The Watcher

Is there more?

The question is in the mind of a slave boy raised in a compound. He escapes his captors and explores a post apocalyptic world. Along the way, he finds that there is indeed more to life.

The Watcher is a bit different to the sort of things I usually review. Whilst it is set in the kind of pseudo fantasy post apocalypse (try saying that after a few drinks) that is all the rage with Young Adult books at the moment, it’s how it chooses to present things to us that is different.

Taking the form of epic poems like Beowulf, The Watcher follows a young boy (though to be honest the protagonists sex is immaterial- I read most of the book believing they were a girl) who escapes from his captors and sets develops the abilities to not only survive free of oppression, but to then return and free his fellow slaves.

Despite knowing a few poets I've always been put off reading them too much; my education turning them from just another art form to instead something that was unapproachable and impenetrable. It probably explains why, for the first 10-15 pages I found it hard to get into the book. But after slowly managing to overcome that fear, it turned out that The Watcher was just a great way of expressing a story in a far more intimate way than even books from a first person perspective can. The limited word palette forced each word to convey more meaning than usual and I really felt I got into the mind of someone who had to change the very way they thought about things.

The poem isn't very long really, being a mere 70ish pages, but rather than that being the chore I had felt it would be, I instead read it in less than an hour. Vivid descriptions of a post apocalyptic world where allegory, myth and reality are all jumbled together, combine to make a fun and very different way of approaching storytelling.

When you consider it’s free, it’s very much worth getting a copy.

Cover image courtesy of Smashswords

The Watchers can be purchased for free from Smashswords

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.