Luna. ✨'s Reviews > Kings of the Wyld

5/5

"And so it goes, thought Clay. Life was funny, and fickle, and often cruel. Sometimes the unworthy went on living, while those who deserved better were lost."

This was a buddy read with everyone.

Well, I’ll be a kobold’s cock ring, this book was so incredible. Kings of the Wyld made the inner rocker in me want to go to a heavy metal concert and headbang until I get a headache because I'm hardcore. That's seriously how good this book is. I was meant to be in a 35 year book slump but my slump lasted approx one second and vanished on page one of this novel. It was love on page one. I just love this authors writing style so much and believe it or not THIS IS A DEBUT NOVEL! I still can't believe it, this author is so talented. I loved everything about this book especially the humour. "I know the whole ‘gorgons turning men to stone’ thing is a myth,” he said quietly, “but I’m hard as a rock right now.” It was hilarious, I understand this book wouldn't be everyone's humour, it was pretty goofy however for me I was actually laughing out loud, the inner goof in me went into berserker mode. The book is not only humorous but it also is very emotional, I cried at some parts. You know the author is extremely talented when your laughing at one sentence then crying like an ugly savage clutching your heart because of the feels the next. This book is totally a special hidden gem and should be on every monster lover, rock music lover & video game lovers shelf! There is so many references to Rock n Roll (lucky I got most of them because let's face it I'm a total headbanger. like you will find me fighting people in the mosh pit) & it also has a lot of video game references mainly D&D and Final Fantasy (0 knowledge in this compartment) but it didn't affect my reading experience because I googled all the monsters 🤓. It's just a huge monster mash.

"What Clay mistook for the mating cry of some forest creature turned out to be Moog’s quiet cackle."

The story is written in a singular third person perspective, which I found refreshing and I actually really enjoyed the way the story was told. I feel like all characters got enough page space and I had time to fall inlove with every member of Saga. I really enjoyed the plot of the story aswell, basically it's about a band of five men. Not your traditional band of rockers but instead a band of mercenaries who hunt and kill monster, Saga once the toughest band alive. broken up 19 years later, now the members are washed up old, fat and drunk (I imagine smelly aswell) legends of the past. An old band member shows up on Clay Coopers doorstop begging to get the band back together to save his daughters life, for one more tour across the dangerous monster filled Heartwyld. This book reminded me of a battle of the bands kinda set up with its heavy musical influence. Every character played their part in the band,
Gabriel/Golden Gabe = main singer/front man. Gabe once the prettiest one of the band. Now a tired old man. His an old badass with an even older cool sword.
Clay Cooper/Slowhand = Bassist. our main character and the spine of the band, like the only thing I can think to say about clay is "his a good man".
Matrick/Matty Skulldrummer = drummer. One of my favourite characters. Matrick was once a savage street brawler, who named his knifes after the first prostitutes who had a threesome with him. (Roxy and Grace). Now a fat father of five kids, who he didn't unzip his pants to make.
Arcandius Moog = Keyboard. A gay wizard who wears onesie pajamas. My absolute favourite character, I honestly love him so much. You know Moogs my favourite character when during a fight he throws honey ham hocks and hard cheese out of a magical hat.
Ganelon = Lead Guitar. So obviously our badass hot guy, who likes to shred. His still the exact same as he was. He hasn't changed one little bit in 19 years. Ganelon is the bands professional killer & quite possibility the reason why the book washed me into the abyss of badassery.


Image found on authors blog. Artist is Mike Solomon.

Aside from the fact that the book is in a series, it reads like a standalone, this book concludes the story of Saga, I'm unsure if they will be featured in the future novels however I'm so happy with their conclusion. But kinda want more Saga? Anyway the plot itself is pretty much a slow burn, the humorous tone of the story kept me reading and happy until the action began. Definitely a fantastic debut novel and I'm looking forward to the authors future books. Especially because Rose was the queen of badassery, so I can't wait for her story.

One thing that didn't impress me was there was ham hate contained in this book. HAM HATE. "Ham.” "Ham,” the woman growled, as though uttering the name of a bitter enemy." I know what your thinking. Why am I getting worked up over ham? Well I'll tell you why it's because I am a ham enthusiast.

This story needs to be read by every epic fantasy fan out there! Don't dismiss it as cliche as soon as you hear it has monsters, because the author definitely puts a spin on the whole monster theme. Definitely to be read by all gamers & music fans, plus it's front cover is absolutely needed on every shelf. It's so badass.

P.s the whole time reading this story I was just expecting Alice Cooper to conjure himself out of the book and start singing poison to me.


😂
Seriously this added to the humor because I literally imagined saga like a glam band.

P.s.s. Everytime I look at the cover and see the quote "the boys are back in town" the song by Thin Lizzy plays on repeat in my head for hours. It's actually driving me mad.

You can find this review and my other reviews at Booksprens.