Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

Damn, but this book is good. It’s another one that reads like pretty much every D&D game I’ve ever played in, and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn the author worked out the plot by simply rolling on a random encounter table for every chapter.

The main premise is that a bunch of retired monster hunting mercenaries come out of retirement to rescue their frontman’s daughter from a besieged city. Along the way they run afoul of their old manager, a slightly tyrannical gorgon and the fae son of one of their old adversaries, as well as a host of monsters recognisable to any veteran role-player. The narrative itself is presented as part epic fantasy, part rockumentary and part road trip and literally rolls off the page at a fair old pace.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. There were moments of laugh out loud humour, moments of gut-wrenching sadness, and everything in between. Definitely one I’d recommend to fans of epic fantasy with a slightly absurd twist. A good 4.5 out of 5 stars.