What is it about?

As Delilah describes in the acknowledgements, it "was time to make fun of white male power fantasies", and it says right there on the cover  "Once A pun A time"  so you know immediately that this book is going to be wacky. 

Worstley is a "poo-boy"...he cleans up the poo from the farm animals. Along comes a grungy pixie and anoints him as the Chosen One and it all goes downhill from there. The book bounces around from one crazy adventure to another and follows a group of really dumb "people" who seem to mostly survive despite their shortcomings.

Was it good?

 The ratio of laughing out loud to eye-rolls was at about 1:1. The story is very amusing, but for the longest time I didn't know what the point of it all was. Still every time I got a wee bit exasperated with the loony characters, they would do something so stupid that even I had to laugh. 

If you go into it with a light heart and a silly attitude, you will definitely enjoy this book. It has everything a fantasy lover could ask for: talking animals, trolls, giants, danger, adventure, sword fights, elves, pixies, zom-bees, and the Dread Necromancer Steve. 

I would return to Pell to see what shenanginans they get into next time.

Kill the Farm Boy is not your average tale of a hero rescuing a princess trapped in a tower. It's the story of a set of rag tag characters, to include a talking goat, Dark Lord with a weakness for artisan cheeses, a bard with very low self-esteem who also happens to be the victim of a curse, an assassin with a fear of poultry, and a fighter running around in a chain mail bikini with self-confidence issues. All these are brought together by the farm boy in the title, whether it's because they are out to kill him or help him. It read to me almost like a Monty Python movie. The story is full of humor and references to pop culture and other infamous fairy tales. I felt like the author tried to cram almost too much of this into the story. At times, I found it to be distracting from the primary story line. Humor level was a bit too raunchy for me during some parts of the story as well. If you're looking for something completely different retelling of classic fairy tale elements with Monty Python-like humor, I recommend picking up this book.

I requested the book on the strength of Princess Bride comparisons, which seem to have since been removed? Well, this is a hard one for me to review, because it's just not what I expected and the sales pitch I got is gone now, so...

The humor in this is very much not in line with my own, tending on the side of 'throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.' There's a <i>heap</i> of anachronisms, because....IDK, "just mention something modern, it worked for Robin Williams"? The attempts to mock fantasy tropes mostly just say something snarky and then continue using the tropes anyway. It all feels...very surface level, not terribly engaged with the material.

Princess Bride felt like it loved fantasy romance and engaged with fantasy romance even while it parodied that genre gently. This book...wears fantasy like a coat and thinks that counts as funny.

I want everyone who grew up on fantasy to read this book. Not only is it incredibly clever, but it is wonderfully hilarious. I had the most fun reading this book because it takes all the tropes you know – the ones you love and hate – and turns them on your head. It’s one of those books that is fun from the very core outwards. There are these witty references, but then also this sort of self-reflexive desire to keep challenging what we expect. And it’s brilliant.

At the same time, there are some lovely and endearing characters. I couldn’t even pick a favorite because each of them have something I love in them. There’s such personality and flavor to each of them. You truly have the whole pick of main characters to find secrets about them that you love. And a the same time, a question that revolves around this book is – can we find our inner hero? In these stories, these tropes, we know our hero will find their heroism, but can our unlikely heroes find something heroic in their mistakes, their blunders, and their courageous hearts?

I was very disappointed in this book. From the description, I thought it would be a fun, modern-take on the typical fantasy. I was thinking along the lines of Princess Bride. Instead, the book was overloaded with inane characters who loosely made up a quest tale. I must admit I did not finish the book. Hopefully it improved.

This book promised to be a hilarious romp through every imaginable fantasy trope. If your sense of humor is that of the average young teenage boy, it might deliver on that promise. There were some laugh out loud moments, but the truly clever bits were buried under a flood of adolescent humor. The book is essential one big compilation of gross-out jokes and innuendos (e.g. the elven kingdom of Morningwood provides the authors a seemingly endless source of raunchy puns).

I can’t say much about the plot without spoilers, but I will say that they did indeed cleverly tweak most of the classic tropes. What they did with the “chosen one” trope was particularly entertaining. For me, the constant stream of poo & sex jokes got old very quickly and overshadowed the cleverness. For humorous/satirical fantasy I’d recommend sticking with <i>Discworld</i> or maybe the recently released <i>Peril in the Old Country </i> by Sam Hooker.

This is.... sort of the story of Worstley, farm boy, poop cleaner, brother of Bestley (who was unfortunately killed by the local lord for being too handsome), and... the Chosen One, probably!

He is out in the barn one day, cleaning poop and being accosted by Gus, the billy goat, when suddenly a smelly pixie appears and declares that he is the Chosen One. What does that mean? Who knows, but he should probably go to on a quest to slay a Dark Lord or find some treasure or something. It's his destiny!

And so Worstley goes on a quest with his sidekick Gus (the billy goat, who now has the power of speech thanks to the pixie, and insists that it is 'Gustave') to find out what being the Chosen One really means... while meanwhile, the local Dark Lord, Toby, sends his henchmen out to kill the farmboy, as he needs his heart to... become all-powerful, of course.

Along the way, things happen that you don't expect, and our party of adventurers goes from the boy and his goat, to including people like a 7-foot-tall fighter for hire wearing a chainmail bikini with a fondness for roses; an almost-bard (she needs 2 more credits) who has been cursed to be a beast (not necessarily a terrifying one, but a beast all the same; a rogue with a few brain cells missing; a sand witch; and a marmoset.

This was a fairly quick and fun read. Full of puns and spins on various tropes and fairy tales. There were many chuckles to be had. The prose was lovely, and it still totally felt like reading a fairy tale at times, while it was so clearly making fun of them.

Even the map at the beginning of the novel has some chuckles in it, with places like 'The Island That Has No Name Because No One Ever Goes There or Even Talks About It For Some Strange Reason but Trust Me It's Beautiful.'

This is obviously not the most mature book ever written, and it is not intended to be. There are a veritable treasure trove of dick jokes, puns, and other silliness in its pages. If you're anything like me, sometimes a book like this one, which is fun for the sake of fun, is just what you need in between more serious books. Sometimes I need a forest of elves called Morningwood. Sometimes I need a talking goat who is often snarky AF. Sometimes I need a giant who eats people, but does it with some style. Sometimes I need a song or two that I can imagine the characters singing along to:

Humans destroy all they touch
They fight and grab and steal and clutch
They are not good for very much
Yes, humans are the worst!

If you're looking for a serious book, look elsewhere, but if you're down for some giggling, then you just might want to dive in here. It wasn't the best book I've read from either of its authors, but it is nevertheless a fantastic book!

Thanks to the authors, as well as Random House/Ballantine via NetGalley for the review copy. :)

It's hard to categorize Kill The Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne. Is this a fantasy? A tall tale? I don't know the official genre, but I think I would call this novel a fairy-tale parody.

This makes it tough for me to review. I know it is meant to be a tongue in cheek sort of book. There are puns-o-plenty, and lots of spoofs of various fairy tales. But this also made it difficult for me to empathize with the characters. And I wasn't sure about how "worthy" the quest (which was at the center of this novel) was.

What I Liked:
Puns and parodies:

There were so many funny puns, and riffs from the names of the characters, such as the Sand Witch, to the chapter titles like, Under The Perilous Polar of Personal Problems. This set the entire tone of the book.

There were many funny bits that lampooned various fairy tales such as Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty, along with generous references to William Goldman's The Princess Bride. All of these were very entertaining.

Characters:

While I had a hard time connecting to most of the characters, I did really enjoy Argabella, and Fia. Argabella is a half rabbit, half woman, who has been stuck as the only awake person in a castle where everyone has fallen asleep. She is shy, and anxious, rather like a rabbit (hmm). Argabella also has daddy issues. Fia is completely opposite. She is a seven-foot tall warrior who is a confident killing machine. But she is starting to develop a conscience, feeling bad about most of her killing ways.

I love how a relationship develops with these two. I found it lovely that their personalities complimented each other. I also appreciated that each character was fully-developed. They weren't defined by just their sexuality.

Food:

I think the authors must have made a habit of writing on an empty stomach, because the descriptions of food are epic! It helps that one of the characters seems to be a gourmand. Every chance there is, the authors go out of their way to describe all the delectable dishes and delicacies.

What I Didn't Like:
Story:

While there were some fun characters, they kind of meandered around. They were on a quest of some kind, but there didn't seem to be a compelling goal to strive for. The series of adventures the characters have don't seem to have much of a point, either. They go somewhere, they get attacked by some colorful characters, and then they move on. I wish there was more of a reason for the quest, for each of the characters.

OMG! At first I didn't know what to think of this book, but now I'm like what the heck. This is crazy. So funny. This is not your ordinary princess bride type fairy tale, this is something else. The story takes you on a ride with a farm boy who is told he is the chosen one. He goes on his quest and all hell breaks lose. I want to tell you about the Llamataur... enough said, and don't forget about the Sextapuse. I'm really not sure what that even is good for, but its weird.

If you like hilarious wild rides, and a story that is beyond belief, then drink this potion. It will keep you roaring with laughter until the very end.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

If you take your favorite fairy tale and mix in some slightly off character tropes, unusual food choices, and really bad puns-you still wouldn't come close to describing this book.  Kill the Farm Boy is a hilarious and fast paced take on slightly off-kilter fairy tale retellings.  Worstley has the worst job on the farm:  he's the pooboy.  At least, that's what the animals think of him.  But Worstley's fortune changes drastically when a pixie named Staph tells him of his status as the destined Chosen One who must go save the princess who is cursed with a sleeping spell at the very top of a tall tower in a land far away...This would have all been far more impressive had the Pixie not been drunk, haggard, and only wearing one sock but the Pixie Staph demonstrates her power by giving Worstely's billy goat, Gustave, the ability of speech.  Unfortunately the goat has some major attitude and a huge hankering for leather.   

This sets off a hilarious tale of a rag tag group of warriors, fuzzy bunnies, and a wizard whose magic is as weak as his scraggly beard.  We have Argabella, cursed to remain awake at the castle while everyone else is sleeping away for years.  Oh, and she was also turned in to an incredibly large rabbit.  She is somewhat saved by Fia, a giantess warrior who sees nothing wrong with her chain mail bikini and has a blood thirsty sword.  Together, they set off to Lord Toby to help right a horrible wrong only to find an incompetent wizard who is better at planning dinner parties than a spell.  With the "help" of his rogue assassin Poltro who can be scary when she isn't hiding from evil chickens, they set off to find the Chosen One and Grinda the Sand Witch.  


Full of puns, witty banter, and a colorful cast of supporting characters, this book is laugh out loud hilarious.  No fairy tale is safe from mockery and no character too precious to be made fun of. 
Mercilessly.

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars

Kill the Farm Boy is a tongue-in-cheek fantasy novel that pokes fun at every fantasy character and trope you can imagine. It can be very funny, and is often punny to an eyeroll-inducing level! It plays with the trope of a young, uneducated, white boy being the "chosen one" by killing the farm boy early on in the narrative.

There were bits that I found to be quite funny- like the character modeled on Xena and passages discussing the uselessness of her chainmail bikini. The cast of characters is quite diverse and this is a rollicking adventure with plenty of twists. I sometimes felt like it dragged a bit, and got a a little exhausted with having to pay close enough attention to pick out all the puns and subtle references. But that is probably more a personal preference. I think if this was shorter, I really would have loved it! As it is, it went on a bit too long for my taste in the genre. But if you are into reading full-length books like this you are likely to really enjoy it!

In terms of audience, this is definitely a book for adults. It has plenty of mature situations and adult humor. Overall, I did enjoy it and liked what it was trying to accomplish in terms of upsetting fantasy tropes centered on while, heterosexual males. I agreed to review an early copy of this book via NetGalley.

Do you enjoy fantasy that doesn't take itself too seriously? Then you must try Dawson and Hearne's Kill the Farm Boy. As they share in the acknowledgements, "it was time to make fun of white male power fantasies, the formula for which almost always involves some kid in a rural area rising to power in the empire after he loses his parents, usually because somebody comes along and tells him not to worry, he's special." And so we have a tale that involves a farm boy named Worstley (he had an older brother named Bestley); a pixie named Staph, the Dark Lord Toby, the Dread Necromancer Steve, a female warrior in a chain mail bikini named Fia (I pictured her resembling Lucy Lawless), a bard named Argabella, a talking goat named Gustave, Grinda the Sand Witch, and other amusing characters. Our brave band encounters such fearsome obstacles as hungry giants, healers who use tentacled creatures in their cures, bejeweled crabs, an alcoholic monarch, and elves with a taste for cheese. Throughout the story there are attempts at bardic magic, several swashbuckling fights, leeches (but no shrieking eels), and quite a few leather boots are consumed.

If you are looking for epic fantasy and noble destinies, this is not the book for you. But you should come back when you feel the need for laughter, eye rolling, and poking fun at just about every fantasy trope there is. This is also the perfect book for anyone having a bad day who needs some cheering up. What could be more uplifting than a rogue who is convinced chickens are plotting against her, or a magician with a taste for artisanal crackers?

Highly recommended for YA and adult readers. I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

There may be a sub-genre in the fantasy list about parody and satire: turning fairy tales on their backside and having some fun.

Tons o’ fun writers Kevin “I play a druid on TV” Hearne and Delilah Dawson break it all down for us in this 2018 retelling and reimagining of fairy tales. The premise is entertaining enough but the two collaborators make this better with droll word play and double entendres aplenty (and more than a handful of penis jokes – like what I did there?)

This is to the fantasy / fairy tale as Spaceballs is to the Star Wars films, a whimsical but well thought out satire. It also made me think of John Scalzi’s 2011 short story The Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City. Prologue. And this leads me to my only criticism: too long.

True, 389 pages is not a lengthy book by most standards, but Scalzi recognized that there is only so much snark you can stretch into an idea, even a good one. Like a funny Saturday Night Live sketch made into a film, there’s just not enough substance to fill it out. This would make a great short work or even a novella but by the end I was ready to be done.

It is funny and overall an enjoyable read from two very talented writers.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy of this book that was provided in exchange for an honest review.

DNF. Just not my cup of tea. I hoped to like it if only because Hearne used to teach at my school. But I guess I am just not a fan of his writing style and I did not get into the story at all, maybe because it is pure fantasy with a LOT of goofiness...something I would normally enjoy, but I did not enjoy from these authors. Bummer.

It's been a long time since a book actually made me laugh out loud, but props to Hearne and Dawson who easily accomplish this task. KILL THE FARM BOY is perfect for the fanasty reader who loves to see tropes turned on their heads and enjoys a good (let's be honest, bad) pun. The main cast of characters includes a quasi-evil wizard, wise-cracking goat, leather-clad lady assassin, a Pooka bard, and a chicken-fearing rogue. Along their quest they meet a host of hilarious situations (and some honestly interesting culinary combinations) that remind me of Terry Pratchett's DISCWORLD and also of THE PRINCESS BRIDE. Fans of Douglas Adams will also enjoy the wordplay and self-mocking.
The more you love and understand fantasy-- and the more you love to see it upended-- the more you'll love this book. Strange and rough around the edges, I had to remind myself in the first few chapters to "lighten up and see where this is going". I'm glad I did, because the world is serious enough-- entering the world of Pell for a while made it feel less so.

i was enjoying it at the beginning but then it kept going and felt like it was trying too hard a lot of the time? it is very much a turn the genre on its head and make everything absurd kind of book. so parts of it were quite funny. if you like, like some of piers anthony and terry pratchett and princess bride and monty python and gender- and role-bending fantasy, than this may be for you.

A sense of humor is mandatory for reading this book.

Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne is delightfully absurd and laughs in the face of how one would usually expect a Chosen One fantasy story to go. Every last trope is engaged with in a way that flips it on its head and makes it hard for readers not to laugh out loud. (Unless you hate puns. Don’t hate puns when you read this book.) When Staph the Pixie tells the farm boy Worstly that he’s the Chosen One and also makes his goat talk, Worstly does what any Chosen One would do and finds a quest. But when his quest doesn’t go quite as planned, it’s up to a motley crew to try make things right and save both him and an entire enchanted castle worth of people.

In a way, Kill the Farm Boy is the other side of the coin from one of my favorite book series. However, David Eddings took every trope in the fantasy book and played in straight (yet still with humor) to show that one could still write an engaging story with so many familiar elements. Like Eddings’ Belgariad, Kill the Farm Boy cannot exist without all of these well known tropes being, well, tropes. This isn’t the first work of fiction to do this but what makes it special is the execution. It’s the sort of book that makes you narrow your eyes as you reach a part and go, “Are you about to…” and then leaves you in giggles as the authors seize the moment (and the joke) and run with it. In particular, there’s a scene with a troll that includes some modern nods that’s especially well done and something that only a book like this can pull off so satisfyingly.

Kill the Farm Boy is more than just hilarious though. Without characters like Fia, Gustave, Agrabella, Grinda and such, this would just be a string of comedy sketches. They all fill the traditional Dungeons and Dragons roles… or do they? Dawson and Hearne take the archetypes and make them very much their own. Gustave is an unexpectedly delightful talking goat and even the Dark Lord Toby has some charm to him despite his stated goal of killing the farm boy to try and get actual dark powers. The real highlight of the book as far as the characters are concerned is the budding friendship (and more) between Fia and Agrabella. Fia is a woman of color and the warrior and reluctant chainmail bikini wearer of the group and also a vegetarian. Meanwhile, the group’s bard is a cursed human-rabbit woman named Agrabella with some confidence issues. It’s sweet watching them get to know each other and being supportive as they go through their own struggles.

If you want to escape from the world for a few hours and just fill your heart with joy, laughter, and ridiculous puns, you can’t go wrong by picking up Kill the Farm Boy. If you love what Spaceballs did for Star Wars and science fiction, you’ll love what this book does for fantasy. Filled with both tropes and characters with hidden depth to them, it is an absurd read that will leave you feeling happy when you reach the end but also sad that there isn’t more (yet). Trust me: read this book. You won’t be disappointed.

"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."

Is this farm boy poor and perfect? You'll just have to read to find out!

The subtitle for this book is "Once. A pun. A time." I think that give fair warning that this book is not going to be a very traditional fairy tale nor is it going to be very serious.

When the book opens, we are treated to a glimpse of a fairy castle that is under a spell that has made everyone (except one troubadour) fall into a deep sleep. They are waiting for someone to rescue the princess. It is possible that it might be the farm boy, Worstley (his brother Bestley was killed for being too handsome). At least, the pixie, Staph, tells him that he is the Chosen One. But is he?

Filled with puns and plays on the most popular fairy tale tropes; this was an interesting story that dragged in a few places and got a little long in others but was overall a pretty enjoyable read.



Three and a half stars

This book comes out July 17

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

I had the opportunity to preview Kevin Hearne and Delilah Dawson’s book, Kill the Farm Boy. As a long-term Kevin Hearne fan, I was very curious to see how this new partnership would work. Furthermore, I found the idea of a somewhat twisted take on a fairytale to be an interesting idea. Let’s face it, we’ve all read stories where the farm boy goes on a quest, gets the girl, concurs, evil, and becomes the king. Well, this is not that kind of story.

Oh, I first thought this story was going to go the same way as all of the others. There’s even an evil sorcerer who is determined to kill the farm boy and use his heart to get more powerful, but things don’t seem to turn out well for anyone.

Spoiler Alert (Don’t read further)

Well, the farm boy ends up dying fairly quickly on his quest when a female knight falls and lands on top of him, and this is when things stop going according to plan. My favorite part of this female knight is that she’s wearing ridiculously armor, which is commonly seen in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. (I mean really, how is a knight going to fight in combat and be protected where armor that covers no more than a bathing suit does?) And personally, it’s in these tiny details where the book soars. Poking fun at the ridiculous tropes the fairytale genre has generated over the years makes the book a completely nostalgic and yet new read. The book has everything one would expect to find in a fairytale, while not having anything you would expect in a fairytale at the same time.

Overall, I found this book humorous and engaging. I enjoyed looking for all of the “Easter eggs” hidden throughout the book that refer to other stories in this same genre. I would recommend to anyone who is looking for something a bit off-beat, different, and fun.