This book is still completely hilarious. I hope this time my review will be more coherent than the last time, though. Or at least sound somewhat saner.
For a while, I thought the "fantasy world was once a modern/sci-fi/dystopian world" trope was a bit overdone, but apparently my oversaturation with it (well, "oversaturation" isn't really the right word considering that I can remember maybe three other things with that trope) has ended now. Which means that this, with its ancient robots and computers and such, feels fresh and interesting again.
There are two more books in this series, The Adventurer's Guide to Dragons (And Why They Keep Biting Me) and The Adventurer's Guide to Treasure (And How to Steal It). I might review them here too at some point, just because they're also hilarious.
I recapped this last time, and so did my mom, who's better at recaps than I am.
Were this a videogame, I'd rate it: E10+ for fantasy violence. It could be a pretty good adventure game, honestly, something like Tomb Raider but sans the tombs.
Still 5 stars. Still one of my favorite books.
Favorite lines (because copyright laws prevent me from just reprinting the entire book here):
I have another very long quote at the Very Long Quotes Page, as quote 2.
"Climb the tower with no door.
Ask the knight who never lived.
Take the key you cannot hold.
Claim the throne without a crown."
Page 109. It's the "quest riddle", which means it's basically all the clues for the quest. I actually have this memorized, and |used "nodoor" (which, as well as describing the tower as having no door, is the password used to open the tower) as my password for a couple things for a while. I don't anymore, though.|
Copperhelm pulled out a small slip of paper--the same paper he had given the guard at the front desk. It read:
DEUS EX MACHINA CARD
The holder of this card is hereby granted permission to unexpectedly resolve a heretofore impossible-to-solve plot issue using a sudden and/or improbable intervention.
GOOD FOR ONE USE ONLY.
Page 311. Just the idea of being licensed to do a deus ex machina is hilarious to me.
(Endnote: The worldbuilding here gets to shine more in the next books, but it's still good in this one.)
I have two clarification questions for you: What is deus x
ReplyDeletemachina? Also, you talk about worldbuilding a lot in these reviews. Could you give me a definition of it? -Grammy
A deus ex machina (Latin for "a god from the machine") is when you solve a problem in your plot with something random and unrelated to the story, which usually just appears from nowhere. Like if you had your bad guy be killed by a random lion attack on his way to work or something.
DeleteWorldbuilding is the little snippets you get of "how this book's world works" (like the magic system if it's fantasy, the tech if it's sci-fi, and so on). Or the big snippets, depending on how much exposition the author gives you. Too much of it can make a book boring, but too little can leave you clueless as to what's going on.
Thanks, Sam. Great job of explaining both~ Grammy
DeleteYou're welcome!
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