My Name is Loto:

"It's tough being on your own in the nation of Caelum when you're a child. You have to fend for yourself in an unforgiving world of pirates, moral-less thieves and murderers, and airborne islands that spell death the moment you fall off one of them.

It's even tougher being somebody who everyone and their aunt wants to either kill or capture for a prize, all because you can, to put it simply and literally, "make magic happen."

But do you know what's even tougher than all of that? Being both of those along with having no memory of any of it along with every last shred of your past, even your last name.

So my name is Loto, and welcome to my world."

Genre: Adventure

My Name is Loto was unlike most books I've read when it comes to how dark it gets. I usually tend to stay away from these kinds of books, but this book brings a lot of humor, light-hearted characters, and has themes of hospitality that makes those darker themes a bit easier to read.

That's not to say that there are some graphic scenes that were a bit much (in terms of how bloody and crazy things got). Towards the climax of the story, Loto had already witnessed some pretty scarring and scary stuff. He has already been exposed to a lot of hardships, like death and life on the streets, which helped build up to the climax. I liked that the author did this as without it, the plot twist in the middle of the book would've been too sudden.

But while the book did get very dark at times, I was able to read it because the characters were very well written for the most part. The one that did the most growth in the entire book was Loto. He starts out as this naive, confused boy who doesn't remember much of anything. As time goes on, his personality starts to change a bit. It's gradual as he's slowly starting to let people into his life, becomes more aware of the people around him, and just grows up. I liked that a lot because he struggles to change, but he does because he has to learn how to survive in the world of Caelum. I really enjoyed reading his point of view.

This differs from another character in the story, Rangi. Huge *SPOILER ALERT* to those who haven't read the story, but while he is Loto's big brother, he's also the antagonist in the story. Rangi betrays his brother because Loto is a magician. I was shocked to read that Rangi would betray his own brother the way he did, even with the light foreshadowing the writer sprinkled in beforehand. When writers do that, I'm honestly am impressed and am in love. It took me a second read to find myself questioning how I missed those hints the first time, and that takes skill on the author's part.

That's not to say I necessarily liked Rangi. The plot twist he brought to the book was really nice, but his character was quite confusing. He starts out as this character who wants to take Loto away from the family he's been staying with for two years because they're one of the last members in their family. His eagerness to get Loto home is understandable—after all, it's been years since they've seen each other—but something's not right. When I first read it (being I had to read this section twice to understand why Rangi would betray his brother) I just thought it was because of their grandmother back home, or the fact that the Noseks were Normal-Type magicians, something that clearly bothered Rangi a bit. When he turned on Loto, I was very disappointed in him.

Rangi's reasoning for betraying Loto the way he did seemed a bit rushed though, and it never truly made sense. I understand this was probably because the character, himself, was a confusing one to begin with (kind of like how Rumpelstiltskin from Once Upon a Time always seems to be switching sides) which makes sense, but I think his character "arc" (so to speak) could've been expanded on a bit. As soon as it was discovered at the end that Rangi was a Grass magician, yet hated magicians due to the normies calling them monsters, he died. I wanted to know more, rather than the quick chapter that wrapped up his life story. While this would've made sense for any villains' monologue, Rangi was also Loto's brother, so I felt like this particular part could've been dragged out a bit more.

The biggest "arc" that could be improved on is the last one. The arc that I'm talking about runs from chapter 18 to chapter 20, or when Loto finally returns home to where he decides to live with his grandmother, or Guella, who owns an inn. That's three chapters in which a handful of characters are thrown in there, with names, descriptions, and importance to what happens at the end. They're all introduced at one time, which made it difficult for me to really tell the difference between them all, or even fall in love with. It would've been nicer if there weren't so many characters thrown in at once like that.

Because of this, I didn't really feel for Loto's grandma and the hard time she had to go through, or why Loto felt attached so quickly. I mean, she's family and does a lot for him, like keep Loto in hiding, feeds him, gives him a bed, and is just so happy that he's home. There just wasn't a time when reading that I felt that Loto got/could've gotten attached to her. It would've been different if this sort of thing happened with the Nosek's as Loto spent quite a few chapters (and years) with them. Even though at this part of the book he's a bit more caring, I just didn't get the emotional impact I think the author wanted for her readers.

That makes it sound like I disliked the ending, but there's an amazing line at the end of the book (actually the featured quote above) that wraps up the story nicely. I just wanted more time with these newer characters. *SPOILERS END*

Other than that, there's not much to improve on in the story because of how well-written and amazing it was. I loved the storyline that was going on and the way the story was written. The descriptions that are portrayed in the story are spot on, and I felt as if I was in the scene myself. I didn't mind the long chapter length because of this. There weren't many mistakes in this book (when there were, I had to really search for them). This is the sort of thing that proves how much time and effort was put into writing the story, which is amazing to see.

These details of the story carries over to things as simple as to Loto eating a meal for the first time to something as dealing with life-changing moments. Kari was Loto's first friend in Tranquelum. While being a Grass Type magician (which is weaker than Ice Type that Loto is), Kari has this instant liking to Loto. They, along with Kari's Dedenne, Dew, help each other survive on the street, stargaze together, and keep each other sane in the dark world they live in.

*SPOILER* Like all characters I fall in love with, Kari died.

Now, if I wouldn't have read The Isles of Gracidea by Cora-chan before this, I probably wouldn't have seen it coming; however, in TIOG, Loto and Dew make an appearance. It is mentioned that Dew is Loto's Pokémon. Despite that knowledge, I still cried during Kari's death. His death was even subtle, something that you wouldn't have expected a death to be like in a book like this, and I liked it. No, I wasn't happy that this precious Smol Bean had to die, but the way that it happened, it was done nicely. If Loto wasn't sick, and unable to do anything, I could almost see him throwing himself into danger and getting himself killed. Being that he couldn't do anything about Kari's death and that he was Loto's best friend, the lasting effect that it had on Loto was very realistic. It wasn't like every chapter had some details about how Kari died, but it was sprinkled around the story like that memory would pop up every once in a while. It was very nicely done. *SPOILER ENDS*

Like Kari, Loto, and Dew, I absolutely loved Cyryl. I could be a bit biased as the character is the sweetest kid ever to be written, which are my favorite kinds of characters, but that's not what I'm impressed with. It's the fact that this character is someone else's OC and is portrayed perfectly. At least, that is what I think.

Overall, this book is very well written, and is overall amazing.

My Name is Loto follows a boy whose name is Loto as he journeys the rough world of Caelum, attempting to uncover the truth behind his past due to his mysterious case of amnesia. What's really interesting about this book is that it's essentially an extended backstory for a character from another book, The Isle of Gracidea, but despite me never having read that book, this still functions and stands on its own. It's an awkward case for a critic since I can't be completely sure where credit is due, so for the sake of this review, I won't be considering the original book. Except when I have to, but more on that later.

The best thing about this book is the world it's set in. Caelum is such a rich world and a brilliant setting for telling any story. The world feels so alive with all its various towns and cities, its own lore, rules and laws that differ from place to place, jobs and people that fit so naturally it's almost obvious to the reader that they exist in the world. Every new thing that's introduced just makes sense. Nothing is out of place. Of course, they are pirates. Well duh, there are magicians. Obviously, the magicians ruled the world and enslaved everyone. Why wouldn't there have been a war to overthrow the magicians? Of course, everyone hates magicians now! It's all so clear, like the reader is a part of the world.

The way the author built the setting and the basic lore in the opening chapters was honestly elegant. It was exposition at its finest, but the exposition being given was so interesting that it didn't matter if it was a massive information dump. It was a massive information dump that I was begging for: I wanted more knowledge about the world, I wanted more lore, I wanted more everything!

Now a cool world is all well and good, but if the characters living in it aren't interesting, it doesn't matter. Fortunately, the titular character Loto is interesting. He certainly isn't to start with, given his amnesia, but with each event that takes place, with every character he meets, he changes. He develops. His arc is so beautifully woven in, so seamless, so elegant, it's like watching a child grow up. The changes aren't drastic or immediate or obvious and yet they are so clearly there, so blatantly intentional, so well thought out and I was very, very impressed by it. I loved how much of an impact Kari made on Loto. Kari didn't exactly change who Loto was as a person, more Loto's mindset and that's just such good, quality writing.

At this point, you might be thinking to yourself, "Wow, Gremlin's got some high praise for this book; he must love it!"

I don't. I don't love this book. I hate it.

This book should be the best book in the world, but it's not. It's just not. All of that brilliant world building is wasted, utterly, utterly wasted, because this book commits the most heinous crime imaginable for a book. This is as sinful as writing can get because nothing, absolutely nothing, can save or excuse a book once this travesty takes place. What could be so bad? This book is boring. Painfully, woefully, boring. Excruciatingly dull.

Why is the book so incredibly dull? Nothing happens in the entire book! Nothing! There is no plot! I actually cannot believe I am saying this in a review but genuinely nothing happens. The entire book is just Loto chilling, trying to be alive for a bit longer. I would criticise Loto as a character and say that he fails to drive the plot, but there is no plot to drive in the first place. I'm honestly baffled at a mistake this colossal, this obvious when the author clearly has so much talent. How could they have let this happen?

The pacing and structure are just shockingly bad. There's no sugar coating it. It is horrendous. Let's break down the plot. At the end of the second chapter, Loto sees a purple eyed man, feels a vague sense of familiarity and decides the best course of action is to find this man. Ok, this is all fine. We've been setting up the world and getting to know our main character, and now the plot has begun to kick in, this is good. From here we meet Kari and continue to see Loto travelling around, asking about the purple eyed man. This plot point is not resolved until chapter eleven. Eleven. That is over halfway through the book and the very first plot point has only just been resolved. The climax takes place during chapter sixteen, but the book is twenty chapters long. Plus an epilogue. Plus a zeroth chapter.

Now don't get me wrong, things do take place in between the chapters where the main plot moves forward. There is a lot of character building, character development and relationship building going on. The trouble is, these scenes aren't integrated into the main plot at all. It's eight chapters worth of character related stuff, then one of plot related stuff. The character central chapters are fine; they're all well and good when you take each one on its own. But as you go through the book, you realise that there's so many of them and they're all full to the brim with useless, pointless guff that adds nothing, nothing, to the story.

Why is there a zeroth chapter? What purpose does it serve? Why is there a whole chapter where Loto and Cyryl go to some festival? Why are there five chapters (including the epilogue) after the climax?

The more I think about these mistakes, the more frustrated I get. This book has pirates and magicians in it. How could it possibly be boring? How?

There is so much small talk, and it's honestly so painful. The dialogue in this book is fairly clunky and weird at times and combining that with boring small talk does not make for good reading. Why do these scenes exist?

I think that this book is conceptually flawed. At least, in its current form. Being a backstory for another book is a cool but weird idea. In my opinion, the way to make this concept work is for this book to not stand on its own feet. And I don't think it can work as a full length story; a good fifty percent of this book could be cut down, at least.

I think that if reading The Isles of Gracidea was mandatory, this book would have a lot less work to do. It wouldn't need to set up the world since that would be assumed knowledge, so instead of the first act being entirely world building, the plot could actually kick in immediately. I also have a sneaking suspicion that the only reason this book continues after its climax for so long is because the author wanted to get to a certain point in Loto's story so that there were no gaps between the two books. Problem is, if you read this book on its own, those ending chapters are totally pointless. They add nothing. Maybe if reading the original book was mandatory, the ending would make more sense. Or maybe the book could end as Loto sets out to find his grandmother.

Another thing that disappointed me was the slightly wonky tone. I was warned in advance that this book was dark, but that's just not true. Sure, there's blood and violence but so what? Violence doesn't instantly make something dark. Just think about Deadpool: that's a film with a ton of violence, but it's a light-hearted comedy. The tone of the book just isn't really all that dark. It's pretty chill. It's definitely not light, but it's nowhere near dark, and it makes for weird reading because it really should feel darker than it is. One scene that did work brilliantly was when Loto had to choose between killing a Starly or going hungry. That is a moral dilemma, that is a tough choice, and that, in my opinion, is dark. It's just a shame not much like that happens. I also think the book would be funnier if it was darker. That sounds really confusing, but when you have a really dark tone and only tell a small handful of jokes, the humour in those jokes provides brilliant juxtaposition, not only making the jokes funnier but making the reader realise how dark the world really is since these comedic moments are so few and far between.

*SPOILER WARNING* I will say that the plot twist with Rangi was handled about as well as it could've been. Despite it being extremely obvious that Rangi was not telling a complete truth and was probably the antagonist, the author did a very good job in building as much trust as possible in an attempt to alleviate my suspicions. Sadly, it still was not exactly a surprising twist. Even less so that he was a magician, which the author had actually foreshadowed brilliantly until Rangi's Freudian slip that completely gave that away. *SPOILERS END*

Now is all of this harsh? Absolutely. Of course, I'm being harsh. This book is still fine; it's perfectly readable, and I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy it. But I think that I have every right to be harsh. I had such high hopes and such high expectations when the book started out so well, and then it just dragged on and on and on, and it genuinely angered me to read it. I was bitterly disappointed with how the book turned out.

4/10 – There's some truly excellent stuff in here. A score this low should give a pretty clear indication as to how I feel about the rest of it.

There are a lot of good things to be said about My Name is Loto. Its author is undoubtedly skilled, and, while that's easy to say in one short sentence, its impact on the reader's ability to enjoy the book should never be underestimated.

This book is both easy on the eyes and on the brain of a skilled critic (cough cough hopeless stickler for proper grammar). It wouldn't be a book by Imber if it didn't have a beautiful cover and not only one but several gorgeous chapter banners that bring the book and its characters to life in a way that few of the rest of us can ever hope to accomplish. The errors are few and far between and have probably been corrected by now because there were, in fact, so few that I left comments as I was reading to point them out, and I believe the author speedily addressed them. There were a few awkward sentences, but those were also very few. And that means that, altogether, I was able to read straight through entire chunks of this book without any metaphorical speed bumps jostling me out of my immersion in the text. I wasn't reading through an action sequence only to be confronted by a missing word or drinking in a description only to find myself having to reread a tricky sentence. I didn't get confused about who was saying what or find sentences that didn't make sense until you read the whole paragraph and then went back. In short, this book enabled me to truly enjoy the experience of reading in a way that few books on Wattpad have ever been able to accomplish. And that is a true compliment from me.

Additionally, the plot itself often lends itself to being a page turner (or rather constant scroller, I suppose, since I read it on my laptop). It kicks off pretty quickly in the beginning, and there are definitely several chapters that you will want to read back to back to back because every one of them has plot unfolding and every one of them is good.

The biggest disappointment for me was that this doesn't hold true for the entire book. The prologue, for example, seemed alright at first, introducing a character who clearly stands out in an interesting way, but, looking back after having read the entire book, I really don't think it's even necessary. I don't think it provides anything for the story except revealing something about the condition in which Loto will end up, and I personally don't find that to be of great importance. Although I haven't read it personally, I'm given to believe that readers of Cora's book The Isles of Gracidea would know as much to begin with, and other readers might actually prefer the pleasant surprise of finding that Loto lives to be able to tell the tale and not knowing from the start that he's going to end up in a bad enough state to develop an unhealthy drinking habit. Besides that, I found it a little odd that Loto is supposedly telling this 120,000 (ish) word story in a single sitting to a person who never pops up again following the prologue and who Loto doesn't seem to even be talking to anymore when we pop into Chapter One. In all honesty, I think it would be worth the sacrifice to chop it off and start where Loto wakes up with amnesia. Besides that, I think the first chapter should have ended after Loto dives into an alley, with the reader not knowing if things have ended on a good note or a bad one for him yet, because everything afterwards seemed like unnecessary rambling.

Besides that, the book slows way down in the middle section and the last couple chapters seem a bit tacked-on, but I don't think these are simple, one-off issues like the previous ones that I described. No, I think these are symptomatic of the greater problem of the book, which is really one of only two issues that I had with it. And that issue is that it didn't have a single, clear, consistent plot line. The beginning has what definitely seems like it, a desperate struggle for survival, which I as a reader thought might be resolved through Loto recovering his memories and/or finding lost family or friends. And so, *SPOILER* I was really confused when the book didn't end after Chapter Nine, in which Loto has a wonderful time at a festival with the child of the family that has adopted him and it is clear that his situation is entirely stable and happy now. *SPOILER ENDS* Later on, it seems as though the plot is actually focused around him finding the answers to the mystery of his past and this was just ignored for a long time while the survival issues happened. But then there comes a point at which this doesn't seem to fit what's happening in the plot line anymore either.

By the end, I realized that the book seems more like an extended character backstory than a book with a traditional plot line, a book that's showcasing who a character is and how he ended up the way he is. This makes sense to me since it's no secret that there's a connection between this book and The Isles of Gracidea, and, even without having read that book, I get the feeling that the other book must take place after the events of this one and involve Loto as a character.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with two books being connected in that way. In fact, I think it's a really cool and awesome thing. The only issue I have is with the execution. As a reader, I want My Name is Loto to be able to stand on its own even while retaining its connection to The Isles of Gracidea. Currently, it feels a bit like it's using The Isles of Gracidea as a crutch when the two books could instead be treating each other like good friends. It feels a bit like this book was designed to be a sub-book rather than an equal, whether through an innocent mistake in planning or a lack of confidence on the part of the author that it ever can stand on a level playing field with the original. And I can say that this book should definitely not be handicapping itself.

In the end, I think the solution is actually a relatively easy one to execute. The biggest hurdle is in the grasping of the concept I'm proposing. The only thing the book is lacking is one consistent vision that's the driver of the plot. If it was me, I would pick the "finding the place where I belong" plot that's sort of there and sort of not as the book stands currently. I would sprinkle in references to it during the survival plot to make it obvious that this is the deeper struggle even while he's just trying to get by. I would make it a nagging little thought in the back of Loto's mind during the middle section to show that all is not resolved because he doesn't have all the answers to his past yet and has the suspicion that he's missing something or someone that's important to him. And I would change the ending so that it shows how this specific conflict is resolved rather than *MILD SPOILER* simply showing, as near as I can tell, how he came to be living where he is and doing what he is when The Isles of Gracidea picks his story up *SPOILER ENDS*.

It feels like the book is trying to do something like this because there are little pieces of the book that are clearly trying to push forward a plot or at least create excitement and tension when things are lagging, but, while they help, they don't quite hit the spot. Honestly, I don't think the events of the book would have to change all that much, although maybe some of the middle could get chopped out. Mostly it would be a job of minor rewriting to reframe key scenes and insert/showcase Loto's overarching desires more clearly, although that might change depending on which plot line the author chooses to go with. As I mentioned before, choosing a certain type of plot might cause large parts of the book to no longer be necessary as they don't fit in with it. Other choices might require expanding certain portions. I could even see the possibility of this one book being split into two shorter ones, each with its own plot line, and the book does have enough in it to be able to pull that off.

Anyway, that's a long explanation for something that an average reader probably wouldn't even be able to pick out as a problem, although I do honestly believe that the page-turning nature of the book I mentioned earlier would be increased to non-stop levels if it were addressed. I just want to make it clear that's what I'm going for here: an already good book achieving true excellence.

The second of the two issues I had with the book is that I disliked the antagonists almost as a rule. I don't mean that I disliked them because they were bad people, although I actually did dislike them that way as well. In fact, I had a very intense dislike for many, if not all of them, and they were very well written in that regard. Did I find myself thinking about how so-and-so is a truly disgusting being? Yes, yes, I did, and the author should be commended for that.

But what I really mean is that I didn't like that they were written in a way that made some or all of their actions seem unbelievable. Particularly in the beginning, it seemed like the author cared more about shock value than credibility, as characters who seemed to be genuinely nice and caring people suddenly turned in an incredibly disturbing way. Now, this could make sense if the character had a reason to fake being nice and was also an unusually talented actor, but often they didn't have any reason that I could see, and even when they did it seemed overplayed to an unbelievable extent.

Honestly, I would rather have seen subtle hints that the characters might not be as nice as they appeared or even outright signs that they could be dangerous under the proper circumstances or if given certain reasons. The kind of tension and dread that could be built up in this way would more than make up for the loss in shock value. *SPOILER* And it also would have made the big shocker of the story actually shocking to me instead of nearly predictable. And, speaking of Rangi, I also found it unbelievable that he had a change of heart after one single emotionally charged conversation with his younger brother, just because I know a little something about the psychology that would be at work there. It disappointed me in general that there wasn't a more nuanced portrayal of Rangi's perspectives on magic users because that would have been utterly fascinating and probably the highlight of the entire book as a whole if handled differently. There is so much potential for exploring the true nature of intolerance that so many of us witness or experience in our real lives, and I was disappointed that it didn't accomplish that as well as I wanted it to.*SPOILER ENDS*

Although I should note that the author has made some changes to this section of the book since I read it, and I simply didn't have the time to reread it all in context and revise my review. I definitely believe it has improved, however.

In general, I think the author could work a little more on imagining things from the perspective of the villains and understanding what makes these sorts of people tick. Which I do realize is a tall order, especially given the types of villains shown in this story and my assumption that the author has not personally encountered anyone who is even close to being like them, but, as previously mentioned, I've clearly run out of other things to pick at. I would definitely understand if my longing for greater philosophical depth is all down to the difference in life experience (as in the amount of it, due to age differences) between myself and the author, but I do think it's worth mentioning since it's the true picture of my thoughts and feelings as I read. Hopefully the other GRA members will provide their balance.

Besides these things, I have only positives to mention. I'm not sure if the magic system is native to this book or The Isles of Gracidea, but it is really cool, a very creative use of Pokémon moves/powers, and incredibly well-balanced. I love a magic system that has drawbacks that limit its usage so that magic users aren't instantly OP. I love the depiction of a society that oppressed first one group and then turned to begin oppressing the oppressors; that's fascinating from a social perspective and definitely worth exploring to its full extent. I love the depiction of the magic and how it visibly changes the users, making for great imagery. I love how there are many different kinds of it that are each unique and interesting in their own way without being too complicated so that the reader loses track of them.

I like the complexity of the characters, especially the major ones like Loto and Rangi and the Noseks and eventually Guella. I loved how Kari had a compelling back story and a desire to help people that was both completely believable and inherently heart-breaking.

I liked the details of clothing and setting and differences of culture and climate that were present just enough to do what they were meant to do and didn't overstay their welcome by swamping down the story with unnecessary bits of showing off the (admittedly awesome) world.

There were a lot of little parts that had great sentences, great images, little bits of humor that I enjoyed, and particularly scenes that were definitely emotional. The little Easter eggs were fun and not at all intrusive to the story. The action scenes are easy to follow and encourage you to pick up the pace of your reading just like great action scenes are meant to do.

And, like the cherry on top, the author is clearly willing to take feedback and use it to improve. As mentioned, I know she's already done this with the technical errors I pointed out as I was reading, as well as with the issues I had with the depiction of a certain character, which I had a long conversation with her about since she was wanting to improve before the PWA judging period. I also helped her brainstorm some ways to fix plot issues that I saw, so for all I know those have been greatly improved or eliminated as well since I read it.

That kind of openness takes a lot of strength and courage, and I can't commend it highly enough. Knowing when to listen to critiques and how to evaluate them as well as being able to make use of them in a constructive way or file them away for future reference or even see past the negatives of a review in order to understand what the critic is really trying to say that may or may not be helpful takes a huge amount of skill.

Overall, it really does become a question of what isn't great about this book. It certainly isn't a book for children, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's prepared to handle anything that's mentioned in the disclaimer this book has. Personally I had no problems with it at all as I've read far worse, and I think most people who have reached the appropriate age would feel the same. Honestly, I'm really proud that we have books like this in our community, and I can only hope there will be more like it to come.

8.5/10

***

Credits:

Article by d_s_t_e

Reviews by JunieWeathers , DI_Gremlin , d_s_t_e

Special thanks to ImberLapis for allowing us to review her book. An interview with her about the book will be coming soon.