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A review by fallingletters
Thisby Thestoop and the Black Mountain by Zac Gorman
5.0
Brief thoughts originally published 15 March 2018 at Falling Letters.
Thisby Thestooop and the Black Mountain contains many elements that make it a fun read:
- a dungeon setting (okay, not particularly a favourite setting of mine but a unique and entertaining one!)
- a protagonist who diligently goes about their work (Thisby taking care of the dungeon’s creatures),
- prose with injections of dry humour (see quote below)
= a glowing slime sidekick with a past he hasn’t shared (I loved Mingus! Sometimes I find sidekicks tiresome, but he holds his own.)
= the two protagonists fending for themselves and defending a dungeon aren’t the type of characters you usually encounter in dungeons (Thisby, child caretaker of gruesome creatures and Iphigenia, impatient and prissy princess)
Silly names, especially alliterative ones like Thisby Thestoop, usually put me off but I laughed out loud at the explanation of Thisby’s name on page 14 and took that as a sign I would enjoy her story.
I imagine some readers might find the story overly long; the narrative feels like two distinct parts put together (in the dungeon and in the Dark Deep). The setting and characters, rather than the plot, make this narrative stand out. That being said, the narrative builds to an epic and dramatic battle that makes logical sense (as opposed to just happening for a big finish to book one.)
Thisby Thestooop and the Black Mountain contains many elements that make it a fun read:
- a dungeon setting (okay, not particularly a favourite setting of mine but a unique and entertaining one!)
- a protagonist who diligently goes about their work (Thisby taking care of the dungeon’s creatures),
- prose with injections of dry humour (see quote below)
= a glowing slime sidekick with a past he hasn’t shared (I loved Mingus! Sometimes I find sidekicks tiresome, but he holds his own.)
= the two protagonists fending for themselves and defending a dungeon aren’t the type of characters you usually encounter in dungeons (Thisby, child caretaker of gruesome creatures and Iphigenia, impatient and prissy princess)
Silly names, especially alliterative ones like Thisby Thestoop, usually put me off but I laughed out loud at the explanation of Thisby’s name on page 14 and took that as a sign I would enjoy her story.
I imagine some readers might find the story overly long; the narrative feels like two distinct parts put together (in the dungeon and in the Dark Deep). The setting and characters, rather than the plot, make this narrative stand out. That being said, the narrative builds to an epic and dramatic battle that makes logical sense (as opposed to just happening for a big finish to book one.)
Castle Grimstone had existed for as long as the people of Three Fingers could remember, which isn’t really impressive as it sounds. The villagers of Three Fingers rarely made it past the age of twenty-five, and the ones who did were too busy barely staying alive to remember things like when castles were built and all that nonsense. (p. 11)