Review by Ilian ZHU -- Fish Wielder

[Ilian ZHU]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Fish Wielder" by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

If you like stories of heroes saving princesses and fighting evil, then you will love Fish Wielder. It is true that it may be a book full of cliches, but J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison manages to occupy those ideas in a rather curious way.

Thoral is a super strong, super talented, and extremely handsome human who lives as a barbarian in the middle of a fantastic world. In that world, there are unicorns and other talking animals, elves and dwarves. The hero of the story lives his life saving princesses and fighting evil or fighting with anyone who crosses his path. But, he also seeks revenge because a guy killed his wife and son.

There was a part that reminded me a lot of the isekai from anime, manga, and Asian novels. The idea has become quite popular lately. It is basically that an ordinary human arrives at another fantasy world where he receives powers and becomes invincible. Here, Thoral is that skinny human who was somehow taken to another universe and turned into the famous Mighty Fist wielder. Although some people call him Fish Wielder because he is always accompanied by a talking koi fish and a horse that can smell danger.

This book has drama, it has epic battles, a bit of romance, and it also has some comedy. Even though the plot of the book is not special on its own, I think it turned out to be an original book. The names of the characters, spells, and artifacts are absurdly funny and the interactions between the protagonists are quite pleasant to read.

I loved the scene where Thoral shows his music player to the other characters and gets them dancing with some moves he learned in some games. It was funny because despite finding themselves chasing the enemy. They took a brief break to drink and socialize. I think it worked as a moment to release some tension in the plot. A lot of times continuous epicness in a story can overwhelm the reader, but it helped a lot to take a break and read the characters' attitudes while drunk.I also loved the ending as it leaves room for a second part. Maybe the book is not perfect, but I had a lot of fun reading it.

Although it was too epic for my taste, it was still a good book. I'll give it 3 out of 4 stars.Also, the fights are a bit bloody, but just enough to hint at what's going on. I consider this book a G rating, although I would especially recommend it to teens or young adults.

******
Fish Wielder
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[Jasy95]

Thanks for the great review! The premise seems a bit silly and absurd, but it sounds like the novel makes that work really well!