Witches Be Crazy
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- £8.49
Publisher Description
Real heroes never die. But they do get grouchy in middle age.
The beloved King Ik is dead, and there was barely time to check his pulse before the royal throne was supporting the suspiciously shapely backside of an impostor pretending to be Ik’s beautiful long-lost daughter. With the land’s heroic hunks busy drooling all over themselves, there’s only one man left who can save the kingdom of Jenair. His name is Dungar Loloth, a rural blacksmith turned innkeeper, a surly hermit and an all-around nobody oozing toward middle age, compensating for a lack of height, looks, charm, and tact with guts and an attitude.
Normally politics are the least of his concerns, but after everyone in the neighboring kingdom of Farrawee comes down with a severe case of being dead, Dungar learns that the masquerading princess not only is behind the carnage but also has similar plans for his own hometown. Together with the only person senseless enough to tag along, an eccentric and arguably insane hobo named Jimminy, he journeys out into the world he’s so pointedly tried to avoid as the only hope of defeating the most powerful person in it. That is, if he can survive the pirates, cultists, radical Amazonians, and assorted other dangers lying in wait along the way.
Logan J. Hunder’s hilarious debut blows up the fantasy genre with its wry juxtaposition of the fantastic and the mundane, proving that the best and brightest heroes aren’t always the best for the job.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hunder's debut, an excursion into comic epic fantasy parody, tilts at many of the favorite windmills of the genre, but it's loaded with historical and genre allusions that may leave readers puzzled. In the mythical kingdom of Jenair, King Ik is sick unto death, with only a newfound daughter to succeed him. Assorted high- and low-born hopefuls launch into a perilous quest for her hand and a lifetime meal ticket. Enter bumptious blacksmith Dungar Loloth, whose tavern sideline has picked up since the great search began. Drawn into the quest himself, Dungar is joined by a series of familiar fantasy types: Jiminy, his relentlessly devoted best pal; Sir Pent, a muddled knight in dinged-up armor; Rainchild, a malevolent wizard; pirate Captain Nobeard; dangerous nymphs; and a flock of gruesomely portrayed feminists. This adventure parallels the Odyssey and all its imitators, couched in language that sometimes warrants a chuckle. It goes on several adventures too long for its slim framework to bear, reprising characters to pad out Hunder's clever but essentially one-shot shtick. One of its own characters may too optimistically suggest "a sequel, I think."
