The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
TERRY PRATCHETT meets THE WITCHER in this pee-your-pants-laughing fantasy novel.
Sure, you think you know the story of the fearsome red dragon, Dragonia. How it terrorized the village of Skendrick until a brave band of heroes answered the noble villagers' call for aid. How nothing could stop those courageous souls from facing down the beast. How they emerged victorious and laden with treasure.
But, even in a world filled with epic adventures and tales of derring-do, where dragons, goblins, and unlicensed prestidigitators run amok, legendary heroes don't always know what they're doing. Sometimes, they're clueless. Sometimes, beleaguered townsfolk are more hapless than helpless. And orcs? They're not always assholes, and sometimes, they don't actually want to eat your children.
Heloise the Bard, Erithea's most renowned storyteller, is here to set the record straight.
See, it turns out adventuring isn't easy, and true heroism is as rare as an articulate villager. Having spent decades propagating this particular myth (which, incidentally, she wrote), she's finally able to tell the real story…for which she just so happened to have a front-row seat.
Welcome to Erithea. I hope you brought a change of undergarments; things are going to get messy.
"Evoking the dry humor of Terry Pratchett and absurdist trope subversions of Monty Python…Gibson's story is clever, twisty, and bursting with sidesplittingly funny one-liners. Fantasy fans are guaranteed a laugh." – Publisher's Weekly
"…if Gibson continues to put out work of this quality and high level of entertainment, will be a success story along the lines of Michael R. Fletcher, M.L. Spencer, or Rob J. Hayes." – Grimdark Magazine
"I can't praise the story enough. If you want something light-hearted and fun to read that will zip by quickly, but still want to feel like you got the content you hoped for, this is definitely the book you should pick up." – The Inkslinger Book Reviews
"Mr. Sean Gibson would be extremely fun to play Dungeons and Dragons with." – Verified Reviewer
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Evoking the dry humor of Terry Pratchett and absurdist trope subversions of Monty Python, Gibson (The Chronicle of Heloise and Grimple) flips the classic fantasy setup of a ragtag band of heroes on a quest to slay a fearsome dragon. Half-elven Heloise is the most talented and beautiful bard in Erithea at least according to her. Sworn to secrecy until now, Heloise is finally at liberty to disclose the true story of Dragonia, a great dragon that once terrorized the hamlet of Skendrick, revealing all the ways the bardic legends have mythologized and distorted the facts. In Heloise's account, the townsfolk of Skendrick are all as long-winded as they are dim-witted and entirely deserve being eaten by the dragon. The scrappy heroes who come to save them are also not much to write home about: there's pint-sized grifter Rumscrabble, a half-halfling/half-dwarf; Whiska, a quick-tempered wizard; Nadinta, a cash-strapped elf; and Borg, a slow-moving rock giant. Only Heloise herself saves the team from total incompetency. Alternating between the idealized version of events and "how it actually went down," Gibson's story is clever, twisty, and bursting with sidesplittingly funny one-liners. Fantasy fans are guaranteed a laugh.
Customer Reviews
An entertaining romp.
Any fantasy that is moving into ground covered by Terry Pratchett would have to be excellent to simply stand by itself. This book makes a good fist of it, doesn’t quite succeed but is a warm, enjoyable read nonetheless. I found myself smiling many times (whereas with Pratchett I will occasionally snort & guffaw, so that’s the yardstick..)
Excellent light reading.