From the Bookshelf of Grimdark Fantasy…

The Builders

Daniel Polansky

Start date: July 1, 2016

Finish date: August 31, 2016

Discussion: Group Reads Discussions

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* May/June '18 - Blackwing - **BEWARE OF SPOILERS**
By Tracey the Li… , First In, Last Out · 11 posts · 81 views

last updated Sep 27, 2018 05:21AM

* May/June '18 - Blackwing by Ed Mcdonald - **NO SPOILERS**
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last updated May 28, 2018 08:41PM

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What Members Thought

Oct 27, 2015 Tracey the Lizard Queen rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-reads, fantasy, novellas, dark-fantasy

Full review at: http://thequeenofblades.blogspot.co.u...

4.25 stars

By now everyone must know how much I love Polansky's work. I'm almost guaranteed to love whatever he puts out there. Something about his storytelling just gets me. The Builders is dark, it's funny (not funny like stupid funny, I mean intelligent humour), and of course it's very violent.

The use of animal stereotypes was great, and in typical Polansky style, all the characters are the kind you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, ...more

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Nov 08, 2015 Phil A rated it it was amazing

Shelves: phil-s-favs, fantasy, grimdark-fantasy

Awesome and unique story! I was impressed how invested I was with the characters, yet the book was a little over 200 pages. I doesn't seem like the book was long enough to develop the characters as well as Polansky did. He's a magician with this work. I agree with other reviews that thought this book was like a "Dirty Dozen" story. Throughout the book, I also drew comparisons to "The Magnificent Seven" (one of my favorite movies). I highly recommend this book. It's a really quick read, at just o ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

May 12, 2023 Jake Scholl rated it really liked it

Shelves: anthromorphic-animals-war-fantasy

When I was about nine years old, I had gotten tired of reading the basic chapter books that every nine-year-old has to read for school. Encyclopedia Brown. Magic Treehouse. A-Z Mysteries, and those other never-ending sagas for children that seemed to have the same old story but just with different window dressings. Out of boredom, I remember rolling over to the “big kid” section of the school library and perusing the various spines sticking out on the shelves.

And on one shelf, there was Brian Ja When I was about nine years old, I had gotten tired of reading the basic chapter books that every nine-year-old has to read for school. Encyclopedia Brown. Magic Treehouse. A-Z Mysteries, and those other never-ending sagas for children that seemed to have the same old story but just with different window dressings. Out of boredom, I remember rolling over to the “big kid” section of the school library and perusing the various spines sticking out on the shelves.

And on one shelf, there was Brian Jacques. (I'd remembered seeing Jacques Cousteau books at my grandparent's house, so I thought that it had something to do sea life.) Intrigued, I grabbed the book titled Martin the Warrior. There was a warrior standing on the cover holding a sword aloft, and the background there was a fortress on fire… And the warrior was a mouse! Seem to be an odd combination at the time, but it was loud enough for me to be curious and start reading. I was then sucked into the world of Redwall.

Brian Jacques (Rest in peace.) was the first to show me that one can write a serious story using animals rather than people to convey a serious story. The mix of action, humor and food descriptions is always a winner in my book.

Eventually my interest in that series and anthropomorphic animals waned, and they moved on and I thought more "serious" books. After reading work by Robert E. Howard, and Michael Moorcock, I was attracted to the loner hero archetype in media. And that led me to believe it or not, Clint Eastwood movies. Watched all of the Dirty Harry films, but those left something to be desired… Enter the Man with No Name films by Sergio Leone. The scripts for the films, specifically A Fistful of Dollars and The Good the Bad and Ugly, are brilliant. (I refuse to spoil the films. ) While the humor at times reminded me of the of Brian Jacques, however the Man With No Name character while good is a man on a mission, righting wrongs -- and sometimes not above pretending to be the villain in order to win at the end of the day.

When I first heard about The Builders by Daniel Polansky (Thankfully no relation to Roman Polanski.), It was described as Redwall meets Spaghetti Western by way of Akira Kurosawa (quite a few westerns have been based off or have blatantly ripped off Kurosawa's work.)

Disclaimer: this is not the anthropomorphic animal book you'd find in the children's section.

Unlike Redwall, The Builders doesn't take place in a quasi-medieval Renaissance setting. The setting, The Gardens, could best be described as a dilapidated 18th-century early 19th-century America. Gunpowder, saloons, trains etc. Things are rather rough there. The animals live in fear of a tyrannical King, and his henchman... Only the toughest and the smartest of the creatures survive.

The plot centers around a battle scarred, brutally honest mouse, only called The Captain. He wants to get back his former commander, and right the wrongs that occurred to his company of soldiers. I will speak anymore on the plot, but I will talk about the characters.

Every creature that Daniel writes about has unique characteristics based upon the type of creature. For example, one of the fighters Bonsoir, is a stoat, and he prefers to use trickery, knives and explosives. And personality wise, the character has a quick wit and is always ready to fight if you call him an ermine, or make fun of his French heritage. Each character has a satisfying story arc, and a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end. There are no loose threads which is nice for once.

Overall, I give this book 4 1/2 stars!

If you like to read/watch spaghetti westerns, grew up reading Redwall, enjoy films like The Dirty Dozen or The Expendables, find this book and give it a read. It's tiny but mighty.

...more

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Jun 24, 2016 Edwin rated it really liked it

A fun short read where less back story made it feel as if we have been with all of the characters for a long while. One in particular, Bonsour, is one I wouldn't mind reading a side story for. ...more

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