Fans of Pokémon, Digimon, and Monster Rancher will love this monster-battling take on the GameLit genre!
Jackson Hunt wants nothing more than to be a professional monster tamer — skilled trainers who raise and battle magical creatures called Djinn. He longs for the day when he comes of age and can leave home to pursue his dreams of taming Djinn.
Unfortunately for Jackson, dreams and reality don’t always coincide.
To help his grandmother make ends meet, Jackson spends his days doing manual labor on a breeder’s ranch — just about as far removed from the bright lights and roaring crowds of the DBL (Djinn Battle League) as it gets. But no matter how hard Jackson and his grandma try, it’s never enough.
Facing bank foreclosure, Jackson is desperate to save his home but has no idea how… until he discovers a young, untrained Djinn left behind for him by his dead mother.
As time runs out, Jackson works tirelessly to raise and develop a bond with his Djinn. But monster taming isn’t as easy as the pros make it look. Along the way, Jackson and his friends will delve into the shady world of underground fighting, experience the agony of defeat and learn what it takes to be a true monster tamer.
Will Jackson and his Djinn level up fast enough or is his dream destined to die before it even truly begins?
My Opinion: 323 pages, $0.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
As of this review, the novel has mostly positive reviews that say it is good YA reading and that fans of pokemon will appreciate it. I think those are true statements. But the novel didn’t really work for me as an adult. I think the story is geared a bit more towards kids in that it is a coming of age story where the main character is a child/young adult, like Ash from pokemon. He has a goal to save his family house by becoming a good Djinn trainer and also reconciling the issues he’s had since his mom’s death.
I’d say the story is light LitRPG. The monsters that are captured and fight each other, the Djinn, do have character screens with stat and they level and can spend points to increase their powers. However, that’s a relatively minor aspect of the story and it focuses more on the YA coming of age journey.
Personally, I think the authors did a good job in trying to translate that monster battle concept to a novel, but it didn’t work for me on several levels. As an adult, I couldn’t connect with the story. The main character (MC) just felt too young and immature and a little whiny. Also, it’s really hard to translate the visual anime stylization of capturing creatures and making them fight for the amusement of others without it feeling weird conceptually. Personally, anytime I heard the word Djinn, I kept thinking of genies. It was also challenging to visualize each Djinn based on their sometimes not very descriptive names. Though the powers they used were neat.
Overall, I give the author all due credit for trying to bring something new to the LitRPG genre but the story was fairly predictable and I struggled to stay interested. I plan to check out book 2 still, but this one didn’t work for me.
Score: 5 out of 10
Djinn Tamer: Starter: A Monster Battling GameLit Adventure (Djinn Tamer - Bronze League Book 1)