Review of Fish Wielder
Posted: 13 Sep 2021, 11:52
[Following is a volunteer review of "Fish Wielder" by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison.]
Fish Wielder by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison is described as a silly epic fantasy. As it is, the book reads similar to that of a parody. Horror movies have the “scary movie” Series, and fantasy books have this. Thankfully, it seems to be more of a generalization of the typical elements of a fantasy book and isn't actually making fun of anything too badly, nothing much to upset the diehard fantasy fan.
Like many fantasy novels, this book opens on our hero, Thoral, drinking alone at an inn. He is described as light haired, well muscled, able to beat around all in the room, and possessing striking eyes, or in other words he is the Classic fairy tale hero. Sting there all depressed, our hero seems to be bored and out of place until his unlikely friend shows up and convinces him to go on an adventure. Together, the two of them face all the typical things one would expect then to in a fantasy book including fighting monsters, defeating evil wizards, saving princesses, and stopping an evil group.
What I liked best about this book was how truly unique it is. There really are not many books like this, especially ones that were intentionally written like this. To someone who is not aware of the fact that this book is a parody, it probably wouldn't be all that enjoyable. As a parody, this book is genius. This book captures the essence of high fantasy and just how absurd it really is perfectly and hilariously. It even has the outlandish names for everything that is common to the fantasy genre, and to add insult to injury the characters know and acknowledge that these names are outlandish.
Now for the bad news. With this book being a parody, most would probably expect it to be at least a little funny. Unfortunately, it is not, honestly I don't think I even really smiled at anything in the book more than I normally would while reading. For what it is, this book cannot be categorized as humor at all. In fact, it is relatively dry and boring with how repetitive it is making it hard to get through. Sure I can appreciate the book, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite so bland.
It's actually relatively hard for me to recommend this book to any one specific group. I would not recommend it to children at all, not because it's inappropriate, but because it is probably too boring for them. Adults would probably appreciate the style of the righting the most, and young adults would most likely enjoy the content the most. When it comes to rating this book, I cannot take any points off due to editing as the book is wonderfully edited, and I could find no faults with it as fer as that goes. I did take just one rating point off because of how repetitive the book is.it goes past the point of being Fanny and to the extreme, making it dry and boring instead. Taking all that into consideration, I rate this book 3 out of 4 and suggest that all readers who enjoy both fantasy and dry humor try out this book.
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Fish Wielder
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Fish Wielder by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison is described as a silly epic fantasy. As it is, the book reads similar to that of a parody. Horror movies have the “scary movie” Series, and fantasy books have this. Thankfully, it seems to be more of a generalization of the typical elements of a fantasy book and isn't actually making fun of anything too badly, nothing much to upset the diehard fantasy fan.
Like many fantasy novels, this book opens on our hero, Thoral, drinking alone at an inn. He is described as light haired, well muscled, able to beat around all in the room, and possessing striking eyes, or in other words he is the Classic fairy tale hero. Sting there all depressed, our hero seems to be bored and out of place until his unlikely friend shows up and convinces him to go on an adventure. Together, the two of them face all the typical things one would expect then to in a fantasy book including fighting monsters, defeating evil wizards, saving princesses, and stopping an evil group.
What I liked best about this book was how truly unique it is. There really are not many books like this, especially ones that were intentionally written like this. To someone who is not aware of the fact that this book is a parody, it probably wouldn't be all that enjoyable. As a parody, this book is genius. This book captures the essence of high fantasy and just how absurd it really is perfectly and hilariously. It even has the outlandish names for everything that is common to the fantasy genre, and to add insult to injury the characters know and acknowledge that these names are outlandish.
Now for the bad news. With this book being a parody, most would probably expect it to be at least a little funny. Unfortunately, it is not, honestly I don't think I even really smiled at anything in the book more than I normally would while reading. For what it is, this book cannot be categorized as humor at all. In fact, it is relatively dry and boring with how repetitive it is making it hard to get through. Sure I can appreciate the book, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite so bland.
It's actually relatively hard for me to recommend this book to any one specific group. I would not recommend it to children at all, not because it's inappropriate, but because it is probably too boring for them. Adults would probably appreciate the style of the righting the most, and young adults would most likely enjoy the content the most. When it comes to rating this book, I cannot take any points off due to editing as the book is wonderfully edited, and I could find no faults with it as fer as that goes. I did take just one rating point off because of how repetitive the book is.it goes past the point of being Fanny and to the extreme, making it dry and boring instead. Taking all that into consideration, I rate this book 3 out of 4 and suggest that all readers who enjoy both fantasy and dry humor try out this book.
******
Fish Wielder
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon