After finishing the book, I wasn't surprised anymore that NB wasn't serialised. This is because, let's just say, I found most, if not all, the faults identified by players. But before I discuss those faults, I'll first give my rating for this book, which is...

EXCITING!

Yes, that's right. I know some players' reviews are sort of bad, but I still think this is a very exciting book. In fact, this book has a lot of potential to be serialised. Yet, the flaws I'm going to mention in this blog are what caused this series to take a big hit. I'll focus on two flaws that, to me, proved to be fatal for the series.

The Plot
First, let's talk about the plotline, which is by far the biggest and most obvious mistake PB has made. From what I've seen, the plot is, let's just say, all over the place. When they first announced this book, they said it'll "make us howl at the moon", and when the book cover was released, there is a picture of a wolf looking at us. But then they announced that besides werewolves, there will be other creatures as well, such as the fae, zombies and all. As the story progressed, the plot went from one focus to another, which messed things up:

Chapters 1 and 2: Introduction

Chapters 3 to 6: Werewolves

Chapters 7 to 10: Finding the source of the chaos

Chapters 11 to 13: The fae

Chapters 14 to 16: Facing the enemy and aftermath

As you can see, with a plotline like that, of course this story would fall out of favour with some fans. I kind of like the lore and world building, and it's obvious PB are trying to make this story as exciting as possible, but let's just say, they're really trying too hard, and at the end of the day, they sacrificed consistency for more content. This is a major error that shouldn't have been made, yet they made it, no wonder the result is, to put it simply, not what's expected, and no wonder some players gave up halfway into the book. Still, I finished the book, and I still think it's worth reading. I also collected all the tears, as I think the visions are worth watching, and some of them are really exciting, especially those of Lady Smoke, Cassie and Thomas, as these are important to the story, which is why I collected those 3 first. As for the ending, I think it's ok, and I don't really have any issue with that.

The Characters
The characters are ok, but there are two characters I don't really like. While Thomas and Tialo are definitely my top two hated characters for this book, the two characters I want to mention here are the MC/Alex and Nik.

First, let's talk about Alex. S/he is supposed to be the hero of the story, but then in the big fight scenes, you have to pay diamonds to join in the fight, otherwise s/he stays out of it, or even runs and hides. In other words, s/he is just a damsel/gentleman in distress in the free route. That's weak, PB, just weak. In the end, s/he gets killed by the Big Bad and was like, "Noooooo...", "Whyyyyyy...", before s/he suddenly awakens realising that s/he has super powers. I'm sure that scene made some players cry. How could you do this, PB, how could you?!

As for Nik, as The Jacked Maverick describes him, he treats Alex like his property, not a real friend. "You can help by staying safe", "Your job is to stay out of this". These are the lines we hear a lot from him. Hello? Alex is a human being, not some fragile item you have to keep from breaking. "His... to protect"? That just made things worse for the series. There was one line in Chapter 15 that really caught my eye: "Is this all I am to you? A job?" That's right, is Alex just someone you're paid to protect, Nik? Not even a friend to you? Oh, come on.

What NB Could Have Been
When NB was first announced, my thoughts on the story were Book 1 being about resolving conflicts, and Book 2 about facing down a common enemy. Of course, given the cover and the initial description, most players thought werewolves would be a main component of this story. My ideas about the story were that the common enemy caused the conflict between two werewolf packs, or maybe between the werewolves and the Nighthunters, by killing members of both sides. But then we find out who the culprit is and get both sides to make peace with each other. Then in Book 2, everyone works together to track down the common foe and end him once and for all. Not only can we choose our gender, we'll also have 2 LIs, one male and one female, on each side.

Conclusion
In short, I wouldn't consider this story, as The Jacked Maverick describes it, a melted cone, but there are a lot of things that need improvement. In fact, I would say this book is just a decent scoop of ice cream. The two main flaws in this story are what killed the series. Ah, well, let's just hope PB learns from this mistake.

So, what are your thoughts on NB? Let me know in the comments. Also, be sure to like, subscribe and... wait a minute, what am I saying? Anyway, be sure to check out my blog on The Elementalists tomorrow. That's all for today, thank you for reading.