From the Bookshelf of The Sword and Laser…

Kings of the Wyld (The Band, #1)

Nicholas Eames

Start date: December 1, 2023

Finish date: December 31, 2023

Discussion: Kings of the Wyld

Why we're reading this: Veronica chose it as the December 2023 Book pick
[close] Veronica chose it as the December 2023 Book pick

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Kings of the Wyld

KotW: Who is your favourite Ragtag Band of Misfits from Fantasy books?
By Tassie Dave , S&L Historian · 23 posts · 110 views

last updated Dec 22, 2023 10:05AM

KoTW: what are you nomming with your ears?
By Tamahome · 35 posts · 59 views

last updated Dec 14, 2023 06:06PM

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What Members Thought

Jul 11, 2017 Kdawg91 rated it it was amazing

I am so glad I found this. There was a time where my brain consisted of heavy metal music and swords and magic. Kings of the Wyld is to me a very fresh take on a fairly common fantasy trope and in the running for my fantasy books of the year. Wild, rowdy and just damn fun, the older I get, the more I want my reads to make me smile and engage me.

If you are of the older generation, it will tug a bit at your feels too, a super read all the way around, I will be hitting the road and following the ba ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jun 22, 2017 John Wiswell rated it really liked it

If you like old dudes in armor kicking ass, then I've got five hundred pages of Fantasy for you. Kings of the Wyld is a funny, rollicking adventure following a group of semi-legendary heroes who've gotten too old for the business. One even has an adult daughter now who's gotten stuck in her own war - one so cataclysmic that the boys have to suit up again to try to help.

The book is at its best when it's cracking wise. The heroes go over some artifacts of their journeys and reflect:

Kallorek replac

Kallorek replaced the helm and ran a hand over the coat of red mail beneath it. "The Warskin," he said reverently. "The impenetrable armor of Jack the Reaver. No sword or spear can pierce it, they say, but syphilis got through it alright. Poor Jack."

At times like those, I cracked up and got weird looks from around the airplane. You watch them try to fall back into battle, with one guy trying to draw his sword only for the hilt to get stuck on his gut, and another getting thrown to the ground and finding his knees just aren't up to this anymore. It's cartoonish in its depiction of aging - you notice that though these guys fight giants, ghouls, and dragons, they suffer little wear. Take a real middle-aged man, have him slip on concrete, and see how he feels the next day. Instead the novel keeps things light as the band (once called "Saga") gets back up to speed and tears through half a D&D manual's worth of monsters and quip at each other about old times.

Here's the thing: you quickly know if you want more of this. After a gang of evil clowns struck (a particularly fun chapter), and the novel came to a lull, it essentially asked, "Do you want to see these guys fight through another freaky monster?"

And my answer was always, "Yeah, roll up that manticore."

I still couldn't help wishing the novel went further with the age of its characters. Alright, so they're not going to be broken down or experience the health problems that a bunch of old dudes in a war would. But from the way they chat to the way they engage in conflict, they all still feel like twenty-somethings. They don't recognize patterns like people who've seen this for decades, none of them express matured reflections on anything, and the sense of mortality is absent. There was a great opportunity here to have aging heroes reflect on a world that's more fragile than they thought it was - double the opportunity to do it with humor. You might expect one or two of the guys wouldn't "grow up," akin to childish rockstars, but all of them read like they have a relatively juvenile mentality. Given the book is pitched as being about the old dudes of Fantasy, these shortcomings feel glaring.

For something so long, the book is quite simple, following these guys going from peril to peril until they get to the daughter's peril. While I enjoyed the dorky personalities, eventually all the travel showed how generic the world is. The one big element is that classic bands of heroes have followings and fandoms akin to musicians, but that's a minor thing. Otherwise it often feels like they might as well be tromping through a licensed D&D property, with ancient magic swords used against dragons, trolls, backstabbing ladies, and the like. When monks showed up, I foolishly was curious for their observance. They corrected my assumptions by jump-kicking through a wall.

I've read some people say this feels like a celebration of genre tropes, but if you aren't a hardcore fan of standard medieval Fantasy, it's likely to read as a mere repetition of those tropes. That's still fine, except when the novel grabs old tropes that deserved to die decades ago. We meet a gorgon whose breasts are literally described as melon-like, and who the guys joke is so hot she makes them "rock hard." Similarly when we meet a primitive tribe of cannibals who speak like stereotypes of cavemen, who only want to trade for the team's female party member to breed with her, the book feels cheaper than it feels funny. That stuff doesn't deserve to be celebrated in the first place, but when it feels like bog standard repetition of something that's gross, it's beneath what should just be a fun book.

For a healthy amount of its duration, the book is that innocent old-fashioned fun, lighter than Black Company and punchier than Sword of Truth. Thankfully, its age also dodges the plucky farm boy destined for greatness. Instead this has old friends destined for fight scenes. It will be interesting to see where this series goes as it ages. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Apr 25, 2018 Matt rated it it was amazing

This one sat on my to read shelf for a long time. I know it has rave reviews but there are a lot of fantasy books out there that people love and I was afraid this was just another group of mercenaries, one last job, some kind of evil guy, lots of killing, blah, blah blah.

I love it when a book surprises me and I'm wrong about it. Of course it has all of the things I mentioned but so much more. More than anything it's about friendship and loyalty and has a depth that a lot of these kinds of books ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 24, 2023 Udayan rated it it was amazing

A thoroughly enjoyable wild romp.

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 19, 2020 Megan rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-supernatural

3.5. This is definitely not my usual type of fantasy book. Very classic sort of DnD style adventure, full of dudes fighting monsters. It was both stereotypical, but poked fun at those stereotypes. Overall, just a silly romp.

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Jan 28, 2019 Jeff James rated it it was amazing

Shelves: physical-books

I picked this up at Vroman’s, my favorite local bookstore, because I liked the cover and the story sounded like fun. The basic premise is that mercenary bands are like rock stars and the main character has to “get the band back together” to save his friend’s daughter from a siege. The book is funny but not silly; one pull-quote on the cover compared it to Terry Pratchett’s work, which is a gross exaggeration, but did convince me to pick it up, so I suppose I can forgive the inaccuracy. Ultimatel ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 Kelly Sedinger rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 2019-reads

I loved this book, with its music references (I'm sure I missed more than a few), its wonderful humor, its terrific characters, its action right out of a good AD&D campaign, and its monsters and its...well, its everything. Just a terrific adventure. ...more

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