Scan barcode
A review by nclcaitlin
Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike
4.0
Ever wanted ‘Hero’ to be a job? Well, here’s your chance! You just risk death, court cases, and taxes!
The Heroes' Guild has turned adventuring into a career, selling the rights to monsters' hoards of treasure as investment opportunities. Corporations spend immense sums sponsoring heroes to undertake quests, betting they'll reap the profits in plunder funds when the loot is divvied up.
Gorm is a washed-up Dwarf berserker ex-hero who is forcibly recruited by a priest of the mad goddess Al'Matra to undertake a quest that will probably get him killed. Especially as his crew consists of the self-proclaimed inexperienced Seventh Hero who will save the world, an alcoholic elf, a silent weaponsmaster, two opposing bickering mages, a self-important thief/bard, and a Goblin Gorm takes on as his squire.
At this point, his party of eccentric misfits might kill each other before any of the monsters can.
He was sick of drinking, and sick of being sober, and regretting that those were essentially the only two options he, and everyone else, ever had.
This was delightful. It takes your classic questing troupes and totally rips into them through satire. Basically capitalism has also ruined being a hero too.
Fight, kill, loot, get credit. Repeat until you're dead.
Interspersed with action, squabbling, intrigue, and questing, we get POVs from investors, the king, politicians who spit statistics, pros and cons, and scandals to show you the other side of professional hero-ing.
Currency is a system of control, and coins and bank notes are how it's measured.
I would recommend this to fans of Terry Pratchett!
The Heroes' Guild has turned adventuring into a career, selling the rights to monsters' hoards of treasure as investment opportunities. Corporations spend immense sums sponsoring heroes to undertake quests, betting they'll reap the profits in plunder funds when the loot is divvied up.
Gorm is a washed-up Dwarf berserker ex-hero who is forcibly recruited by a priest of the mad goddess Al'Matra to undertake a quest that will probably get him killed. Especially as his crew consists of the self-proclaimed inexperienced Seventh Hero who will save the world, an alcoholic elf, a silent weaponsmaster, two opposing bickering mages, a self-important thief/bard, and a Goblin Gorm takes on as his squire.
At this point, his party of eccentric misfits might kill each other before any of the monsters can.
He was sick of drinking, and sick of being sober, and regretting that those were essentially the only two options he, and everyone else, ever had.
This was delightful. It takes your classic questing troupes and totally rips into them through satire. Basically capitalism has also ruined being a hero too.
Fight, kill, loot, get credit. Repeat until you're dead.
Interspersed with action, squabbling, intrigue, and questing, we get POVs from investors, the king, politicians who spit statistics, pros and cons, and scandals to show you the other side of professional hero-ing.
Currency is a system of control, and coins and bank notes are how it's measured.
I would recommend this to fans of Terry Pratchett!