In a future Land, a very trippy adventure is taking place. When the Queen botches a magic spell, Beezle, a cheerful demon is dispatched from Hell to collect her soul. Instead he falls in love with her daughter. Beezle relinquishes his magical powers, disguises himself as a woman, and sets out to catch the Princess. But can he survive without his magic in a country ravaged by violence and on the brink of war? And what will he do without his favorite wobbly bits?
A transgender Tolkien meets Terry Pratchett on acid in this epic saga of danger, forbidden love, genocide, carnivorous fish, cunning dwarves, and one man's irrepressible hunger for pizza.
Ian Fraser is a South African playwright, writer, and comedian, now living in the USA. His memoir, My Own Private Orchestra, published by Penguin Books, was nominated for the CNA Literary Award in 1994. His plays won a variety of national South African Literary and Theater prizes. Recently, his plays were produced at the Brown/Trinity Playwrights Repertory Theater in Providence, RI and at Garioch Theatre Festival in the United Kingdom. Fraser was a nationally-syndicated columnist for the Johannesburg daily The Star, and wrote a weekly "Fraser's Razor" column for the Mail and Guardian.
The story starts out in Hell with a demon named Beezle. Beezle fears that something is wrong because he is experiencing dissatisfaction with his life. With tons of 'customers' (newly arrived people in hell) and thousands of different tortures and games to try on them, how can he be dissatisfied? He is puzzled and the reader is too. Beezle receives a phone call from his Dad, which is painful, because when Satan is on the line the phone gets hot. Literally, it starts to melt. Anyway, Beezle is sent on a mission regarding a king, a queen and a princess. And so an incredible journey begins. A journey that includes plant spiders(which are actually very cute with big eyes) which both meow and woof, a friendly(sometimes) imp, some nasty white, hissing snakes and tons of other creatures such as trolls and dwarves. In this way the story is vaguely Tolkien-esque (without any long boring parts). I also noted a few references that I believe were to H.P. Lovecraft (which I enjoyed) and a LOT of humor reminiscent of Terry Pratchett. (The way in which the aforementioned white snakes are defeated is absolutely HILARIOUS!) Beezle learns a lot on his journey (or her journey, as you'll see) as do all the other main characters. They grow and try to learn from their mistakes. They make longlasting friendships and discover some unexpected help along the way. This book contained everything I like in a good story-believable characters that grow, imaginative creatures and settings-all served up with a twisted sense of humor that I found to be irresistible. As the other reviewer mentioned, I would like to see a continuance of the story in the future. If Mr. Fraser puts it out there, I will be one of the first in line.
There I a lot going on in this book. It's a fantasy/demon/post-apocalypse mashup. Very engaging, irreverent, and sweet. Which is saying something because the main character is a demon in shell who tortures "clients" for fun.