Review by Roggyrus -- Fish Wielder
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Roggyrus
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Review by Roggyrus -- Fish Wielder
[Following is a volunteer review of "Fish Wielder" by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison.]
4 out of 4 stars
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Fish Wielder is a fantasy novel by J.R.R.R (Jim) Hardison. Its title role obviously belongs to Thoral Mighty Fist, for surely it could not be for Brad because he or it is a fish, a koi, probably a breed of carp. Brad is a talking fish, ever present in all of Thoral’s adventures. By the way, Thoral is a mighty barbarian warrior, clad in a pirate’s raiment, complete with a vest, and pouches of leather and velvet hanging from his belt which contain an assortment of magical weapons and gadgets. In one of the pouches lodges Brad. Thoral rides on Warlordhorse, and brandishes a magical sword, Blurmflard, lent to him by his wizard mentor, Yiz.
Thoral, himself, is a mystery, what with nothing written if from where he came from, at least, nothing until near the end of Chapter 5 where there is a speculation that he came from a distant kingdom of Fligryngen, and only a speculation, that is, but once you have read further on you will know why. And if you happen to wonder about the koi, Brad was rescued by Thoral from drowning, and it stuck with him thereafter.
Thoral confided that he once had a wife and a child, and a wizard mentor killed by a monster, a grode, which is why he drinks warm ale to drown his sorrow while on the look-out for that monster all around Grome to exact vengeance. Along the way, he chanced to help an elfish king, got into the affection of an elfish princess, and got embroiled with the minions of the Bad Religion which he vowed to wipe out, along with their leader, The Heartless One. Then he suddenly knew he also has to quest for the lost Pudding of Power, if only to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
That pretty well explains the plot of the story without spilling out the spoilers. Once you get to finish reading you will be compelled to say…..I trailed off…. What is that word one exclaims after a particularly shocking incident? Whoa! Whoa, it is.
After reading, you will exclaim: Whoa! The humor of Mr. Hardison is diffused, that is, you don’t get to see the punch line, but you are tickled deep in your stomach. It must be the storyline itself. Just take the case of the fumbling hero that Thoral is depicted here, always dependent upon Brad, the talking koi, for correct word usage. It seems kind of funny to have a fish for a thesaurus. When Thoral verbally lashed out on the villains, they even complained that what Thoral uttered was not even a word, and sometimes spoken in poor syntax. Whoa! I like that. There is an air of satire, or a simulacrum of hyperbole in all of these which amazingly makes the narrative more entertaining. Mr. Hardison could not be serious.
The author made the characters speak with a sputtering of Old English such that I sometimes feel like I am reading Shakespeare, and I chuckled upon coming to that part where a raven croaked “Nevermore.” Whoa, I exclaimed again.
So many twists and turns make for the very entertaining read that this novel is for both adult and young fans of the fantasy genre. I am sure they would be delighted to read of the developments they would never suspect or see coming. I enjoyed immensely the experience up to the last chapters, or rather, especially the last chapters. I scarcely see an error or flaw in the script, and I thought that giving a rating of 3 out of 4 stars would be an understatement of the story’s quality, but giving a rating of 5 out of 4 stars would be stupid. So I rate this novel 4 out of 4 stars.
******
Fish Wielder
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4 out of 4 stars
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Fish Wielder is a fantasy novel by J.R.R.R (Jim) Hardison. Its title role obviously belongs to Thoral Mighty Fist, for surely it could not be for Brad because he or it is a fish, a koi, probably a breed of carp. Brad is a talking fish, ever present in all of Thoral’s adventures. By the way, Thoral is a mighty barbarian warrior, clad in a pirate’s raiment, complete with a vest, and pouches of leather and velvet hanging from his belt which contain an assortment of magical weapons and gadgets. In one of the pouches lodges Brad. Thoral rides on Warlordhorse, and brandishes a magical sword, Blurmflard, lent to him by his wizard mentor, Yiz.
Thoral, himself, is a mystery, what with nothing written if from where he came from, at least, nothing until near the end of Chapter 5 where there is a speculation that he came from a distant kingdom of Fligryngen, and only a speculation, that is, but once you have read further on you will know why. And if you happen to wonder about the koi, Brad was rescued by Thoral from drowning, and it stuck with him thereafter.
Thoral confided that he once had a wife and a child, and a wizard mentor killed by a monster, a grode, which is why he drinks warm ale to drown his sorrow while on the look-out for that monster all around Grome to exact vengeance. Along the way, he chanced to help an elfish king, got into the affection of an elfish princess, and got embroiled with the minions of the Bad Religion which he vowed to wipe out, along with their leader, The Heartless One. Then he suddenly knew he also has to quest for the lost Pudding of Power, if only to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
That pretty well explains the plot of the story without spilling out the spoilers. Once you get to finish reading you will be compelled to say…..I trailed off…. What is that word one exclaims after a particularly shocking incident? Whoa! Whoa, it is.
After reading, you will exclaim: Whoa! The humor of Mr. Hardison is diffused, that is, you don’t get to see the punch line, but you are tickled deep in your stomach. It must be the storyline itself. Just take the case of the fumbling hero that Thoral is depicted here, always dependent upon Brad, the talking koi, for correct word usage. It seems kind of funny to have a fish for a thesaurus. When Thoral verbally lashed out on the villains, they even complained that what Thoral uttered was not even a word, and sometimes spoken in poor syntax. Whoa! I like that. There is an air of satire, or a simulacrum of hyperbole in all of these which amazingly makes the narrative more entertaining. Mr. Hardison could not be serious.
The author made the characters speak with a sputtering of Old English such that I sometimes feel like I am reading Shakespeare, and I chuckled upon coming to that part where a raven croaked “Nevermore.” Whoa, I exclaimed again.
So many twists and turns make for the very entertaining read that this novel is for both adult and young fans of the fantasy genre. I am sure they would be delighted to read of the developments they would never suspect or see coming. I enjoyed immensely the experience up to the last chapters, or rather, especially the last chapters. I scarcely see an error or flaw in the script, and I thought that giving a rating of 3 out of 4 stars would be an understatement of the story’s quality, but giving a rating of 5 out of 4 stars would be stupid. So I rate this novel 4 out of 4 stars.
******
Fish Wielder
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like Roggyrus's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: Chrome Mountain by Ben Schneider
