Fairytale / LGBTQ

Kill the Farm Boy (The Tales of Pell #1)

Author: Delilah S. Dawson, Kevin Hearne

Average Rating:   3 / 5

Trigger Warnings:

First thing first, this is not your typical fairy tale.  Sure there’s a magical kingdom, but dollars to donuts, you’ve never visited a kingdom quite like Pell.  And while there may be a Chosen One, it’s fair to say that whoever did the Choosing had a weird sense of humour.  

This Quest will involve a bizarre cast of characters: a farm boy anxious to prove his moxie, a cheese-addict who is also a Dark Lord, a fuzzy-tailed bard, a fearless assassin (you know, as long as you’re not a chicken), and a powerful warrior who is terrified of using her sword, but not of gallivanting around in a chainmail bikini.  And like any good quest, this peculiar band of travelers will meet a goat who talks trash more than he eats it, and a Dread Necromancer named… Steve? 

Through dips, and turns, and switcheroos, they will find their way from Once-Upon-A-Time to a most unusual Happily-Ever-After.

Corinna: 3/5

This was a weird one, but a funny one. Being our first ever book club selection, I had thought: what did we get ourselves into! The mix of fairytales and odd re-imagining of typical characters was different than anything I had read before.  Some of the ridiculous twists went too far, but it made for a hilarious book club discussion regardless of your opinion of the book. 

Lydia: 3/5

This book is unlike anything I have ever read before – I can honestly say that I didn’t like it all that much until I discussed it with our book club. With strange but oddly endearing characters, we are taken through a whirlwind of events. If you like books that are unpredictable and light-hearted then this is the book for you. I feel like there should be a whole new genre made for a book like this as it doesn’t just fit into Fantasy. Be warned though that you won’t find your typical in-depth plot line or extensive world building that you would normally find in the Fantasy genre. As mentioned before, this book is a fun read to discuss with other people but to read it on its own was challenging for me.

Sharaya: 3/5

This was actually my book club suggestion.  I hadn’t read it previously and picked it up purely because of the bright cover and the most amazing tagline I’ve had the pleasure of reading: Once. A Pun. A Time. SOLD!  As promised, this was a very strange, quirky book with a large vocabulary (both real and imagined). I found that I couldn’t read it at my usual pace because of its verbose and unusual phrases and descriptions.  But you’ll definitely giggle more than once.  I liked that the plot ended up being completely different than I expected, although I feel like the ridiculousness was overdone in areas, and that plot points were introduced too close to the end of the book to be properly developed.  It also seemed like too much of the humour was coming from the character’s stupidity; frankly, I was hoping for wittier puns.  

I have to acknowledge that discussing this book in Book Club was one of the most hilarious nights that we have ever had.  You’ll be saying sentences you never thought you’d utter in your life!  I’m interested in reading the second book to see how it compares to this one, but you definitely have to be in the right mood for it.  If the authors pulled back just a bit, I think that would improve the humour and keep it from being over the top.  Overall, a fun read.  If you like Monty-Python, then you will love this. 

To access a printable list of 10 book club questions, please click here.