Peter M. Last

THOUGHTS…

What if words had the power to create and destroy? What would humanity do with such power? Showdown seeks to explore these philosophical questions. The story is set in modern-day, small-town Colorado, but lurking just beneath the surface is a magical world waiting to burst onto the scene. The book strikes a great balance between feeling grounded and fantastical, transitioning quickly and easily from one to the next. Magic powers, epic showdowns, gunslinging sheriffs, and magic worms with compromising goo share these pages, some of them believable, grim, and gritty while others are out of this world on the weird spectrum. Whether you enjoy this will depend heavily on your tastes, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. A few of the main characters were well-developed and had serviceable arcs; unfortunately, the supporting cast felt shallow, one-dimensional, and as if their only purpose is to progress the story or fill out the world like extras in a movie. Yes, secondary characters exist to support the narrative, but they shouldn’t realize this. They should believe they are the hero of the story, but in this case, it felt like they realized they had no real agency. The story is primarily an allegory about humanity’s sin nature. As such, you can expect a certain amount of pointed dialogue and scenes. Even so, Showdown was a bit too preachy at times, featuring at least one philosophical “debate” which felt too short, lacked diverse thought or tactics, and generally seemed like the author hadn’t taken the time to learn the opposing side, nor had he ever needed to properly defend his own opinions. The big redeeming quality of the book is that the story is good. It is exciting, unusual, twisting, and not generic or run-of-the-mill. Though truly bizarre, preachy, or cringy in parts, it still kept me engaged all the way to the, albeit somewhat overpowered and “sky beam,” end. I recommend it to older audiences who are into weird stories.