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readcharlotte's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. Typical Colfer, and really enjoyable with the adult language and pop culture references. I read everything this guy puts out, and it's always a comfortable, enjoyable experience.
aofloyd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
klparmley's review against another edition
3.0
This was fun. I would read a sequel. But, it's OK if it doesn't go farther.
davidcottington's review against another edition
5.0
If Where the Crawdads Sing had a dragon…
THIS. WAS. SO. GOOD.
THIS. WAS. SO. GOOD.
bethsiekierawalker's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
canaanmerchant's review against another edition
4.0
Rounding up because I have an affinity for books set in Cajun Country and it was such a quick read I slipped in one more book before year’s end.
If Carl Hiaasen got into magical realism youd get something like this. Everybody is a little bent but some more than others so get a pretty straightforward story about people trying to stay one step ahead of everyone else.
If Carl Hiaasen got into magical realism youd get something like this. Everybody is a little bent but some more than others so get a pretty straightforward story about people trying to stay one step ahead of everyone else.
elvia_a's review against another edition
3.0
“Some souls are assholes and some ain’t.” - Waxman.
I chose this book because the blurb (as confusing and not very well-written as it was) sounded highly interesting and I’d never read a book set on the bayou. And the book was still interesting. Unfortunately, I came out of the experience with more cons than pros.
Pros:
1. Although a lot of useless backstory was presented, the inner dialogue extended from it provided a great shaping for the characters, namely Hooke (who I believed got everything he deserved; hated him with a passion which means his character was developed just the way he needed to be). I LIKED that I felt such a strong hate towards this crooked man, especially every time he spoke about Squib’s momma.
2. The genre falls into Adult, but I also think this may be appropriate for late young adult reader’s and could be studied as text for senior high schoolers.
3. Waxman! I wish his character was fleshed out more because he was a very enticing and engaging character!
Side Note: this is nor good nor bad, but I feel like this story would be much better suited to a screenplay. The book felt very slow, and dragged so much and often I felt like I was reading an actual movie!
Cons:
1. Writing style, 3rd person omniscient provided so much telling that I didn’t feel anything for the characters or the plot. As all the information was provided to me, even much irrelevant backstory, I became very bored very quickly around the 55% mark. 80% of the information felt pretty useless to the plot. It would have been interesting if the story was in 3rd person from Vern’s perspective. Backstory I would have liked to read about would be more about Vern’s life as Lord Highfire in medieval England, considering he was a character so hell bent on remembering and grudging the past, he didn’t touch on it a lot.
2. It aided to the setting of the story, but the Louisiana jargon was highly difficult to understand a lot of the time. I didn’t like that I had to continuously stop reading to research words. However, I LOVED the setting on the bayou! I’ve never read anything like it and it is also a well-known setting (kept thinking about Disney’s Princess and the Frog!).
3. This story is marketed as a fantasy-comedy (also just because 1 character is a dragon, does not mean that the genre is fantasy by any means, especially when the plot is set in modern day Louisiana), and admittedly there were some soft chuckle moments, but mostly I just heard myself saying “what the hell am I reading”, which may have been the reaction the author wanted from his readers, but the comedic moments didn’t hit home for me.
Overall, it was okay but not great. Highfire was a unique and interesting story to read, however I don’t believe it should have been as long as it was. Great potential for a movie adaptation and would definitely go see. If you’re an avid YA reader and thinking about picking this up, I don’t think it’ll be your bottle of Absolut. However, if you like picking up stories with bizarre plots and characters with some shock value, then you might wanna got it a try.
I chose this book because the blurb (as confusing and not very well-written as it was) sounded highly interesting and I’d never read a book set on the bayou. And the book was still interesting. Unfortunately, I came out of the experience with more cons than pros.
Pros:
1. Although a lot of useless backstory was presented, the inner dialogue extended from it provided a great shaping for the characters, namely Hooke (who I believed got everything he deserved; hated him with a passion which means his character was developed just the way he needed to be). I LIKED that I felt such a strong hate towards this crooked man, especially every time he spoke about Squib’s momma.
2. The genre falls into Adult, but I also think this may be appropriate for late young adult reader’s and could be studied as text for senior high schoolers.
3. Waxman! I wish his character was fleshed out more because he was a very enticing and engaging character!
Side Note: this is nor good nor bad, but I feel like this story would be much better suited to a screenplay. The book felt very slow, and dragged so much and often I felt like I was reading an actual movie!
Cons:
1. Writing style, 3rd person omniscient provided so much telling that I didn’t feel anything for the characters or the plot. As all the information was provided to me, even much irrelevant backstory, I became very bored very quickly around the 55% mark. 80% of the information felt pretty useless to the plot. It would have been interesting if the story was in 3rd person from Vern’s perspective. Backstory I would have liked to read about would be more about Vern’s life as Lord Highfire in medieval England, considering he was a character so hell bent on remembering and grudging the past, he didn’t touch on it a lot.
2. It aided to the setting of the story, but the Louisiana jargon was highly difficult to understand a lot of the time. I didn’t like that I had to continuously stop reading to research words. However, I LOVED the setting on the bayou! I’ve never read anything like it and it is also a well-known setting (kept thinking about Disney’s Princess and the Frog!).
3. This story is marketed as a fantasy-comedy (also just because 1 character is a dragon, does not mean that the genre is fantasy by any means, especially when the plot is set in modern day Louisiana), and admittedly there were some soft chuckle moments, but mostly I just heard myself saying “what the hell am I reading”, which may have been the reaction the author wanted from his readers, but the comedic moments didn’t hit home for me.
Overall, it was okay but not great. Highfire was a unique and interesting story to read, however I don’t believe it should have been as long as it was. Great potential for a movie adaptation and would definitely go see. If you’re an avid YA reader and thinking about picking this up, I don’t think it’ll be your bottle of Absolut. However, if you like picking up stories with bizarre plots and characters with some shock value, then you might wanna got it a try.
pathogenesis's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
jefferz's review against another edition
3.0
I was a big fan of the Artemis Fowl series growing up and was interested to see how Eoin Colfer's adult novels would fare in comparison. At a first glance Highfire reads unlike any of his childrens/YA novels with it's namesake booze-drinking, adulterating dragon (with as the book would describe, very large balls which can be retracted... yes you read that right), Southern bayou slang, and a host of questionably gray characters. Not only that but the teenage human protag Everett "Squib" could be see as the polar opposite of Artemis Fowl being a school-averse, bayou exploring swamp kid with a history of getting into adolescent trouble. For anyone who has read Colfer's other works, the colorful language and crude humor can be jarring (I personally found it highly entertaining, you can just imagine Colfer letting loose with giddy excitement with how much crass language and surpassingly violent descriptions are featured).
However once the characters are introduced, I could see some of Colfer's signature strengths and expected elements coming through. While having completely different personalities, Artemis Fowl and Squib share the same element of growing up without a fatherly learning figure and finding it within a older sassy or prickly foe turned friend (Holly Short and Vern Highfire respectively). One my biggest pros to Colfer's novels is also his strong character dynamics and banter which is also on full display between Squib and Vern (as well as Vern's somewhat meme-d nickname for Bodie being "Green Day"). Speaking of which, this 2020 novel is chock full of pop references from Vern's love of Flashdance, jabs at corny lines being compared to Coldplay's frontman Chis Martin, a possible dragon being passed by as "fake news"; I really didn't expect it considering Colfer's past works were very light on pop culture.
While low-key funny throughout, I'm not sure if I would categorize this book as a comedy nor a fantasy genre as the fantasy elements are primarily contained to Vern's existence and another particular character. The lore and mechanics of the fantasy elements are playing a supportive role to what otherwise feels like a character drama piece or even a coming of age story if you focus on Squib's narrative. I felt like the pacing could've been adjusted as the introductory setup felt slow while the last confrontation arc between Hooke and Vern could've easily been twice as long as what was written. I also wished the middle of the story focusing on the growing relationships between Vern, Squib and Waxman was longer as it felt abruptly cut short just when the characters' backstories were really being explored. Overall though I like it and thought it was a light-hearted easy read and fit my expectation of Colfer writing an adult novel (I recently picked up Plugged as well, his other adult novel series). And I'd be lying if I said the final battle where all the good guys team up to fight the bad guys in Highfire didn't take me down memory lane reading the similar setup with Artemis Fowl, Holly Short, Foaly, Butler and Mulch Diggums doing the same years ago.
However once the characters are introduced, I could see some of Colfer's signature strengths and expected elements coming through. While having completely different personalities, Artemis Fowl and Squib share the same element of growing up without a fatherly learning figure and finding it within a older sassy or prickly foe turned friend (Holly Short and Vern Highfire respectively). One my biggest pros to Colfer's novels is also his strong character dynamics and banter which is also on full display between Squib and Vern (as well as Vern's somewhat meme-d nickname for Bodie being "Green Day"). Speaking of which, this 2020 novel is chock full of pop references from Vern's love of Flashdance, jabs at corny lines being compared to Coldplay's frontman Chis Martin, a possible dragon being passed by as "fake news"; I really didn't expect it considering Colfer's past works were very light on pop culture.
While low-key funny throughout, I'm not sure if I would categorize this book as a comedy nor a fantasy genre as the fantasy elements are primarily contained to Vern's existence and another particular character. The lore and mechanics of the fantasy elements are playing a supportive role to what otherwise feels like a character drama piece or even a coming of age story if you focus on Squib's narrative. I felt like the pacing could've been adjusted as the introductory setup felt slow while the last confrontation arc between Hooke and Vern could've easily been twice as long as what was written. I also wished the middle of the story focusing on the growing relationships between Vern, Squib and Waxman was longer as it felt abruptly cut short just when the characters' backstories were really being explored. Overall though I like it and thought it was a light-hearted easy read and fit my expectation of Colfer writing an adult novel (I recently picked up Plugged as well, his other adult novel series). And I'd be lying if I said the final battle where all the good guys team up to fight the bad guys in Highfire didn't take me down memory lane reading the similar setup with Artemis Fowl, Holly Short, Foaly, Butler and Mulch Diggums doing the same years ago.
margretjones's review
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
it’s fun, it’s rural south, it’s dragons, what more can a girl ask for? (except maybe more prominent women in the story)