Death, the Gardener - Daniel T. Dodaro - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Daniel T. Dodaro

GENRE: Fantasy

RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A commendable debut fantasy combining folklore and myth in a fantastical setting. Enjoyed the story but the writing style, not so much. Might work better for YA lovers.

Story Synopsis:

You might know Death by many names, but in this book, he's a debonair gardener named Mot. Every person and creature has a rose in Death's garden, and when he snips a rose off, it ends that being's life.

When Cloth (there's a reason why she's named thus) wakes up in Death's abode, she learns that she's the first ever person not to pass on even after her rose has been snipped. But the cutting has resulted in her losing all her memories.

Mot offers her relief, promising her that he'll help her move on, but only if she helps him by hunting and killing three thieves who've stolen their life roses from his garden.

Can Cloth trust Death? Will she be able to kill just to be set free? Why is she the only soul who hasn't passed into what's beyond death?

The story comes to us in a limited third person perspective mostly of Mot and Cloth.

While the book isn't tagged as a YA work, I feel that the theme and the writing style will definitely click better with the younger audience. The book worked much better for me when I realigned myself to its being a YA Fantasy. That said, the fantasy includes adventure, romance (not spicy), and mystery as well.

The story is quite intricate and best discovered for yourself. There were a few scenes that felt odd to me, and some writing choices (the abundant use of "my darling", for instance) that were slightly annoying. But to my pleasant surprise, many of these get clarified as we progress with the book.

Mot, Cloth and most of the other major characters are well-sketched with a layered personality. Seeing Death's character as a gardener stuck on some distant planet with only his rose garden and Santiago (who happens to be the embodiment of Memory in the avatar of a koi fish) was a whimsical but enjoyable experience. I also loved Chitra, Mot's sentient cape. She reminded me of Doctor Strange's Cloak of Levitation as they both had the same attitude. (Chitra means ‘painting’ in many Indian languages, and is also a common girl’s name. I'm not sure if the author chose this name intentionally, but because of this nomenclature, Chitra the cape was feminine in my head, and her personality certainly matched this gender. It broke my heart to see *her* referenced as “it” by the characters.) The only characters who were more or less clichéd in portrayal were the negative ones. The motivation of the main villain ought to have been explained better to create a more believable scenario.

Many a time, the life choices the characters face were such that I couldn't help putting myself in the same situation and wondering what I would have done in their place. Courtesy these difficult situations, there are some beautiful quotes and philosophical ponderings in the content. (When you see me praising the philosophical aspects of a plot, you know that it was written without sounding too abstract or incomprehensible.) This makes the story somewhat slower in paced but it doesn't drag.

Fantasy relies greatly on worldbuilding and this novel certainly creates a beautiful picture of the various settings. My imagination kept wandering to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as many scenes became easier to visualise when connected to some or the other location in the movies. But this isn't to take away from the author's skills. His vivid imagination makes every location shine brighter, even when it's gloomy or morbid.

Of course, there are a few areas in which the book could have done better.

⚠ MAJOR COMPLAINT: The one thing that irked me the most was the use of contemporary language for the characters. Considering that Mot was an Eternal and Cloth was... well, can't tell you much but she was certainly not from the contemporary time frame... it was annoying to see them use vernacular such as "freak out" or "gaslighting." I can understand why the dialogues weren't made more historical, but at least such terms that are so clearly modern could have been avoided.

⚠ MAJOR COMPLAINT: I would have liked fewer references to physical beauty and its appeal or lack thereof, though one of the ending scenes attempts to repair the damage caused. The constant body-shaming that Santiago undergoes was not funny but offensive. Even Cloth is ridiculed multiple times by referencing her flat chest. Sorry to say this, but whenever any anatomical references came up, my mind chimed, “Male author alert!”

⚠ MINOR COMPLAINT: I could have done without the cigarette smoking. Seeing a fantastical entity such as Death smoke was way too revolutionary a writing choice for me, though some might like this quirky character trait.

All in all, though the modern lingo and the writing style didn't enthral me, the intriguing plot and the interesting characters kept me reading till the end. For a debut novel, this is surprisingly nuanced and doesn't succumb to the usual "kitchen sink syndrome" of overloading themes.

While this is tagged as general SFF, the language, the writing and themes make me recommend it more to YA lovers.

My thanks to Red Pants Press, LLC and NetGalley for the DRC of “Death, the Gardener”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.