I was hoping to like this a lot more than I did. And because I’m probably going to Review Amnesty the third book in this series, which I read in November for a book club meeting I didn’t end up attending, this review will also touch on that one a little and the series as a whole. Which is not as funny as it thinks it is.
I like the idea of taking traditional fantasy tropes and structuring a book so as to poke fun at them, but there’s something a little off-putting about Hearne and Dawson’s version of it. This applies more to book three, The Princess Beard, than it does to this one, which I think had more of a handle on its tone and characters, and which also had a story that more directly comments on fantasy tropes and arcs.
Also, you really have to think puns are funny.
I didn’t read this one by audio, but one of my favorite audiobook narrators, Luke Daniels, does these books, and not even he can save them. In fact, I think without him I might have given Princess Beard one star.
I’m talking vaguely around the actual book because I don’t actually remember very much about it, except the talking goat, who singlehandedly took this from a four-star read to a three-star one. He was not funny. And that’s a real shame because I dearly love a talking animal in a book.
I am about to unhaul this book, so if anyone wants it let me know. Otherwise it’s going on my PangoBooks storefront. I have already returned the audiobook of #3 to Libro.fm. My advice is there are better fantasies and fantasy spoofs out there. You can give this one a pass.