Kill the Farm Boy is a humorous fantasy novel from Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne. This is a pretty powerful team up, as Hearne is well-known for his Iron Druid Chronicles and Dawson did the recent Phasma novel for the Star Wars universe. But this book didn’t work for me.


The marketing materials for Kill the Farm Boy liken it to Terry Pratchett and The Princess Bride. Now, I’ve only read a few Pratchett books, I never quite got into him, but I grew up on The Princess Bride movie and have read the book. And I don’t recall Discworld or The Princess Bride having nearly as many dick jokes as this book has.

In the world of Pell, the beautiful and mysterious elves live in Morningwood. If the idea of an entire chapter of double entendres about that name sounds like your idea of a good time, you’ll absolutely love Kill the Farm Boy.

“But AJ,” I hear you saying, “You loved Pantheon and that starts off with a joke about a god having a wank. Do you like dick jokes or not?”

I don’t know what to tell you, good readers. I have a very particular sense of humor. Some dick jokes are uproariously funny. But an entire chapter of erection humor had me rolling my eyes and saying “Yes, I get it.”

Part of the problem is that the tone of the book is so uneven. It wants to be a commentary on the tired “farm boy is the chosen one” trope. It wants to give us interesting strong female characters, but it also wants to remind us that they have boobs. It wants to be funny. But sometimes characters die terrible deaths.

There were moments of this book that I really loved. There’s a really sweet lesbian romance threaded throughout the book. There’s some good send-ups of genre tropes. The book is pretty well-paced and while the setting is a pretty generic fantasy world, the world building and magic rules remain consistent throughout.

But as hard as this book tried to honor Terry Pratchett, it instead called to mind Piers Anthony. I mean, not as gross and creepy as Xanth could get, but the humor is very juvenile and punny.

The thing is, I get it. Twelve year old boys are the ones who most need to let go of their attachment to the farm boy trope. They need to learn that they are not the chosen one and that they are not going to be handed women and riches as trophies.

That said, as much as boys need to read this book, I suspect most of the people who want to read this book are going to be people like me: thirty-something women who grew up reading about farm boy after farm boy, asking why his far more capable female love interest wasn’t the main character. Or POC sick of the white boy getting the starring role. Or LGBTQ readers who just want the chosen one to have a queer romance for once.

There are moments for readers like us. You just have to wade through a lot of sophomoric humor. Your patience with that style of humor will entirely dictate how much you enjoy this book. If you loved Xanth as a kid but as an adult cringe at some of the sexist storylines, Kill the Farm Boy will scratch that itch.

Pros: Strong female characters, diverse protagonists, lesbian romance.

Cons: Sophomoric humor, uneven tone, the middle drags a bit.

Conclusion: I was not the reader for this, but I suspect it will find a loyal audience anyway.

Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne will be released on July 17th. It is being published by Random House Publishing Group. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a digital review copy!

Kill the Farm boy is an attempt to send up several fantasy tropes such as a complete nobody being the "chosen one" in one short novel. The result is at times funny, but often the humor falls flat and the story just drags on to its inevitable conclusion. Not that impressed at all and upon reading the author's notes, it become obvious, I didn't drink enough beer while reading to appreciate it. Sadly, the book really comes across as the narration of someone's fantasy RPG session, which may have been very entertaining for the players, it is less so for a reader.

A funny , pun-ny, delightful, a tiny bit naughty, magical, and fantastic collaboration between two authors of style and wit. This is a fun read! It is so far out there that it is hilarious and somber at times and just the best story! I didn't want it to end. I love all Kevin Hearne's previous books, the Iron Druid Chronicles and A Plague of Giants. They are fabulous. This new series written with Delilah S. Dawson is the beginning of something great. The action and the adventure that this unlikely bunch of odd 'people' ( not to mention the talking goat) go through will keep you laughing and reading for more. This book is exciting, fun, entertaining reading. I highly recommend this book!!!!

If you take your high fantasy seriously, walk away. This is high fantasy with a twist. An adventure story with roots more firmly in The Princess Bride than The Lord of the Rings. Can't wait for the next one.

If you’ve read a lot of epic fantasy, you know a lot of tropes. Well, this book is what you’ve been reading for. You’ll take great pleasure in checking each trope off your list as it’s twisted over and turned on its head (and then kicked in its upturned pants for good measure). You’ll snort up your sleeve. You’ll roll your eyes (a lot). And you’ll occasionally laugh out loud.

Plucky farm boy ready for his destiny? Check.
Talking goat sidekick who just wants to be sarcastic and eat boots? Check.
Sleeping princess in a thorn covered castle? Check.
Dark Lord who wants the farm boy dead and whose most evil spell is making stale bread rain from the sky? Uh. Check.
Rogue assassin who can’t sneak to save her life? Check. (Also see: terrified of chickens).
Sonja-esque barbarian warrior in a chain mail bikini (and very unhappy about it)? Check. (Cross-reference: blood-thirsty semi-sentient sword).
Seductive enchantress whose biggest secret is that she’s gotten old beneath all her spells? Check.
Reluctant bard from the castle who also happened to have gotten turned into a bunny? Also check.
And let’s not forget: Dread Necromancer Steve.
Does this book on a rare occasion get too clever for its own good? Yep.
The laughter and the fun that the authors clearly had writing this book shine through in every pun and joke and reference. If you don’t take it, or yourself, too seriously you’ll have a lot of fun too.

There was at least one moment when I groaned and slapped my own forehead at a terrible joke and had the urge to fling the book across the room — the downside of reading an eBook is that you can’t do that when you need to — but for the most part I’m glad I read it. I can just imagine Delilah and Kevin snickering to themselves as they send off their latest terrible puns to the other. That somehow made the book even better for me. Their joy is in every line. The world could use a little of that right now.

Sometimes a book isn't what you expected, it is so much more. I love when a book doesn't take itself too seriously. This first tale of Pell ripostes and lambastes itself and no trope is safe from its greedy cliché shredding claws. Full of puns and verbal repartee it may feel disjointed at first. As you immerse yourself in Pell you'll become accustomed to the free flowing verbiage. Is it perfect? No. That's what makes it enjoyable. It's minor flaws, like its characters, hope to enjoy life.

OK, so at 44 I shouldn't have that "12-year old boy" trapped inside, but that is exactly who liked this book. It is full of inappropriate play on words and, honestly, rolls along quite nicely. While I doubt the "high brow" will enjoy reading it, they probably wouldn't pick up a Keven Hearn book in the first place. Grab a couple of fingers of whiskey and pull up a chair, the world of Morningwood awaits.

If you are a Python fan, get this book and read it; you'll love it.

No fantasy trope or gender cliché is safe from being turned into a joke in Kill the Farm Boy. The clever writing and action packed absurdity had me laughing out loud several times.
Staph, a tricky pixie, sets Gustave the goat, and his pooboy, Worstly, on a quest because it is their destiny. From there, they meet up with more hilarious members of their question party, including a vegetarian warrior, and a bunny-woman bard.
This book was fantastic. It dealt with many problems I have with the genre, but in such a humorous way that it warmed my heart. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ebook for an unbiased review.

I was promised The Princess Bride; what I got was Witches Be Crazy (which, as my sci fi/fantasy book group can tell you, is not a good thing). The authors are too impressed with their own cleverness to concern themselves with their story, and the puns got old fast. A "did not finish" for me.

I was able to read this book early thanks to #NetGalley.

Let me start by saying I'm a teensy bit obsessed with Kevin Hearne. I've read everything he has written, and non of it has let me down. Kill the Farm Boy was hilarious! It is a mash up of many "fairy tales" but they are all turned on their head a bit. I loved every word of this book! The characters and world building are fantastic! I can't wait for more Tales of Pell!

A delightful romp that is both a parody of stereotypes in fantasy literature as well as society, slightly reminiscent of the 1980s fantasy parodies but with a bit more bite. I enjoyed it

I like Hearne's writing and requested this book based on that. The story is really not bad. I understand they are trying to poke fun at the fantasy tropes and this sometimes causes the plot to suffer because they are fitting in a bunch of those tropes to mock. 14 year old me would have loved this book and given it five stars. 44 year old me got tired of the penis jokes. There is an elven kingdom the party ventures through called the Morningwood and so you have to suffer through a couple chapters of middle school jokes about morning wood. And the jokes keep coming (see what I did there? That's the way the whole book is). I wanted to give up on the book, but since I had agreed to read it through I finished it but have zero desire to ever revisit it.

FANTASTIC! This book had me laughing, giggle-snorting and just downright enjoying. If you took Shrek, Monty Python and Fractured Fairytales added copious amounts of alcohol and shook well this is what would have spewed out.
Many fantastic stories start with what if… The authors of Kill The Farm Boy started with what if instead of… and nailed each trope to the wall and remade it into a whole new image. No blonde haired, blue eyed, square jawed perfect hero in this tale; well okay there is one but…
If you are out for a good time, quirky characters, action, adventure, and a not-quite-dead wanna be hero, read this book.
Warning: You will laugh out loud possibly annoying neighbors and may accidentally douche your nose if you drink and read at the same time. You have been warned.

I absolutely love Gustave. Fun, interesting and hilarious. Take an adventure with 5 amazingly unique characters for the ride of a lifetime. I had to know what would happen next.