Review by vergilTfallen -- Fish Wielder

[vergilTfallen]

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

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3 out of 4 stars

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Sometimes you want to read something that will make you laugh. While the Fish Wielder isn’t likely to pull full bellied laughter from you, it may be just the lighthearted read to get a smile. It got a chuckle out of me and as cynical as I am, I consider that impressive. The story is a parody of high fantasy stories, poking fun at chosen heroes, adventuring tropes and classical storytelling. While it can come off as childish and cheap, sometimes beating you over the head with a joke one too many times, there is a decent story amid the obtuse characters and setting

The story follows Thoral Mighty Fist, an adventurer who is described in many, many ways to be perfect. Strong, handsome, fast, resourceful, skilled and overall just perfect in every way. He also broods and has a mysterious past that he alludes to as they adventure. He can be a bit dull, though his perfection is played up to the nth degree to make him seem amazing, it is just a nod towards the stereotype. Sometimes it’s funny, other times it goes on for far too long. His partner is Brad, is a talking Koi fish that walks on land and acts as the straight man for most of the book. The two set out on an adventure, rescuing princesses, defeating demons and necromancers and eventually working with an elven king to destroy a great evil overlord and stop them from obtaining a magic item they will use to destroy the world. Nothing about the plot is unique, only how it is presented.

Fish Wielder is a fun parody of high fantasy. Most characters have nonsense names and are wildly over the top stereotypes. The action is described in such a way as to make the hero seem even more heroic and powerful, describing the great power of his muscly sinew or his swiftness equal to that of a trained acrobatic cat. This can come off as childish, and its true that much of the writing does have a high school writing level feel to it. That said, I found very few errors in the book and it was an easy read, as long as you can overlook the made-up words and names and the scattered strange dialect.

The real question is not if the book has a thrilling plot, which is really doesn’t, but if it is worth reading. That depends on the person really. As a parody it does a fair job. The jokes are hit or miss at times and can sometimes get a bit repetitive and long winded. I liked when it could make a nice little chuckle worthy joke, such as pointing out the flaw of logic to their own heroic acts, though I don’t care for how sometimes the jokes can boil down to someone talking for nearly two pages about how dangerous a place is and how no one must ever go there for fear of the monsters and their very long evil descriptions.

Overall, I give Fish Wielder by Jim Hardison 3 out of 4. Its not a great book but anyone old enough to laugh at a few Lord of the Rings jokes and looking to just enjoy a little laugh should give this a read. Plus, if you do, there is a real story hidden in this parody, one with a message that I enjoyed. But I won’t spoil that, just throwing it out there.

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Fish Wielder
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[Erin Painter Baker]

This sounds like a lot of books I read in high school. I rarely see the fantasy parodies anymore. I certainly enjoyed those books 20 years ago. I might have to consider reading this one.