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valjeanval's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Funny for a couple hundred pages, but the jokes just repeat and the flaws get more noticeable as it goes on. The female characters lack and depth and the run of duck jokes and fat jokes just goes on and on.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Misogyny, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Terminal illness, Violence, and War
elyse12's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
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? No
5.0
Where do I even begin with this book? This is so far my favorite book of 2022, even beating Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee. It's incredible heartfelt, hilarious, and highly entertaining. There was not a moment where I was bored and wishing for this to be over.
The characters are all important, you grow to love them. The plot itself is engaging and keeps you on your toes. The world was a little on the back burner but the characters make up for it. Finishing this book left a huge smile on my face.
I don't think I've read a book in a long time that can make me laugh loudly as much as this book has. There were parts where I'd scream "oh my gods" while at work that my coworkers were concerned for me. Each main character is important to the story, the writing is very easy to digest, the fantasy elements make sense. It's everything you wanted in one book.
The audiobook is definitely the best way to consume this. The narrator does a fantastic job in bringing these characters to life and you can differentiate all of them. Please listen to it. I guarantee you won't regret it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, War, and Death
Moderate: Cannibalism
Minor: Drug use
hunt_rian's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, and Drug use
It’s not the dude-bro-y book it appears to be, and is actually quite touching. Very funny and EXTREMELY well written, Top 10 on my shelf. Unfortunate lack of more women, though that is passionately rectified in the next book and the ‘main’ women in this one are still cool as hell. But, if I must read about men, I would gladly choose these ones!catsy2022's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Rating: A
But life, Clay knew, didn't work out that way. It wasn't a circle; you didn't go round and round again. It was an arc, its course as inexorable as the sun's trek across the sky, destined at its highest, brightest moment to begin to fall.
I had heard things about this book and decided to get myself a copy. Before I had started reading this, I ended up buying the sequel anyway...haha whoops. Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames is a last hurrah novel about a group of old, washed-up adventurers getting back together to rescue Rose, the daughter of one of the band. The story has strong vibes of the impending doom in Skyrim and Dragon Age, mixed with the humour levels of Monty Python. Lots of quips, puns and even dick jokes can be found in this book. As well as many, many wholesome moments. Some of which even brought me to tears.
Life was funny, and fickle, and often cruel. Sometimes the unworthy went on living, while those who deserved better were lost.
I think this would be a really popular book amongst a lot of groups. I personally really enjoyed the book and some of the jokes landed with me, but I can't really recall them. I am a bit disappointed that there wasn't really a stand-out female character that was really in the band (except after halfway through). I did like the joke around the bard of the group (looking at you Dandelion...) and how that was handled throughout the book. I really loved the characterisation of Gabriel and Clay particularly around how much they valued their family.
Each moment that Clay reflects on why he's doing this adventure was so touching. I also liked the world-building around the monsters (common D&D monsters that you can look up online), the named weapon trope and how immensely mysterious and powerful the weapons were.
Moog was definitely a great addition to the team, beyond filling in the magical character of the team, he had a lot of creative weapons, a lot of world knowledge and I found his developmental scenes really touching. I really liked Matrick and he was a washed-up old king, similar to Robert Baratheon. What was so interesting to me was that he started as a thief/rogue. I wish we had more information about how he became king.
We will speak of this later, his lower back promised. Oh yes we will.
If I think about what the book was lacking, there were a few things: There was no real amazing battle that swept me in like other books have. I felt like we were more told about the skirmish rather than really saw it. I also felt like the gang weren't really that close - or it kind of showed that they fell out of contact with each other for the past 20 years, and coming back together was pretty easy for them to fall back into. They briefly mentioned the team used to be 6 + the bard, but there was only one line about the team member that had died, and they never brought him up again.
The team also felt like very much overpowered. We start the book going on about how old and grey they are, but several times when Gabriel is fighting, he is practically a god with a hectic AF sword and he seems to shrug off injuries unlike Clay. I especially felt like Ganelon's character was one of the main ways the author solved the aging heroes problem.
I still liked the story and would put it into similar camps as The Cruel Stars (popcorn entertainment) by John Bigmingham and the Warriors of Blood and Shadow series by Andy Peloquin.
"But you would come if it was me, right, Daddy? If I was trapped by bad guys far away? You would come and save me?"
"If it was you," he said in a voice still fierce for how quietly it spoke, "then nothing in the world could stop me."
But life, Clay knew, didn't work out that way. It wasn't a circle; you didn't go round and round again. It was an arc, its course as inexorable as the sun's trek across the sky, destined at its highest, brightest moment to begin to fall.
I had heard things about this book and decided to get myself a copy. Before I had started reading this, I ended up buying the sequel anyway...haha whoops. Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames is a last hurrah novel about a group of old, washed-up adventurers getting back together to rescue Rose, the daughter of one of the band. The story has strong vibes of the impending doom in Skyrim and Dragon Age, mixed with the humour levels of Monty Python. Lots of quips, puns and even dick jokes can be found in this book. As well as many, many wholesome moments. Some of which even brought me to tears.
Life was funny, and fickle, and often cruel. Sometimes the unworthy went on living, while those who deserved better were lost.
I think this would be a really popular book amongst a lot of groups. I personally really enjoyed the book and some of the jokes landed with me, but I can't really recall them. I am a bit disappointed that there wasn't really a stand-out female character that was really in the band (except after halfway through). I did like the joke around the bard of the group (looking at you Dandelion...) and how that was handled throughout the book. I really loved the characterisation of Gabriel and Clay particularly around how much they valued their family.
Each moment that Clay reflects on why he's doing this adventure was so touching. I also liked the world-building around the monsters (common D&D monsters that you can look up online), the named weapon trope and how immensely mysterious and powerful the weapons were.
Moog was definitely a great addition to the team, beyond filling in the magical character of the team, he had a lot of creative weapons, a lot of world knowledge and I found his developmental scenes really touching. I really liked Matrick and he was a washed-up old king, similar to Robert Baratheon. What was so interesting to me was that he started as a thief/rogue. I wish we had more information about how he became king.
We will speak of this later, his lower back promised. Oh yes we will.
If I think about what the book was lacking, there were a few things: There was no real amazing battle that swept me in like other books have. I felt like we were more told about the skirmish rather than really saw it. I also felt like the gang weren't really that close - or it kind of showed that they fell out of contact with each other for the past 20 years, and coming back together was pretty easy for them to fall back into. They briefly mentioned the team used to be 6 + the bard, but there was only one line about the team member that had died, and they never brought him up again.
The team also felt like very much overpowered. We start the book going on about how old and grey they are, but several times when Gabriel is fighting, he is practically a god with a hectic AF sword and he seems to shrug off injuries unlike Clay. I especially felt like Ganelon's character was one of the main ways the author solved the aging heroes problem.
I still liked the story and would put it into similar camps as The Cruel Stars (popcorn entertainment) by John Bigmingham and the Warriors of Blood and Shadow series by Andy Peloquin.
"But you would come if it was me, right, Daddy? If I was trapped by bad guys far away? You would come and save me?"
"If it was you," he said in a voice still fierce for how quietly it spoke, "then nothing in the world could stop me."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism and Death
Minor: Drug use, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Vomit
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