I enjoyed the writing style and the humor but did feel that the world building was a little forced. For some scenes there was too much and too little detail so while I was able to picture the scene in more of a 2-D fashion. I laughed out loud though and the plot was enjoyable.

For fans of Monty Python-if Monty Python wrote fantasy! This was a very fun and funny read. Nobody takes themselves too seriously in this tale, the first of a series, and you shouldn't either when you read it! I just received the second book in this series and can't wait to read it!

I got about half-way through and I just couldn't do it anymore. The two authors were very delighted with their puns and and jokes to the detriment of me losing interest in the story arc. There are also a ton of character POV switches which distracted me. I think I'm just in a romance novel mood and this was trying to be so clever it hurt.

I am an avid reader of writers like Pratchett and Adams, and having loved Dawson's work for years, I was excited to pick this book up and give it a try. I loved it, and will likely return many times to pick it up again to revisit this lovely and ridiculous romp.

Thank you to netgalley I received this as an ARC. I enjoyed it very much was good solid read. Solid 4 Stars for me!

Three stars: A slapstick comedy with a plethora of puns. It’s funny but the humor gets to be a bit much after awhile.

In a faraway Kingdom in an average barnyard filled with muck and poo, an unlikely hero is born when a pixie with one blue socks appears to a farm boy and his goat and proclaims that the Chosen One has been born. Thus, starts a plucky adventure when the Chosen One sets out to wake a sleeping princess in a cursed tower. Along the way, the Chosen One collects a ragtag band. There is a bard who is cursed so she appears as a giant bunnylike creature, an assassin who is terrified of chickens, a Dark Lord who wants to destroy the Chosen One, but he isn’t very dark and evil, he prefers the quiet of his house and good cheese, a mighty female fighter who wears an uncomfortable chain-mail bikini and a Sand Witch. Will this unlikely group of would be heroes conquer their quest?
What I Liked:
*To be perfectly honesty, I expected to absolutely love Kill The Farm Boy because it is co written by Kevin Hearne. While I wasn’t head over heels for this one like I hoped, I will say that it provides plenty of hilarious moments, a crazy casts of characters and a plethora of puns. If you are in the mood for something light and funny with a strong Monty Python vibe, this is one to check out. I highly recommend the audio version.
*What makes this book shine, in my opinion, are the eclectic characters. There is the Chosen One, who is absolutely hilarious, I won’t go into details because you need to experience it for yourselves, the cursed female bard who appears as a giant bunny like creature, a female assassin who abhors chickens, a Dark Lord who really isn’t that dark, a Sand Witch, yes, a witch that lives in the sand and commands crabs, and a mighty female warrior who wears bikini chain mail. I loved that there were so many female characters in this one and that they all had some hilarious quirks. Seriously, this cast is unforgettable.
*If you like slapstick humor, this one has a buttload of it. Prepare for ridiculous puns, risqué innuendos, such as a whole dialogue on the Morning Wood forest, and plenty of humorous jabs. Even though I grew tired of some of the humor, I will admit, that I appreciated the cleverness of the jokes and the creativity of the puns. You will find yourself snickering a time or two, unless you don’t appreciate puns and slapstick humor.
*I liked the silliness of the book. It is always light and funny. There are lots of adventures, and the gang encounters many different types of creatures such as giants, trolls, the Dread Necromancer Steve, witches and cursed creatures and more.
*The book ends with a terrifically funny ending. It was unexpected but just right for the book. I liked the way everything settled out.
*There is a touch of romance in this one, and it is different and fun. I will let you experience for yourself. I enjoyed it.
*I listened to the audiobook version narrated by the brilliant Luke Daniels. If you have not experienced Daniels work, you are missing out. Mr. Daniels does a phenomenal job with the voices in this one. I wouldn’t have enjoyed this one nearly as much if I hadn't listened to it. If you are going to read this one, I highly recommend the audiobook version.
And The Not So Much:
*I found that after awhile, I grew tired of the over the top humor. If I listened for lengthy periods, my mind would start drifting, and I lost track of what was happening. The puns and jokes are rapid fire, and I think that there is too much. A reader can usually only handle so much silliness.
*There were a couple of surprise deaths in the book, that came out of nowhere and they didn’t fit. I am not sure why two of the characters were killed off the way they were, it just didn’t work.
*I wish the plot was tighter. The story ranges all over the place and it lacks focus, which made it harder to follow.

Kill the Farm Boy is a book I wanted to love, but unfortunately the plethora of puns, rapid fire jokes and over the top humor grew wearisome after awhile. This is a silly book perfect for fans who love slapstick humor and clever puns. It is funny, but best read in smaller doses. The audiobook is brilliant. If you are going to read this one, I think the audiobook is a must.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, and I was too compensated for this review.
Posted@Rainy Day Ramblings.

I liked this book, though I wish I had liked it more. I really enjoyed the concept-- a send-up of fairy tale/ quest tropes. I liked the characters individually, too. The only problem was that there were too many of them; it was hard to keep track of who was who. The pacing was good; the adventure and plot were fun! I also appreciated the strong women characters. The comedy elements were great as well.

Kill the Farmboy is a double entendre, sarcastic and sassy pun of a story. There are times that the story makes overt sexual references where none actually exist. Frankly, it’s 13-year-old boys at their best!
It is not exactly an epic adventure, but it is interesting. The main players are an amazon, a human girl/rabbit hybrid, a wizard whose only power is making bland tasting bread out of thin air, and an ill-tempered goat who is “The Chosen One.” It’s an odd band of players who are on an adventure to heal the Farmboy that the amazon accidentally (almost) killed when she fell on him from a high tower.
In this story, the reader may notice parts of other fairy tales that pop up, plus some themes from other well-known books also. Though that second part may just be a coincidence. All I can really tell you is to pay attention to the map. The names of the towns and areas are hilarious and are a big part of the fun of this book!

Kill the Farm Boy is a silly book that sends up and undermines some well-worn clichés of the fantasy genre’s hero narrative. It asks questions like “What does it mean to be the Chosen One?” and “Who deserves to be a protagonist?” and then unloads goat poop on them. This succeeds with varying results.

I read most of the book on a three-hour plane ride, and at first I did enjoy it. Somewhere in the middle, though, it started to drag a bit, and I still hadn’t finished it by the time my trip was over. Instead, I switched gears and finished Meddling Kids, which I read at a snail’s pace over the last few months.

I think part of the reason that I lost momentum was that the book started feeling a bit muddled, as though the story underlying the jokes and satire wasn’t as robust as it needed to be. Also, I was no longer trapped inside a metal tube hurtling through the sky, so I had more things to distract me.

The main twist to Kill the Farm Boy is that the protagonist isn’t who you think it’s going to be after the first chapter. When the book opens, we meet an unremarkable farm boy named Worstley anointed as Chosen One by a sketchy-seeming fairy who also gives Worstley’s goat the power of speech. Worstley and Gustave, the goat, set off on a quest to do something or other involving destiny and then the story takes a decisive left turn that I won’t spoil here.

As the adventure continues, the cast of characters grows and we meet an oddball assortment of misfits and outcasts. Each one gets some time in the spotlight, but it’s sometimes hard to tell which character is driving the story, and I quickly forgot the aim of their quest after putting the book down for a few days.

The general silly tone also means that the stakes feel non-existent, even when characters suddenly and unexpectedly die. Every death plays as comedy. Also, there are several moments where it feels like the authors are summarizing something tedious to save time and jump ahead even though the book still feels like an overlong joke.

I definitely laughed or chuckled several times while reading this book, so it was an enjoyable read. I just wish there was something more interesting underneath all the silliness. Not every comic fantasy author can be Terry Pratchett, though they might try.

Based on the description, I really wanted to like this novel. I thought it sounded fun, lighthearted and imaginative. But it failed to live up to any expectations. Yes, there are jokes throughout, but it all stops being funny after a few dozen pages. I just wanted it to get on with the plot, but characters kept bantering - and it wasn't even clever, witty banter in most cases. It's a story that definitely has potential, but it tries too hard with the humor.

I really wanted to love this book, but I couldn't. I had to DNF it after 20% of the way through.
There were too many characters that became intertwined, the plot was convoluted and I couldn't get into it. I enjoyed the satire and wittiness, but at times it was too much for me.

Unfortunately, this book was not very appealing this read through, which saddens me since I enjoy Hearne's other titles. I will attempt this on a later date, but my interest was not held long enough to finish it in a timely manner.

This one...what in the world did I read? So my expectations weren't real high with this one, but it did sound different...Different can be good, right? Not this time apparently! I did love the cover...but that's where the good feelings stop.

This book...it reminds of the adult version of teenage boys joking in the bathroom...(Or what I imaging they would talk about, since well...never mind.)

The humor was disgusting and okay maybe some dirty jokes are funny, but the attitude and apparent desire to shock the reader were beyond annoying. I honestly hated it, and that's not something I say lightly about books.

KILL THE FARMBOY

Author: Delilah S Dawson & Kevin Hearne
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Del Rey

A Review by CL Vitek

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.

So a bard, barbarian, evil lord, sand witch, and a talking goat walk into a… you know what? I think this one speaks for itself. Kill The Farmboy is exactly what it says on the tin. When Worstley, a rural farmboy in the land of Pell, is named The Chosen One by a drunken pixie with dubious hygiene who also manages to give the family goat – Gustave – the ability to speak, he sets off to find his fortune. When the duo’s path collides with Fia, buxom barbarian horticulturist, their meeting quickly careens off the rails of expected fantasy narrative.

This first collaboration between Delilah S. Dawson (Star Wars: Phasma) and Kevin Hearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles) is comedic fantasy that takes a playful jab at the time-worn tale of the unremarkable young man handed a cosmic destiny. Kill The Farmboy upends the standard white-male-power-fantasy in favor of a story heavy on laughs without taking itself too seriously.

Where Hearne and Dawson really shine is in the dynamics of their little adventuring party. While the reader doesn’t spend a lot of time with Worstley (for reasons that quickly become apparent), the rest of the cast could easily fall into fantasy stereotypes. Instead, rich characters play on the tropes they’ve historically grown from. Fia, the chainmail bikini-clad barbarian from a faraway place, is more interested in finding the perfect specimen for her future garden than her magical blade. Argabella, a royal bard under a fuzzy curse, has a greater affinity to accounting than music. The Dark Lord Toby is better suited to producing bread-based magic than he is at doing anything particularly dark or nefarious while his ward, Polto, makes for a most clumsy, uncoordinated rogue. Then there is Gustave. A billy-goat suddenly burdened with human-level intellect and the ability to talk, he doesn’t think much of humans or quests. He’d rather be left to nibbling the occasional boot.

Compelling and largely genuine, the character interactions drive the story and kept me interested despite some pacing issues. They feel more like a tabletop adventuring party than stock characters for a quest. It makes their journey more appealing and feels more organic. The blossoming romance between characters is sweet; the reader figures it out before they do and reading through as they realize then admit those feelings is pretty cute. More surprisingly, the story deals with the issue of grief and loss in a more nuanced fashion than it does most other things. That was one of the strongest parts in the book. Though when the plot undermines the moment only a few chapters later, it left me puzzled about why those events unfolded at all.

It’s when Kill The Farmboy meanders on side-quests and pointed social commentary that weakens the overall story. There are some absolutely hilarious moments, including one incident of trollsplaining that might sound a little too familiar for some readers, but these can drag on a bit too long sometimes. The book works best when it’s overturning tropes. Yet that reliance on pushing those tropes is a weakness to the overall plot as well.

This is a very silly book in the best way possible. It never falls too heavily into parody and instead acts as playful homage to the great fantasy quest books. This is partly due to the absurdity of Pell. In this world, tropes (like princesses being cursed or the whole concept of chosen ones) are  simply part of life. Much like Discworld or even Oz, the internal logic and rules of the realm are simply accepted by the characters.

Verdict

Fans of Terry Pratchett and Dianna Wynne Jones will really enjoy the first journey into Pell. It's filled with clever asides and dissection of tropes. More Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail than Conan the Barbarian, both influences are felt in the story. While the inclusion of so many puns can seem a little tedious at times when the plot stalls in favor of the humor, the story is a genuinely light-hearted romp gently teasing conventional fantasy. The pace meanders sometimes but the quest is well worth the journey.

Kill the Farmboy is a great first installment for the forthcoming Tales of Pell series. I’ll gladly come back for the second one, No Country for Old Gnomes, when it’s released in late 2018. Dawson and Hearne have created a world perfect for more fun, campy fantasy stories.

Kill The Farmboy is available now

This had a lot of potential, but some of the jokes just went too far. They became less funny the more they were shoved in your face.
Otherwise, this was a fun read. I definitely didn't see some of the twists coming.

REVIEW PROVIDED BY: Kelly
NUMBER OF HEARTS: 4
A Farm Boy, a Crazy Goat, a Warrior, a Bard, a Dark Lord, a Rogue and a Witch.... It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke right? But it’s not. It is the start of a grand adventure of a ragtag team of unlikely heroes. This team of misfits will face great obstacles, death defying feats, love and the value of thumbs!!!

This book was a riot!! A riot of laughter, puns and gasps!! I honestly don’t know how Luke Daniels got through narrating this book. I would have been laughing to much or thinking “you want me to say what?”. But as always Luke did an amazing job of bring the characters to life. I really enjoy listening to Luke Daniels read me a story. Already looking forward to the next installment from Pell.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine in exchange for an honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review.

I love the sense of humor in this book -- it's very silly, reminiscent of Monty Python, or Airplane!, or Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Other times the humor is much more subtle, such as when they reference a piece of media that they're vaguely satirizing.

The cast of characters are great. It's such an unorthodox group! You end up loving every single character, regardless of their first impression on you.

Very much a lighthearted and fun read. I greatly enjoyed it and am putting it on my employee recommended shelf.

Kill the Farm Boy is humorous, but more often than not, tries too hard to be funny. The jokes just keep going where it's quickly loses the humor, or they're cheap jokes about bodily functions. It wasn't quite what I expected. There are people who will enjoy this, but unfortunately, it didn't quite do it for me.

When I heard about this book, I immediately had to read it. I love Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series. The first book of his new Seven Kennings fantasy series, A Plague of Giants, was an awesome read as well. I like the humor in the Iron Druid series and hoped Kill the Farm Boy would have more of the same. The book blurb invoked Princess Bride, promising humor along the lines of that classic plus Terry Pratchett's Discworld. I jumped right on it....had to read it.

When I read an advanced readers copy, I promise to give an honest review. And I'm going to do just that.

I enjoy Kevin Hearne's books. I've read them all. Look forward to more.

But I didn't like Kill the Farm Boy.

I expected wit, a dash of sarcasm, and irreverent references like Discworld....plus the tongue-in-cheek fairy tale quality of Princess Bride. Afterall, the book blurb did compare this new book to both of those.

But....Kill the Farm Boy is instead filled with lowbrow dick jokes, constant quips about masturbation, farting, poo, boogers.....it's like being dropped into room full of middle schoolers who don't have to watch their language. I found the humor as forced as an Adam Sandler movie. Nothing like Terry Pratchett or William Goldman's Princess Bride.

I read about 75% of the book.....and DNF'd it as unreadable.

Now....this is entirely my opinion. Others might read it and absolutely love it. I did not. I expected more from this book....and it disappointed me. I found the humor forced and juvenile. Not my cup of tea. For me, the plot was also tired and recycled.

This series is just not for me. Moving on. I still love, love, love Kevin Hearne. And I will still be right at the front of the line the next time he has a book come out. I'm not familiar with his co-author on this book -- Delilah Dawson -- but I know she writes humorous, dark fantasy for adults and teens that have received good ratings from reviewers. Like I said....this series is just not for me. I hope others love it, and that they co-author more books to make those readers happy. I, however, am moving on. Not every book is for every person.

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Random House/Ballentine via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

I had high expectations for this book, but in the end (and at the beginning) this one wasn't for me. Very tongue-in-cheek and over-the-top just to be funny, only it wasn't. At least not to me. I'm down for cock jokes and bathroom humor. Toss in a talking goat and I'm totally on-board, but the story still needs to be fleshed out, and this was flat. Your mileage may vary.