Gauntlet: Book One of The Phoenix Cycle by John G. Doyle

John Doyle's TikTok account, turnaroundalan led me to John's personal account. And I saw he wrote a book series--the premise is great. A plucky hero who is honestly kind of a jerk but also grows on you as you read because he's a decent human in his heart of hearts. And I want to preface this entire review with the fact that I did like the novel. I'll probably buy the second one and finish the series because it was fun to read. 

Doyle has some fantastic ideas. I love a good, cheesy sci-fi romp. The writing just needs work. For a self-published novel he did an amazing job--I literally have a degree in English and have spent four years in an ELAR classroom. There were some minor usage errors that need to be remedied, but overall he did a pretty bang up job with mechanics. None of the mistakes were glaring or distracting--I'm just an obnoxious pedant.

Jericho is a truly three dimensional character, in that you see him develop over the course of his tale. I'm terrible at listening to audiobooks, but I think this would be a story that is meant for audiobook consumption, as Jericho is literally recording the events you read on his time travel gauntlet. The supporting characters really need some more development. I haven't taken a look at the second book yet, but based on how Gauntlet ended, it would be fun to see chapters from Chloe and Piper's perspective.

I was a bit put off at the start of the book. I didn't enjoy the narrator's quippy lines and jokes. But, as I kept reading, Jericho became more endearing and I was less annoyed by his nerdy pithiness. I'm curious to see how Doyle wraps things up. The appearance of Beck at the end, along with the ending itself left a few questions. Overall, it was a fun read and I'm glad I bought it.