Collect the World
Written By Cameron Milan
I’ll start by saying that this book was incredibly fast paced. As a result, I was able to read it quickly and I enjoyed my read. There were parts I didn’t love, and I’ll say that the start of the book didn’t originally hook me, but as I got further into the story, I liked a lot of what was happening.
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My review has some minor spoilers, but nothing that will give away the plot of the story.
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There was a lot to like about this book. The world is intricate and expansive, allowing for a lot of cool exploration and ideas. The dimensions were an interesting backdrop that carried the story forward, and provided enough mystery as new places were introduced and the characters interacted with those places.
The inventiveness of the author should also be commended. There is a lot happening in this book. A lot of big ideas, big characters, big abilities, and a lot to keep track of. At times the story feels small, as we follow Keith (the main character) and oftentimes it feels like an epic as we learn about the dimension, the military, Yara, Elaine, and more.
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Most of the story is told in a way that showcases the ‘big powers’ of the world, which allows the scope to be very large. Putting innate powers aside, which are an interesting concept of their own, the story showcases a lot of cool abilities. You get to see several large scale battles, massive firepower, and intricate applications for magic. The battles, when the military is involved especially, were fun. Stories don’t always go into this aspect of things, but I like how much time was spent going over the preparedness of the Innate Dimension and its military.
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With that said, I’d like to point out a couple things that griped me about the book. The first is how the book spent a lot of time telling us what was happening, what was going to happen, and why that thing was happening. As a result, things move very quickly, and issues are resolved from one paragraph to the next.
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This break-neck pace is carried over to the main character whose growth is exponential as soon as they receive their innate gift. Though the story is a progression fantasy with Keith as the main character, I believe he was my least favourite part of the story. And it’s hard to put a finger on why. Nothing he does is really ‘earned,’ since everything he gains is the result of his connections and relationships, but I don’t mind this. The character is spoiled, incredibly so, but that’s his journey and a reality for people. His lack of agency fixes itself as the story goes on too. But despite his interesting gift, I found myself enjoying the stories about the guardians, Yara, the dimensions and everything else to be more interesting.
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There’s more to say, but I don’t ever want to end on a negative, especially when I had fun reading ‘Collect the World’. Instead, I’ll finish by saying that I absolutely loved the idea behind some of the characters and their innate gifts. From Keith’s sister with nightmarish healing, to his aunt with the ridiculously OP phasing ability, to the adventurer turned business man with the contract ability that I personally want to write an entire book about, the innate powers in this story are genuinely so much fun.
When I’m looking for another fast-paced story in the future, I will consider picking up book 2!
Rating: 4.1