4 out of 4 stars
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Fish Wielder is a fantasy story written by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison. The story follows Thoral Mighty Fist, a drunken hero who is always looking for an adventure. Accompanied by his trusty sidekick who is a whiskered koi named Brad, Thoral travels through the magical world of Grome, fighting battles one after the other. After rescuing an elfish princess from an evil sorcerer, he sets out on a quest to save Grome from the Bad Religion and stop their leader, The Heartless One, from finding the long-lost Pudding of Power. However, Thoral must first confront the secrets of his past as he learns the truth about his family.
Filled with interesting characters and comical descriptions, Fish Wielder is a hilarious tale that is spectacularly written. The characters are completely unrealistic yet relatable and fun to read about. One such example is Brad the talking fish, who is always supplying the main character with a multitude of synonyms to help him articulate his sentences. The story also contains many battle scenes which are comically described. I found myself laughing out loud at some of these descriptions, such as when Necrogrond’s beheaded head was still screaming for revenge while it rolled away into the swamp. In addition to this, the author writes that the head was careful not to snag its crown on any weeds as it rolled away. Another instance was where Thoral slapped a man so hard that one of his eyeballs flew out. These descriptions evoked hilarious images in my mind.
I also liked that the story contained so much of the author’s likes and dislikes. The scent of evil is described as a mixture of cumin and cocoa. Such a strange combination can only mean that the author dislikes the smell of these two things. I definitely think he likes pudding because there is a multitude of various puddings mentioned in the story such as healing pudding, evil pudding, sexy-voice pudding, hand strength pudding, regenerating limbs pudding, and the pudding of immortal life. Due to the many similarities to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, such as the Fellowship of the Pudding, and the hero’s dalliance with an elfish princess, it is clear that Hardison is a big fan. Even his name J.R.R.R. Hardison is similar to J.R.R. Tolkien. There were also references to The Wizard of Oz and The Chronicles of Narnia. If I am not mistaken, the author intended the story to be a comical parody of these.
The best part of this book is that nothing is stereotypical. There is always an unexpected, comedic conclusion to typical parts of the plot. For example, after Thoral rescues the princess from the evil sorcerer, she kisses him but he fends off her advances because he ‘hadn’t had time to check her hair for lice.’ I found that surprising tidbits of humor like this one were excellent additions to the story.
Overall, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I did not find anything I disliked about it. I only found two typos in the entire book. Young teenagers will be delighted by this fantasy story as it is fun to read. The humor is also appropriate for this age group. Adults will also enjoy it because of the references to other fantasy books and the comedic edge of the characters.
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Fish Wielder
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I got so immersed in the book that I didn't realize that many of the weird things like the abundance of pudding and certain smells were probably something the author personally liked or disliked.
