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Clever, charming, and (mercifully) far less absurdist than I was expecting.

I really did not love Hollow Kingdom but decided to give Buxton’s work another try after seeing the premise for this one, and I’m so glad I did. This is just an infinitely better book, especially if (like me) you really hate nonsense fiction.

This is, to begin, actually very funny. It’s clever and a bit of a spoof without veering into full absurdism, and it’s also a very sweet story about friendship and companionship and how they don’t always show up in the forms we expect.

Despite all being a touch ridiculous save for our protagonist (the story’s straight man to his supporting cast’s comedic roles), the characters are fairly well developed and likable rather than irritating, as comic foils can unfortunately sometimes be.

My lone complaint is that this book is significantly too long for the style and type of story. I actually think all comic novels need to be short, but that’s especially true of anything that touches on farce.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*