Kings of the Wyld (The Band, #1) in Vampires, Weres and Fae!

Jul 29, 2019 T. K. Elliott (Tiffany) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, reviewed

I spent most of this book wondering whether I was going to give it four stars, or five. Four stars because this is not what you might call deep, complex fiction; five stars because it was just so much fun. In the end, I couldn't justify not giving it five stars.

You can read this book straight; it's the story of Clay Cooper and his Band (Saga) who come out of retirement for one last tour: going to city-under-seige Castia to rescue frontman Gabe's daughter Rose. You can tell from the terminology u I spent most of this book wondering whether I was going to give it four stars, or five. Four stars because this is not what you might call deep, complex fiction; five stars because it was just so much fun. In the end, I couldn't justify not giving it five stars.

You can read this book straight; it's the story of Clay Cooper and his Band (Saga) who come out of retirement for one last tour: going to city-under-seige Castia to rescue frontman Gabe's daughter Rose. You can tell from the terminology used that this book is much funnier if you know anything about rock bands. There are plenty more jokes along the way of what is basically a road trip. From a story perspective, it's a lot of little vignettes strung together, rather than one big plot. But it's so funny you just don't care.

The characters are likeable, especially Clay; the setting is fun. But you're basically there for the jokes. One of my favourite quotes:

The drum-deep voice of one drifted down to him from above. “I don’t get it. So if I literally froze my balls off —”
“Then it would mean that your balls had actually frozen and fallen off,” boomed a second voice. “What you really mean to say is that you figuratively froze your balls off.”
“So I’ve been using it wrong all this time?” asked the first.
“Literally!” his companion groaned, and both giants fell to laughter.

And there's the bit about the character who is basically a giant spider painting an hourglass on his belly to look threatening, but nobody else really understands why hourglasses are so scary...

I 'read' this as an audiobook, and it's one of the fewer audiobooks I've ever listened to where the narrator improves the reading experience. I've had audiobooks where the narrator ruined the experience either by have an irritating voice or by their use of emphasis, and I've listened to books where the narrator was simply very good. Jeff Harding added to the experience, to the level that I listened to the whole thing rather than reading it as text - which is very unusual for me. I liked his interpretation of the characters better than mine. :-) ...more

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Mar 13, 2021 Aditya Sharma rated it really liked it

The audiobook is funnnnnnnn!!!!!!
Story: 4⭐️
Audiobook: 5⭐️
This is not a layered book with a complex plot, this is a fun frolicking ride, full of creatures, brawls and humour.
The audiobook narration is fantastic, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed listening to Clay Cooper and Saga’s journey across The Heartwyld.

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