# Just how bad is Org's Odyssey?



## Zaedrin (Mar 6, 2016)

I've heard so many things about that tale being _outstandingly_ horrible, but I've never really read any of it. Does anyone have an excerpt to share? I'm morbidly curious.


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## drjoshfox (Mar 11, 2016)

can't say I've heard...

But now I'm morbidly curious....


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## Zaedrin (Mar 14, 2016)

As am I.


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## Fopfox (Mar 25, 2016)

It's the kind of thing I wish I could read so that I could cringe.

But the pricetag...dear god. I thought it was expensive back in the day when it was like 20 bucks on Lulu, now the only place you can get it is used on Amazon and the prices are...well, I doubt they expect anyone to really buy it. I'm a little concerned by the fact that it's available on Amazon.ca and not .com...the one thing we get exclusive and it's 999 bucks.


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## scet (Mar 25, 2016)

did i just google the right thing? something called "orgs odyssey: a tale of post-human earth"? is that what this curiosity is all about?


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## Fopfox (Mar 25, 2016)

scet said:


> did i just google the right thing? something called "orgs odyssey: a tale of post-human earth"? is that what this curiosity is all about?



Yes, that would be it.


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## scet (Mar 25, 2016)

I read the discription and I am honestly very confused


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## Fopfox (Mar 25, 2016)

scet said:


> I read the discription and I am honestly very confused



That is a reasonable reaction.


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## LemurKat (Apr 25, 2016)

I have read it, and the answer is... it's pretty bad.
Okay, really, really, terribly written.
Here's my review from many years ago:
(And no, I didn't buy it, I did a cover design for him - not this cover, although mine wasn't much better, and he sent me a free copy).

This book is amusing, albeit unintentionally. The story begins with a rather nicely complicated, and ridiculous, infodump explaining how the "Anthropians" came to be. Giving dolphins' gills for a start seems rather dubious - as do otter/dolphin/deer hybrids. It then moves to a most unconvincing "romance" between Org's father, Og, and his mother - the daughter of a God, the end result of which has her running off with him and providing him with four heirs - the third of which is Org, our "legendary hero".

This story has a lot of problems. The writing style itself is a little bit tending to the pompous with the use of unnecessarily flamboyant words - something I don't usually mind that much - however Otterland does not always use the words in the appropriate context. He does not use "said" but instead uses derivatives, some of which make no sense when paired with the words. His character descriptions consist of fur and hair colour, eye colour and wing colour and all of his main characters are monochromatic (ie: Org is white, Forrest green etc). Amongst them all, Org and Christian are the only ones with personality. Since this lack of personality means the reader cannot differentiate between them, Otterland has helped by making each of the six supporting characters (not that they actually do much supporting - or much of anything, except make the reader want to sacrifice them to the elder gods) have a catch-phrase.

Which they use every time they speak.

Whether it fits what they're saying or not.

These are the phrases:
"... young master."
"In my Humble Opinion..."
"If you ask me..."
"Yo"
"Pardon me..."
And
"There's no Question..."

And since they always talk in this order... I need to ask him WHY????

Not only does his story need a serious edit, but his writing style lacks maturity. His battle scenes are unconvincing - with Org kicking some serious tail and the bad guys gloating and mocking the good guys, despite the fact the good guys outnumber them 7 to 1 for the most part. There is no drama, no descriptive prose put into the battle, and as the reader, I certainly would not care if any of the main characters had been ruthlessly slaughtered. Hell, I almost cheered.

Speaking of dying - Org seems to cry a lot when he imagines his friends are dead, but despite the presence of tears, he does not seem to actually mourn for them at all, and in fact when one of the characters made a bit of a mess-up and was exposed to the bad guys - Org actually turned him in and watched as they slaughtered him without even trying to help.

My opinion? Only read this book if you are a masochist, or find badly written books highly entertaining. It is far too niche to appeal to even the larger furry audience, and all-in-all the plot is entirely that of the Generic Fantasy Novel.

Oh, and Otterland uses both the term "mithrill" and "hobbit" - don't they belong to the Tolkein estate?

Org is some sort of Legendary Hero, and his world Anglia (England as the "Ancient race" knew it) is slowly being consumed by Evil and Darkness. Seven bat-winged Satans (symbolising the seven deadly sins) are at large and against them must stand... Seven bird-winged seraphim, to be lead by the pure white otter, Org, with his deer antlers, dolphin tail and gills. Follow Org's adventures as he travels Anglia, seeking the other heirs and paying more attention to how much things cost and eating nothing but fish rather then facing any real threats. Then he must journey to the lands of his grandfather (Odin, the God) and claim his Rune of Light. Thrill as he slays his enemies with a single blow. Mourn as his companions are taken from him (since he certainly doesn't). Frown when he suffers terrible injury that doesn't seem to affect him at all. Cringe as the phrase "In my humble opinion..." is followed by a question.


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## Fopfox (Apr 26, 2016)

LemurKat said:


> I have read it, and the answer is... it's pretty bad.
> Okay, really, really, terribly written.
> Here's my review from many years ago:
> (And no, I didn't buy it, I did a cover design for him - not this cover, although mine wasn't much better, and he sent me a free copy).
> ...



Hah! I remember reading that review on Amazon ages ago!

Glad to see you didn't pay anything for it. Technically speaking, it's actually quite rare now, too bad no one would actually pay extra for a rare copy!


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## Zaedrin (Jun 19, 2016)

Fopfox said:


> Hah! I remember reading that review on Amazon ages ago!
> 
> Glad to see you didn't pay anything for it. Technically speaking, it's actually quite rare now, too bad no one would actually pay extra for a rare copy!



Wish there were more details on just how god-awful it really is.


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## LemurKat (Jun 20, 2016)

Well, here's a fairly typical conversation between the "good" guys:
This comes shortly after Brandon, the badger, has attempted to attack some ruler's son in public and been caught in the act.  Org immediately betrays his companion, stomps on his head with his foot (he'd tried to intervene in the assassination attempt and lost half his other foot in the process, btw). He then outs his companion, protesting his own innocence, and watches as his companion is publicly execute.  Afterwards, the survivors of the gang go to a pub to commiserate (they do bury their friend first).

"If you ask me, you really need to perk up, Org."
"I know I should, but it's just... he didn't have to die like that..."
"Yo, we all know that, but that's in the past, you know. We need to concentrate on now, and the future that'll soon become the present!"
Pardon me, but I believe this village would be a decent place to stop for the day."
"Aye, there's no question that this is quite a tempting place, but the day is far from old, and we needn't any unnecessary diversions, right, Org?"

Best way to realise how awful it is, is to read it. Although, I think my review summarised it pretty well. The writing is overblown and purple-prose-y with a lot of unnecessary detail and the occasional info-dump. Plus, the dialogue... I'm just glad the badger (The one that died) was the "In my humble opinion" guy.


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## nerdbat (Jun 20, 2016)

Well, from what I see, it's a typical furry fic made by somebody with a really big ego and lack of writing skill. The fandom is filled with these, especially when it comes to webcomics.


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## Zaedrin (Jun 21, 2016)

nerdbat said:


> Well, from what I see, it's a typical furry fic made by somebody with a really big ego and lack of writing skill. The fandom is filled with these, especially when it comes to webcomics.



And several bash-wounds to the head. I also read that it "glorifies child abuse." What the hell is up with that?!


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