Worstley, a farmboy, is annointed The Chosen One. He begins his quest along with Gustav, the Talking Goat. Along the way, they are joined by Fia (a 7 foot tall, horticulturist in a chainmail bikini with a thirsty sword), Agrabella (an ensorcled rabbit bard), and Grinda (the Sand Witch). The friends face many challenges along the way, including death.

There was a lot of initial appeal about this one, turning tropes on their heads. It reminded me a lot at first of The Princess Bride in that aspect. The abundance of penis jokes and middle school boy humor quickly grew tiresome though. There were times I was tempted to put it down, but wanted to see it through to the end. Sadly, I don't plan on finishing out the series.

Kill the Farm Boy is equal parts brilliance and buffoonery, and equal parts epic fantasy adventure and laugh-out-loud parody. Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson are both talented writers, and their talents are in full-bloom here. Reminiscent of Monty Python's The Search for the Holy Grail and William Goldman's The Princess Bride, Kill the Farm Boy is perfect for any fan of humor, fantasy, talking goats, and fancy cheeses. Overall, it's a good-natured romp through a smartly created fantasy world with a band of full realized characters, both of which are full of surprises.

Kill the Farmboy is a hilarious fantasy adventure story that takes fantasy tropes and cliches and spins them into ridiculous plots and jokes. The characters are the best part of the book, they struggle and succeed to be more (or less) than their stereotypical fantasy character counterparts. An evil wizard who can only conjure bread, an Amazonian warrior woman who just wants to be a gardener, a legendary hero who winds up dead.

Fans of the fantasy humor genre will enjoy this series.

I shared a review of Kill the Farmboy on my Goodreads page.

This book gave me the impression that it was written for the authors enjoyment vs the readers. While the characters were defined very well, the story line was slower than I expected. I've enjoyed reading other works from Kevin and will continue to follow him. While the book was entertaining, I would not continue with the sequel had there been one.

Thank you so much to the publisher for approving me. This was a DNF for me. The humor and writing style just didn’t work for me. I’m so sorry!

I didn’t care for this book. I tried for a vey long time to get into it, but in the end just really didn’t care. I didn’t like any of the characters. The humor is very low brow. The plot is pretty much nonexistent. It felt like the story was a drunken moth flitting from one place to another. The only character I liked was the farm boy from the beginning and he died right away. I was hoping he would be brought back to life by the end, but couldn’t get through the rest of the story to the end. It felt like this author is trying to be Terry Pratchett and fell far short of the mark.

What a disappointment! It was such a struggle to get through this one. Premise is so fun and in the hands of the correct author could have been great. I couldn’t help but think…”if only Christopher Moore had written this…”

There was not much of a plot expect to string together body function jokes and too many puns. I won’t be reading the rest of this series or seeking out other books by these authors.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

What a strange and unexpected journey that was! This was a fantasy seemingly designed to break with many of the tropes of traditional fantasy. Along the way, there was enough humor to keep the experience engaging and enjoyable. I was a little worn out on the play by play of Gustav's poo by some point well before the end, but there was enough going on in between scatological references that I feel like, in retrospect, I can overlook that overdone angle. In all, this was fun and quirky, something I don't regret reading.

Comedy is a tricky beast in general, but novel length comedies are especially hard. Unlike in film, you can't really engage in pratfalls and other physical comedy -- it all ends up feeling like you're explaining the joke. The most successful, stuff like Good Omens or ye olde Hitchhiker's Guide, provide a situation which allows for a lot of side quests and riffing, so you don't have to make everything align to some blinkered notion of narrative unity or whatnot. Kill the Farm Boy is constructed right in this tradition, following some dingus during his travails as a Chosen One. (Well, up until he gets killed, and all the other dinguses have to quest to un-kill him.) The novel layers stupid pun on top of stupid pun while somewhat lazily taking on fantasy tropes, and isn't afraid to go lowbrow as hell.

When I was a wee lamb, I read just about every Xanth novel ever written, so know that I'm not above gajillions of stupid puns, mild sendups of fantasy literature, and maybe a poop joke or two. But I think I got kinda traumatized when I learned what a massive perv Piers Anthony was. All that punning took on a sinister cast in my mind. -- I mean, there's a Xanth novel called The Color of Her Panties, for crissake -- and I have this stress reaction to it now. Which isn't to say that Farm Boy is pervy and gross AT ALL, just that I have a preexisting condition when it comes to puns. I stressed out waiting for gross stuff to happen, even though I know that Hearne and Dawson would do nothing of the sort. I love their other books.

Which is the other thing about comedy -- it's personal as hell. I can absolutely see Kill the Farm Boy working for so many people. I'm sure my dork D&D playing teenager is going to love it when I force him to read it. But it semi-didn't work for me, largely due to me. All that said, I would likely read a sequel, especially because I can be reasonably sure that it's not going to go full Xanth and freak me out. A little light lowbrow comedy can be just what I want sometimes.

I was so excited to read this book! But it was terrible. I only made it 50% before I had to give up. Maybe I'll try again as an audiobook as I don't like to leave things unfinished.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Two veteran authors poke fun and subvert genre expectations with a ridiculous, over-the-top travel fantasy. Some of the humor wears thin but it’s a unique, amusing read, esp for fans of the genre.

I enjoyed this book but I did not find it as compelling as I was hoping. It was funny and cute but at times felt like the authors were trying to hard. I enjoyed it and will still recommend it to my customers who like humorous fantasy, but Terry Pratchett this was not. Sorry!!

I cannot express how much I wanted to love this. Turning fairy-tales and fantasy on its head? Yes PLEASE. Immediately upon opening it on my Kindle, I was hit with the cover pun - and I loved it: <em>Once. A pun. A time.</em> Hah! I love puns. They’re so much fun.

Until the 900th pun. Somewhere along the way, to the 41% I managed to finish, I got bored with it all. With the characters who aren’t really developed, with the world that just seems weird for the sake of being weird, and with the story that I couldn’t even begin to make myself care about.

So you have the supposed <em>Chosen One</em>. Except...is he really? There’s the talking goat, Gustave-don’t-call-him-Gus that has a better handle on things in the world than most of the human characters. Toby, the Dark Lord, who hasn’t left his tower - ever really - and mainly wants nefarious powers for more cheese and artisanal crackers. Fia, the warrior in chain mail bikini, who only wants to grow awesome roses, stop accidentally killing people, and live a life of peace. Argabella, a cursed rabbit-woman bard, who’s not sure she can properly <em>bard</em>. And Poltro, the rogue who is afraid of chickens. Oh! Let’s not forget the titular <em>Farm Boy</em>, Worstley, who sets out to change the world.

““Because a Chosen One sets things right.”</p><p>“I thought a Chosen One just leaves a trail of blood and chaos behind him.””

Even though every character turns the tired tropes on their heads, they’re still just caricatures. They don’t feel like they have actual personalities. Which makes it really hard to care about them.

There were puns on top of puns, next to satire and parody, overflowing with hyperbole. It all just felt so ... <em>forced</em>.

““Which witch?”

”Why?”

”Why which witch?”

”I don’t see why it matters which witch was the witch which cursed me.”

”I know some witches, and I’m curious.”

”Grinda the Sand Witch.”

”Never heard of her.””

The <em>Sand-witch</em>, get it?

I think I enjoyed Poltro the most, but it just all got to be a bit too much. I stopped highlighting stuff that I enjoyed at about 27%, and kept pushing myself to 41%. At this point, I just can’t anymore.

I’ve known my whole life that comedy and me are very touch and go. Funny books, funny movies...well, my wife would say I have no comedic taste. I just don’t find the stuff funny. I’m definitely in a very small minority with that, however, so this is likely to be right up others’ alleys. I will leave you with my favorite quote from the book:

“Her footsteps made only the barest whisper in the grasses, like the secrets of caterpillars. The turf under her boots was soft and springy like the jiggly bellies of middle-aged men. Her mental prose was a purpose as a very purple thing. She advanced on the camp, cloaked by her actual cloak of mystery and menace but also by the night, two cloaks that cloaked great together, providing her near invisibility, an impenetrable fog of stealthy stealth as she—

“Hey there,” a man’s voice said, and Poltro froze. He couldn’t be talking to her. She was a shadow in the darkest pit, unknowable to any—

“Yeah, you. The one skulking around in the cloak and hood. What’re you looking for?””

Heh.

Kill the Farm Boy, book #1 in The Tales of Pell, by authors Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne. A novel that begins with a castle full of sleeping people and a lone minstrel singing alone. A tale of witches and goats and farm boys and warriors and trolls and so on and so on, but quick to point out, this is not a fairy tale.


Worstley is a young farm boy cleaning out the stables in his family home when a pixie named Staph comes along and tells him that he is the Chosen One and that there is a great destiny ahead of him. Only she dirty and smelly and doesn't really look like a Pixie, so Worstley is of course, somewhat dubious. But after proving herself by turning the goat into a talking goat, Worstley begins to believe and sets out on his quest to change the world.

"...I thought a Chosen One just leaves a trail of blood and chaos behind him.'
'What do you know about it? You're a goat! You're wrong about that-and wrong about the weather, too, which is what I meant to say before you interrupted me! That break in the clouds is an omen! Of justice! Of light beating back the darkness! Of the dawn of the age of Worstley! Does that not sound noble?'
'It sounds like an era of shame and incontinence.'
Worstley scoffed. 'You have no ear for poetry.'
'Maybe not, but I have an ear for nonsense.'
'I was chosen. Wait and see.'
'I don't have to wait to see that you're putting too much faith in a drunken pixie.'
'Wrong again.'
But Gustave was right-about the weather, at least. It soon began raining in a very nonmagical style. There were no rainbows, no leprechauns, and, after a few brief moments, no gleaming sun parting the clouds. Just a boy and his goat taking their first muddy steps toward a moist, squelching destiny..."

But nothing is quite as it seems in the strange and magical land of Pell. Not for the chosen farm boy and his talking goat. Not for the Dark Lord who calls out for the death of the farm boy, and for very finely made cheese. Not for the skilled assassin who is sent to kill Worstley who is unafraid of anything, except or chickens. There is the castle full of sleeping people and the bard who sings night and day with a beautiful voice and a cut and fuzzy tail. The great warrior who fears the blood lust of her sword, but does not have an issue with her chain mail bikini which offers her no protection. Throw in some witches and trolls and barmaids and you should expect the unexpected in the land of Pell.

"...You're going to pay one way or another. Pay quite a lot or be made an example of.'
He was so focused on Argabella and everyone else was so focused on him that they were all quite surprised when Fia swept her sword diagonally down from the point where his head met his neck and continued to the opposite side, underneath his arm, causing his head and shoulder to slide off from the rest of his body. His heart squeezed once more in surprise, showering them all with blood, and then Humbert Beadlebone's bones fell over dead.
'Cor, I just took a bath,' Poltro complained. But the sand witch didn't think that was very significant.
'Are yoiu mad?' she yelled at Fia. 'You practically halved a halfling!'
'He threatened our bunny,' Fia explained..."

Together, this band of misfits looks to save the Kingdom of Pell, which kind of hates them all to begin with.

One of the hardest things to write in literature is comedy. Especially satirical and irreverent comedy. There are few who do it well, Christoper Moore immediately comes to mind as an author who does this and does it very well.

Rewriting fairy tales seems to be very much in vogue this season and there have been several novels out currently testing the waters so to speak. Working to find an audience and Kill the Farm Boy may well be one of the better offerings. Perhaps I simply expected more from it. It was a good read but I didn't find myself engaged with the characters and it took far longer to get through than I thought it would.

But this is only book one of the series and it is certainly good enough for me to pick up the next one in line.

A good read.

The description of this book sounded quite quirky, so I knew I was taking a chance. Initially, it was very entertaining. The tongue in cheek humor was engaging to begin with, but about a third of the way through, it got tiresome. I started skimming about half way through. The cute, quirky humor was not enough to complete with the dragging plot. I get that it was a quest, but I felt the quest was lost in all the silliness. I will not be reading anymore of these.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and then bought my own copy. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book Series: The Tales of Pell Book 1

Rating: 3/5

Publication Date: July 17, 2018

Genre: YA Fantasy Satire

Recommended Age: 15+ (some violence, some gore, talking goats, some slight sexual innuendos)

Publisher: Del Rey

Pages: 384

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, a hero, the Chosen One, was born . . . and so begins every fairy tale ever told.

This is not that fairy tale.

There is a Chosen One, but he is unlike any One who has ever been Chosened.

And there is a faraway kingdom, but you have never been to a magical world quite like the land of Pell.

There, a plucky farm boy will find more than he's bargained for on his quest to awaken the sleeping princess in her cursed tower. First there's the Dark Lord who wishes for the boy's untimely death . . . and also very fine cheese. Then there's a bard without a song in her heart but with a very adorable and fuzzy tail, an assassin who fears not the night but is terrified of chickens, and a mighty fighter more frightened of her sword than of her chain-mail bikini. This journey will lead to sinister umlauts, a trash-talking goat, the Dread Necromancer Steve, and a strange and wondrous journey to the most peculiar "happily ever after" that ever once-upon-a-timed.

Review: I thought this was a pretty good book. The character development was well done, the plot was pretty good, and the world building was really amazing. The book had a William Goldman feel to the book. It was sarcastic and hilarious and it pokes fun at your average fairytales.

However, I felt that the pacing was really slow in a lot of places and it really made the read not so fun to read at times. The book also switches POV a lot, so you gotta pay attention. The book is still entertaining either way.

Verdict: Hilarious and funny!

I was hoping for something like The Princess Bride that I could recommend to students. This had some of the whimsy, but I believe the majority of the humor would go over their heads. It was dry and at times forced. While some of the characters were entertaining, I do not plan to add this to my collection.

It's definitely worth a few giggles to see so many fairy tale clichés turned on their head. Unfortunately, as with most puns the occasional giggle quickly turns to groans. Most of the humor is something you'd expect in a junior high locker room and soon becomes more tedious than humorous.

I really wanted to like this book, unfortunately, the humor just didn't hit home for me. I've been a big fan of the iron druid series by Kevin but this just didn't seem to live up to the same greatness I expect from him even with a tongue in cheek voice.

Absolutely wonderful - I highly recommend listening to the audiobook as Luke Daniels manages all the puns and wordplay so well (dear God the Morningwood jokes...). Can't wait for No Country for Old Knomes!