ARA Review by M. D. Sanders of Fish Wielder

[M. D. Sanders]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, Fish Wielder.]

---

4 out of 5 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Enter the tale of Thoral the parodically Gary-Stu barbarian who's accompanied by his friend Brad, the talking fish, and Warlordhorse, the tiger striped mount, as he drowns his sorrowful memories in undesirable warm ale and quests about a fantasy world in a futile search for evil strong enough to finally kill him... while putting most of it down and getting dragged into further quests instead. This includes the likes of necromancers, monsters, chocolatey confections of darkness, and a particular Bad Religion that has it in for him for reasons only the story will tell.

I'm going to start off blunt here, but get better: if I hadn't gotten Fish Wielder for the purpose of reviewing it, I wouldn't have bothered finishing it- dropping it around 10-15 percent of the way in.

It wasn't awful or anything- a barbarian fantasy parody, with some potential, but trying a bit too hard to force the funny- with the dialogue and phrasing tending to be a touch wooden and stilted, and the absurdity and melodrama constantly turned up to 11. For me it came across as either an ultra-campy B comedy film where the actors are all amateur hams that mug for the camera every time they say a line they think should be particularly funny or dramatic, which in their opinion is every line they say- or a Seth MacFarlane cartoon parody mashup of He-man and Lord of the Rings, possibly combined with the art style and absurdity of the Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards card game series.

This was, for me... a fatal flaw in starting a story. It just isn't my favorite type of humor, and combined with seemingly random questing, that was all there was to it. I could find it amusing enough for maybe a few minute long short story, but when looking forward to a multiple hour long novel pushed in that style, it became exceedingly tedious to think of reading through long enough to find something to actually enjoy, especially when not sure it would happen. That said:

Once the actual plot finally got underway, I DID actually find it interesting enough to carry, contrasted against the (deceptively) random seeming questing at the start, and especially when I shifted from imagining it in my head as a Seth MacFarlane cartoon to more of a Futurama style. (Noting, not sure how much of that was me getting used to it and altering my perception, versus the author modifying and developing their tone once the story got into its groove- but I did find it more palatable by the end.)

So that said: normally a book I find entertaining but not enough to finish would land at two stars, however, because I DID get it to review and as such pushed through until I got into the plot, I warmed up to it a fair deal, ultimately giving it 4 out of 5 stars by the end. I probably won't read it again, or pay to get further books in the series as I would with 5 stars, but if I can get them without additional costs via Kindle Unlimited I am invested enough in the story that I'd be happy to continue the series, which I wouldn't at 3.

And I'll state clearly, if it happens to be your preferred type of humor, I'd definitely go ahead and pick it up. I expect you'll stand a far, far greater chance of appreciating this. Because the story beneath the humor is turning out to be quite interesting.

***
View Fish Wielder on Bookshelves