It's interesting, I do feel that if you took out just a few elements of this book (swearing, drugs, violence and...lust?) the actual premise could read as a middle-grade novel. I mean, a young boy who is in a bit of trouble ends up running errands for the last dragon on the planet while trying to keep him a secret? I can see the adorable cartoon cover now. 

In some ways I think that's why this book works, it feels like an aged-up version of a story I might have read as a younger reader - and why shouldn't we still have stories like that just because we're older now? Of course, the villains are more overtly villainous and rather than simply cackling and twirling fabulous moustaches their crimes are more varied (and their personalities more horrifying) and we're all a bit more aware of how awful the world is in general, but also I want grumpy dragons sorting delinquent boys out and being huffy the entire time, I shouldn't have to lose that just because I'm 24 now and pay taxes. 

I wasn't sure if I would like Squib when I started reading this book, I tend to not get on with young male protagonists, and even less so when they're depicted as 'starting to dip their toes into a life of crime'. Too often they just reflect the worst qualities of young men and never get called out on it, I have to experience enough terrible youths in daily life I don't want to read about them and be expected to root for them in my fantasy books as well. Thankfully, Squib really grew on me as the book went on, I think it was the fact that as a reader you can get a good appreciation for his motivations and his circumstances, it doesn't excuse his behaviour under the 'it's ok because he loves his mum' trope, but it also acknowledges the effect that circumstances and lack of privilege play in situations such as Squib's.

This is one of those books where, at at least one point, I hated every single character - with the possible exception of Squib's Mum. I actually think that a book that can pull off so many unlikeable characters and still have me read to the end is quite impressive and indicative of the development of each character throughout the book. I would have perhaps liked a few more light moments for the 'good' characters but maybe that's my optimism shining through. 

One thing that I personally missed was some worldbuilding. You get some inklings as to Vern's life and the past presence of  dragons, but I didn't really feel like I had much of a picture - indeed this may have been intentional, to skim over those elements as they aren't essential to the story, but I really wanted them, probably because I'm desperate to believe that there were dragons (and that I can meet one). Just a little more worldbuilding would have made this book better for me. 

Overall this is a quick fun read that I think will appeal to readers who do enjoy darker humorous stories, it isn't 100% my cup of tea and I think a few changes in the plot and characters could have helped with the flow of the story - but if the concept interests you, I'd say go for it!

My rating: 3/5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, all opinions are my own. 

Highfire publishes January 28th!

After reading The Fowl Twins before Christmas, Sophie picked up Highfire by Eoin Colfer – the author behind the multi-million selling series, Artemis Fowl. Although he has put out adult novels before, Highfire is Colfer’s first adult fantasy book and a children’s book this most definitely is not.

Vern is the last dragon. He is hiding out in a swamp in Louisana, whiling away his days on vodka, binge-watching streamed movies and TV series, and avoiding humankind who killed his brethren centuries ago. When his familiar, Waxman, has to take a leave of absence, Vern must put aside his distrust of humans and take on a new familiar – a local teenager called Squib.

Unfortunately, Squib has drawn the unwanted attention of a psychotic local law enforcer, Constable Hooke, having witnessed Hooke committing a murder on the orders of a local drug lord. Hooke has designs on taking over the drug lord’s empire and soon Vern, Squib, and Hooke are locked into an imaginative, twisting plot that will not end well for some or all of these characters.

This is a good book but, for Sophie, it fell short of being great. Vern is curmudgeonly but not endearingly so (even if he does love Flashdance). Squib is delinquent but good-hearted though hardly original. Hooke is just a plain vicious sociopath who can gut and carve people up without the faintest glimmer of remorse.

The story takes time to set the scene and the characters before it really gets going and then it is a rollercoaster ride to the finish. Throughout there are blood and guts, significant quantities of profanity and vices, and lots of wit and humor. As creative as the plot is, it just lacks the usual Eoin Colfer charm. If the premise intrigues you then Sophie recommends giving the book a read. She just doubts she will read it again.

Having not previously read one of Eoin Colfers books before I was unprepared for his writing style which, to put it lightly, is rather on the quirky side. There were a few moments when I had first started reading that I wondered whether this book was for me, but I powered through and boy am I glad I did.

Squib Moreau really does not have the best of luck. Out on the river one night he sees Constable Hooke, the literal worst person in the world and of course officer of his town, commit a gruesome and cold blooded murder. The constable see's someone scurrying through the bushes and, determined to leave no witnesses, lobs a grenade onto the island poor unsuspecting Squib is hiding on. Only Squibs not alone, Hooke can't seem to understand why the Grenade comes flying back towards his boat, and it takes Squib a while to realise why his being held upside-down by something that resembles a giant alligator. Squib manages to escape without being roasted alive, but neither him nor Vern, the last living Dragon (he thinks) are aware how their fates are now tied together... hopefully for the better.

If there's one thing Colfer knows how to write its intriguing characters. Squib is a smarter than he looks, and acts most of the time, boy simply trying to make a living and protect his lovely momma from the clutches of Constable Hooke. If that means doing shopping for a grumpy Dragon with a tendency to roast before question then that's what it takes. He has an innocent and almost naeve charm about him that has you rooting for a happy ending, or as happy as he can get. Vern is a flash dance loving, beer drinking and oil guzzling Dragon, the last of his kind if you believe him. He credits his long life to staying in the shadows and remaining unknown to humans, so when one literally appears in his yard his tendency leans towards kill now, ask questions never. It's only when he finds out that Squib may come in useful he decides not to roast the poor boy, and I loved seeing their hesitant and sometimes testing friendship emerge through the book. Constable Hooke, I don't think there is a word for how much I disliked that man. I find it rare in books nowadays to have a character that I simply hate. Baddies normally have some childhood trauma, or redeem themselves towards the end of the book but Hooke creeped me the hell out. I rushed through his chapters, not wanting to delve too much into his mindscape and there were parts of the book that made the hairs on my arm stand on end.

There was no romance in this book at all, unless you count the uber creepy Hooke's attempts to woo Squibs mum ( and you shouldn't because that s*** is toxic). The main relationship was shown through an unlikely and sometimes tested friendship. Can a Dragon who has lived through the centuries being persecuted by the human race learn to be friends with one. You could definitely feel Vern's inner turmoil, grudgingly admitting that Squib isn't like the other humans he knew, while at the same time being unwilling to let his walls down for fear of being betrayed. I really enjoyed seeing their friendship blossoming both though their interactions and inner thoughts. Their scenes together has me in stitches at certain points and on the edge of my seat at others.

The authors writing style is unique to say the least. As I stated I had never read one of his books before, and had read some so/so reviews so I had reasonably open expectations going in, which is probably why I enjoyed the book so much. The book is based in the New Orleans Bayou and the language plays on that. He uses local dialect termanology, which threw me at certain points, and he uses a lot of descriptive writing which can sometime put me off, but his humorous take on things and general writing style had my flying through the pages:

"Nevertheless, and to his credit, Squib did not hesitate but dived into that latch like there was a fantasy land on the other side where folks were just waiting to dub him a Prince."

With a story like this there was pretty much a no holds barred on how weird it could be, which is good because I feel this book isn't going to be an instant hit. People may be put off by the premise, or by the first few chapters like I nearly was. All I can say is trust in that the author knows exactly what he is doing. It is weird? Hell yes! Is there a dismemberment of an unknown species? Yes. Does someone use a Pizza slice to cover their nether regions? Yes. Do you learn more about Dragons nether regions that you felt you needed too? Also yes. Yet this bizarre and wholly unique tale wormed its way into my heart. I think some people may be expecting this to be as light as his YA books were, and though there are definitely light and humorous parts, there were some dark and disturbing parts as well as characters. I will talk more about trigger warnings at the end of my review but I feel strongly that there should be some put out there for people wanting to read the book. This is an Adult book, and with that comes significantly less barriers than there would be in YA, however at parts I found myself curling around myself almost protectively, and can see some parts causing serious damage to readers if they are not warned.

Despite the dark side to this book I'm glad this was my first read of the year, starting it off on a mainly humorous and positive note. An easy 4/5 for me. There were some parts/people I found problematic (Hooke) and the book should definitely come with some trigger warnings: Animal/being abuse, dismemberment and general harm written in detail, a character with serious psychopathic tendencies & I would also warn anybody who has suffered abuse to be wary before reading this book. Though there was no abuse on page, Hooke's character often had thoughts about it including one point where he thought 'put one hand round her throat and walk her backwards into the house. Wasn't no one around to see.' His parts of the book were in parts extremely disturbing and people should definitely be wary before reading.

I read the entire Artemis Fowl series one after the other a few years ago, back in 2016, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. So I was really intrigued to see that Eoin Colfer had a new book coming out, especially an adult fantasy.

If I'm being honest, I struggled a bit with the beginning of Highfire. I loved the opening scenes, but then I felt it slowed down quite a lot. Once I got into the swing of the story though, it picked up again.

Something I did really love about this book was the setting and the atmosphere. It was really evocative and immersive. I could feel the oppressive heat and humidity of Louisiana and smell the water of the bayou.

The characters -- especially Vern, Squib and Elodie (Squib's hard-working, long-suffering mother) -- are charming and likeable. I was really drawn to them and invested in their coming out on top. I was less keen on the villain, Hooke, who just didn't appeal to me in the same was as the others. But in a way, that was a good thing, because I really, really wanted him to get his comeuppance.

Once you're invested in the characters, the action really kicks off and it's exactly the kind of high-octane, fast-paced adventure you'd expect from Colfer.

Nicely for an adult fantasy novel, Highfire's a standalone. It has potential for a sequel too, but you get all the resolution you need by the end.

I’ve grown up with the Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer, and they’re a staple in our house for my children (my son is called Eoin too), so I went into this with some trepidation. Could Colfer’s wit carry itself in an adult novel? Especially one that sounds as bizarre as this one, with a grumpy vodka drinking dragon and a boy called Squib with major daddy issues and criminal tendencies. As it happens, yes it could, and this ended up being one hell of a ride.

Vern, our depressed dragon, is the last of his kind and casually hanging out in the Louisiana swaps watching Netflix. He wants to be left alone, but somehow finds himself attached to Squib, a troubled kid with the law hot on his heels. Their relationship is really the highlight of the novel, as the pair bounce off each other so well. I find that Eoin Colfer does tend to craft his protagonists well, pairing them up with individuals who at once compliment or oppose their personalities. They’re always well fleshed out, and often morally grey but loveable - and this is certainly true here too. Vern is a firm favourite, with his endless snarky comments and morose attitude that just lends itself well to the overall feel of the book.

I also liked that the plot itself doesn’t take itself too seriously, with our heroes becoming embroiled with murder, drugs and villains with humour sprinkled throughout. It’s a joyous romp filled with the outrageous and lots of swearing. However, it also tackles some more serious topics too, especially around Squib and his mother, and this was handled well.

At times I did wish the pacing was a bit faster as the plot does drag in some places (particularly in the middle section), however overall this didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story.

Highfire is the first adult book from Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series. Right off the bat, Vern is an ancient dragon equipped with sarcasm and alcohol which makes a fun combo through out the story who is content with living in his southern swamp despite being an ex Lord Highfire. However it seems the punishment never ends for debonair dragon when he hires on Squib as his new assistant. Squib's daily duties involve refilling his employer's cup and internet shopping cart.

I had a blast reading this as Artemis Fowl is one of my favorite book series from my child hood and if Highfire is any indication of more books to come in the adult themes from Eoin, then I can't wait to read what comes next!

Beware there be dragons!

Well, one grumpy and lonely dragon called Vern (short for Wyvern), hiding out in the Louisiana swamp, filling his time watching netflix and drinking Absolut vodka. He is probably the last of his kind and has seen his friends and relatives murdered by angry hordes through the ages. Now he has one friend, a half human called Waxman who lives in a shack on the swamp and looks after supplying Vern with his vodka, favourite Flashdance T-shirts and other essentials (from a horde of confederate gold that Vern has stashed away).

Also living in the swamp is a 15 year old troublemaker called Squib who tries to help out his single mother by working odd jobs, a psychopathic Rambo-style cop, called Regence Hooke, who has his own private arsenal and wants to control the drug cartel route through Louisiana no matter how many bodies mount up. He also intends to sort Squib out once and for all, while also paying court to Squib's attractive mother. One fateful night on the bayou, when Hooke and Squib are both up to no good, will result in both their worlds colliding with Vern's.

I'm a big fan of Colfer's Artemis Fowl fantasy series for children and love his quirky sense of humour, which also infuses this adult tale. Vern and Squib are great characters, forming an unusual friendship. Vern is like no dragon I've ever come across before, but he is no less majestic when called upon to take to the sky and breath some fire to help his friend and Squib really does has a good heart inside his larrikin self. If you feel like a fun romp in the swamp and don't mind a few explosions and bodies along the way, this one could be for you!

I loved the Artemis Fowl books and found this adult fantasy to be just as funny and delightful as his children’s books. The characters, human and otherwise, were delightful and surprising and their Louisiana drawls added extra fun. Four stars for modern day dragons learning to love humans again, and I would definitely read a follow-up! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for this unbiased review.

Sassy and lonely grumpy old dragon meets sassy and lovable teenage boy. Against his will, the dragon begins to trust a human for the first time in thousands of years. This was a whole lot of fun - crooked police, a great Southern American setting, and the humourous writing that Colfer is famous for.

Highfire

Eoin Colfer gave me high hopes, adult fiction with a high flying dragon, and a world full of intrigue. These characters are story tellers, each bargaining for their own power of the river in which they live. Each wanting to be the best son, the best dragon, the best trader. Each will go to the effect of losing fingers over it.

A series of catastrophic, trying to blow up a swamp and almost succeeding events, deep in the heart of gater country, Louisiana, finds the convergence of Squib, Waxman, Constable Hook, and of course, the vodka fueled Highfire.

With a severe dislike of humans, but a love for everything they have created, this surprisingly aware novel, of the aspects of our lives we take for granted, high speed internet, cash, food, vodka, this dragon has learned to figure out through his centuries of existence.

Through the twists and turns of the river, and as undulating as the swamp it's set, Highfire carries us on a boat ride similar to the Artemis Fowl series we all love so well, and sets us on his next course of action, finding the humour to any situation, and having a dragon finally redevelopment a particular fondness for humans after living in isolation and hatred of the after the near extinction of his species.

A novel ready to be read, and to be laughed at, the situations you find yourself in will make you relive what you loved in the Fowl books, but in an adult, sweary, netflixy kind of way.

Thanks to Jo Fletcher books and Quercus for the ARC. Available to buy on the 28th January from your local independent book store.

A modern day Pete’s dragon except the Dragon is a murderous human hater and ‘Pete’ is a swamp runt! This was a hilarious story aimed at grown ups. The main protagonist was brilliant and I enjoyed the whole book. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I grew up reading Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl so was really excited to hear about Highfire being released. What can I say, this book is weird and wacky but damn it's also wonderful. It easily took me 50+ plus pages to 'get' but once I did I started to really enjoy it. The characters are really well written and there is so many different levels of the story with little themes hiding throughout. If you struggle at the start it is so so worth sticking with.

Absolutely loved this, a boy and a dragon, need I say more to get most people hooked, not really, but this touches on themes a loneliness, depression and dealing with being the last dragon, it’s well handled, emotional and sensitively done. Yes it’s humorous too and that is done brilliantly, but I think the author deserves credit for dealing with such sensitive issues so well. It deals with lots of other parallels in society at the moment too along the way, but you should definitely pick this up and give it a read. I look forward to future books in this series (please)


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This book really isn't what I expected and usually like. Mostly I had issues with the crude "humor" and depressing surroundings. I'm not sure if the topics of depression, alcohol, drugs, crime and hookers have been placed so it's an adult story instead of YA. Our main character Squib is 15 though and it just doesn't really fit.
I just couldn't connect with the characters, but I believe that many people will still enjoy this book. I'd recommend this if you're a Terry Pratchett fan (which I'm not).

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus for this review copy.

Eoin Colfer writes a comic adult fantasy in his usual trademark style, which readers will be familiar with if they have read his Artemis Fowl series and/or his other books. Here he takes us to Louisiana's bayous, and New Orleans in this tale of a lonely, depressed ancient dragon, Vern (Wyvern), who just may be the last dragon on earth, hates humans who have destroyed almost all his kind, and has taken to living below the radar on a swampy bayou. He has Netflix, is rather keen on Absolut Vodka, dresses in a Flashdance t-shirt, and is kept in supplies by Waxman, a rather old mogwai. 15 year old Everett Moreau is Squib, a Cajun with some Irish Texan in his blood, shaping up to be a young rascal with petty criminal tendencies, who tries to be good for his put upon, hard working, impoverished but beautiful single mother, Elodie, a nurse. However, he just doesn't have it in him to be the good boy, but he loves his mother and wants to protect her from the clutches of the evil and psychopathic Constable Regence Hooke.

After an unfortunate set of events on the bayou at night, Squib finds himself in danger, and ends up in the company of Vern. To cut a long story short, Squib finds he has no choice but to become Vern's familiar, keeping him in supplies now that Waxman is no longer in a position to do so and has every incentive to be reliable. Hooke has his eyes on Squib, pursuing him on the basis that he thinks he knows too much and a threat that needs to be eliminated. Hooke is a crook, facilitating crime and working for the agent of the Los Zetos cartel, run by Ivory Conti, but has his eye on challenging Conti and taking over his business and making it even more profitable. In a hilarious narrative of wise guys, a rising body count, collapsing hotels and brutal violence, Vern finds himself developing an unexpected fondness for Squib that has him coming to his rescue, only to find Hooke a formidable foe that just might mean the end of him and his kind.

Colfer's latest venture into the American South is a fun enterprise, there is little that is a surprise as I am so familiar with his trademark style, although I did find there is a occasional unevenness in the storytelling. The characters that he creates are winners, in the culturally aware, snarky Vern, a dragon who discovers that underneath it all, he does not hate every human being, and Squib is the perfect foil for him, as the two form a relationship that has to be strong to survive the challenges they face from a deranged villain. Those familiar with Colfer's previous books are likely to find this an appealing and entertaining read. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

Thank you to netgalley and Quercus Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having grown up reading the Artemis Fowl books and absolutely loving them, I just had to read Eoin’s first adult fantasy book and it did not disappoint!

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this book but I ended up loving it! It will take you on a wild ride! There’s a dragon who is sarcastic and witty. A teenage boy who has gotten himself into a situation that’s way over his head and a corrupt police officer that will do whatever it takes to get what he wants.

It starts off at a slower pace where we are introduced to the characters and get a sense of the type of people, or dragon, they are. Vern is grumpy and has no patience for the humans who keep making his life difficult when he just wants to watch cable and drink his vodka in peace. His quiet life becomes very chaotic when Squib crash lands into it and he has to deal with all that Squib brings with him.

Squib loves his mama and just wants to help her get out of debt, he’s smart but has no focus and no real male role models in his life. He becomes a little desperate when Hooke tries to date his mama and doesn’t take no for an answer so he does everything he can to enable them moving from where they live.

Hooke is other main character in this and we get to see things from his point of view too so we can truly see how driven he is in his greed for wealth and power. We see how truly psychotic he is and how he will kill anyone who gets in his way and one day that happens to be Squib.

There is also a host of other characters we get to see including Waxman who is Vern’s only real friend. I really loved seeing all the different characters interact with each other and how all their separate lives become intertwined. Each character is complex and there is more to them than we first think. They’re all morally grey characters though Hooke is most definitely not a good guy in any way.

I loved Vern, he is struggling with the fact that he is the only dragon left alive. He used to be a Lord and now he spends his days living in a swamp. He suffers from depression and has suicidal thoughts which I think was handled really well.

I actually saw lots of parallels between society today in the story from immigration and a sense of belonging to corruption in law enforcement. It dealt with how being different can make you isolated and lonely. How everyone wants to belong in a society. It was really interesting to see how these were all written into the story.

This book is dark, brutal and violent at times, but also filled with hope and finding where you belong. Obviously I loved how dragons were included as it’s such a unique take and it made it so fresh and interesting! It is a more character driven story but it does get a lot more fast paced in the second half leading to an explosive ending! I really hope we get more in this world because I really want to know what happens to Vern.

Highfire was an intriguing adult fantasy novel. I'd never delved into adult fantasy before, or Eoin Colfer's writing, so this was a great starting point.

The plot of Highfire is unlike anything I've ever read and it took around 50 pages to wrap my head around Vern being a dragon but so human-like at the same time. Throughout the book, there are glimpses into Vern's long life and fellow dragons, though I would have liked more information. He is a well-developed character and those flashbacks provided reasoning for his current state.

Squib was a very interesting character and it was quite refreshing to see a teenager in a setting other than high school. He seemed quite savvy and was extremely brave and slightly unphased by the events of the book. The latter makes sense as being the son of a single mother, he felt he had to be strong for the sake of his mother. His relationship with his mother, Elodie, was positive and the end of the book solidified their trust in each other.

The villain of the book, Hooke, was a great villain but I felt like he could be fleshed out more. Alongside every other character, there were glimpses to Hooke's past which gave a great deal of insight into his personality but there could have been more.

The plot was fantastic and the book moved at a steady pace. The 'world-building' of a Louisiana bayou was detailed, but not overzealous, which suited the book perfectly. The overarching plot was cliché; with a few added elements that set it aside.

I would have liked the book to be longer and for each of the characters to be fleshed out more as well as their character development; particularly Vern. There were also phrases repeated every few pages which became much too repetitive over the course of the book.

Overall, I thought this book was quite good and I would definitely recommend it to fans of adult fantasy who are craving a somewhat more lighthearted book.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A soaring tale of a dragon and his boy and the evil constable out to get them.
I loved every page of this beyond brilliant book.

This is probably going to be a very confused review mainly because I have very confused opinions about this book.

Some of the characters are brilliantly written (Squib and Hooke predominantly) while others feel more window dressing.

Bits of the story are phenomenal (the Squib / Hooke elements) while other bits just feel tacked on.

The prose is wonderful and the pacing is spot on.

I think I just don't buy the whole Vern is an actual dragon bit of the story. It doesn't gel with me.

As a story about Squib / Hooke / Vern (person) it works, it works really well but it fells like Vern was turned into a dragon just so a fantasy label could be slapped on to the story and I think the story suffers as a result.

Did I enjoy it? mostly
Is it well written? yes, without question
Would I recommend it? maybe, depends on the person.

A very enjoyable atmospheric and fantastical romp from Eoin Colpher. Grownup Artemis fans will absolutely enjoy, as will reasers of Jasper Fforde.