At the end of most heroic quests, after a plucky band of heroes has averted the apocalypse, all is well, and everyone lives happily ever after… (until the next book in the series.)
Now, for the first time, readers get an in depth look into what really happens after the quest. This is the collected case file of the Grand Inquisitor’s investigation into the Misery Reach debacle. Read first hand as the participants try to explain their actions and make their case. Did the Demon Lord Krevassius really try to end the world just to impress a girl? Would everyone be better off if the Wizard Galbraith hadn’t invented a quest in order to stave off criticism? And what about an elf queen peeing on a Minotaur? A swordsman’s losing battle with a young raccoon? And the transvestite assassin with a heart of gold?
RELEASED YESTERDAY!
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Off To See The Wizard
by Clay Johnson
Series
n/a; standalone
Genre
Fantasy
Humor
Publisher
Chimera/Ravenswood Publishing
Publication Date
March 20, 2016
Off to see the Wizard has nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz, though that’s the first thing that came to mind when I saw the title. Nope, nothing at all. But it does have a lot to do with the typical quest found in table top games and fantasy books. Evil demon lord sparking the end of the world and brave, oh so heroic wizard leading a group of heroes to save the day, and that’s where it’s also different.
The story is hilarious, poking fun at everything normally accepted in a fantasy story and, at the same time, spoofing crime stories you might find on TV. You know, those ones that feature the recordings of witnesses giving their testimony, cutting over to reenactments, and then to another witness who either tells it from a different perspective or reacts to the prior witness. That is this story, only awesome and off-color to the extreme. I alternated between giggling, mouth agape at the lack of propriety, to outright laughing, to grimacing at the rather vivid images the story brought to mind.
And those images start off pretty strong and disturbing, both funny and stomach turning at the same time. It may be too much for some readers, but I say if you can handle the High Lord of Toth’s initial testimony, then I think you’ll enjoy the rest. I’d like to say it gets better from there, but it only gets delightfully worse, so yeah. Be prepared.
I was worried at first that it would downplay everything I like in fantasy because that what the description implied. But, I think having read tons of fantasies makes this even funnier because you can see the parallels, where things might have gone if the heroes weren’t so heroic or the villains weren’t so villainous, and particularly, where the amazing feats were nothing short of accidental. It’s a train wreck, and I couldn’t put it down.
Overall, I loved his story. It’s hilarious and shocking, definitely for adults. I’d highly recommend this to folks who want a good laugh at the expense of two popular genres, fantasy and crime story, all told without a single regard for propriety.
I received a copy of this book from the author so that I could write this review for the blog at Pure Textuality.com.
The review copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Clay Johnson’s Author Links
