[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Del Rey in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Worstley inherited the job of “Farm Boy,” caring for the barnyard (and cleaning up goat poop) from his brother, Bestley, who was stabbed through the heart for being too handsome. But Worstley’s luck changes when Staph the pixie arrives and declares him the Chosen One. She even uses her magic to give Gustave the goat the power of speech.
Worstley and Gustave head off for adventure to save a sleeping princess from an enchanted castle. But things don’t turn out so well for Worstley. But at the castle, Gustave meets the warrior Fia and a bard named Argabella who’s been turned half-rabbit. The women and the goat then join up with the Dark Lord Toby, his clumsy rogue Poltro, and Grinda the sand witch for a quest. If they can survive, they hope to find the ones responsible for the sleeping spell at the castle so they can reverse the spell and maybe resurrect poor Worstley.
Review
This is one of the quirkiest books I have read in a long time. It’s full of odd characters, biting satire and sarcasm, and plenty of innuendo. There are trolls and elves, giants and ghosts as well as magic and violence and some gross humor. The adventurers face a lot of challenges on their quest, so the reader will really get his/her moneys worth out of the book in terms of a long read.
The characters were my favorite part of this – far better than the titular Farm Boy, Worstley, was at first. The band of adventurers becomes something of a family – except when they try to eat Gustave. They all start out focused on their own needs and challenges, but care well for each other (most of the time) by the end. The romantic storyline between two of the ladies in the group builds slowly and naturally through the whole quest.
This is a long book – or it felt like a long book to me. It’s wordy, with a vocabulary that sometimes left me hunting for a dictionary and losing the flow of the story. The words worked for the voice of the book, but got to be a distraction when a simpler word would have sufficed. The violence is graphic at times as is some of the bodily function “humor.” I was hoping for a sharp, clever celebration – and skewering – of fairy tale tropes. Instead it felt like the authors were trying too hard to be funny. Some of the humor and gags were immature. I can handle that to a degree, but in this it sometimes felt never-ending. There are hints at a sequel. I am undecided about reading one. I wouldn’t mind more time with some of the characters, but the reading experience as a whole wasn’t my favorite.