Review: One Word Kill

One Word Kill is a novel about time travel, growing up, and (peripherally) D&D. (One Word Kill really should have been Power Word Kill --- there's probably a story about why the title was deliberately misplaced) It's the first book in a trilogy, but it was a free Prime selection for the month, so I picked it up.

The novel is breezy and made for smooth reading. Despite the trilogy setup, you could finish the novel somewhat satisfied with the ending, as all the major plot-points are tied up. It's also a short novel, no more than a 3 hour airplane read. I enjoyed the characters, who are smart, but not obnoxious or in a show-off way, though the villain does seem a little too one-dimensional. The time travel aspects are kinda meh, and the D&D game is depicted at too high a level to grant you a real nuanced view of the game itself.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book enough to consider picking up the next books in the series when they come out. Imagine that. A first book in a series that doesn't end in a cliffhanger! Just for that alone I'd give it a recommended tag.