The Amulet of Kings (The Banned Underground) [Kindle Edition]

I'll be honest, I've never been a huge fan of comedy fantasy. Perhaps it's a sense of protectiveness I have about the fantasy genre- after all, it's just gagging for someone to take the piss out of it.
But this book surprised me at how much I enjoyed it. I think the author has a great affection for the fantasy genre. It comes across in his plot and his prose. He's taken great care to build a background secret mystical world that hangs together very well. The various dwarves, faeries, wizards, trolls and witches that populate it interact wonderfully and the story is engaging and well-paced.
But this is, after all, a work of comedy. So how does that fair? Very well. The jokes fly at you thick and fast, varying from wince-inducing puns, to inane dialogue, to pop culture references, to great music gags. It made me laugh at loud in places and some of the characters are priceless: my personal favourites are the Edern, High Elf managers who talk about the Board and CEOs. And the authors love of music hits you from the first page and doesnt let up.
The footnotes definitely work better in the print edition than the kindle version, although the links in the latter were OK (just distracting).
Eager to read the sequel, which has just come out. An easy 5 stars here.

I don't know why I didn't read this book ages ago - funny fantasy is so far up my street it's practically sitting on the doorstep. I think the blurb put me off and I expected a weak knock-off of Pratchett's Band with Rocks In. I've been wrong before. (Often!) The story was built from classic fantasy components; witches, mages, dwarves, dark lords, the Tuatha; and was embellished with some wonderfully witty humour and decorated with musical allusions. A couple of teenage siblings are packed off to stay with their Auntie in the Lake District. She has some strange powers and give the kids a couple of pendants to wear which come in very useful as they get embroiled in a battle under the Lakeland fells.

I have to say though, that I don't like footnotes outside of a technical work. In almost all cases the material they contain is better used in parentheses so as not to hold up the flow of the story. There are many characters, so I didn't feel I got to know any very well but of course this is the beginning of a series so there's still time for that. I don't want to sound as if my minor quibbles coloured (colored!) my view of the book though. Its light-hearted nature made it a joy to read. The author expresses himself well and clearly and he evidently enjoys and delights in the word-play he uses to entertain us.

Will Macmillan Jones has a clever, jolly wit and it makes his work very enjoyable. I shall be following this series with interest!

Now this book is a fine example of how subjective reviews are - I hated it and was all ready to give a scathing review but as I threw it down in disgust my adult son picked it up and thoroughly enjoyed it! He read it almost in one evening, and I could hear him chuckling from behind his bedroom door.

The story was a backdrop to all the jokes and puns blowing through the author's mind at the time of writing it, and as a character-loving type of reader I found this frustrating as I couldn't get to know any of the characters.

I'm not sure even which age-group to recommend this for: teens wouldn't understand some of the references to "old" TV shows/stars. Adults could find following the teenage main characters (if there was a main character!) a put-off.

The footnotes were also cumbersome on my Kindle, and I found it impossible to read, in fact. The book (which I also had) was better. These footnotes were jokes/observations from the author and although they fell flat with me, my son found hilarious.

I'm giving it a three, but my son (who's lent the book to his friend) would have given it a much higher mark.

A very funny read, thoroughly enjoyable. Unfortunately the poor spelling, missing words/sentences and poor layout do detract. I am looking forward to the next book though.

The time is almost here, The Banned Underground will shortly be available to buy and buy it you should. I've had the privilege of reading Will MacMillan-Jone's fantastic comedy fantasy and I loved it. Fans of this genre will find a new and refreshing tale in this saga of a dwarf blues band. There's belly rumbling laughter on each and every page, a must for every reader's bookshelves. Grab a copy while you can, if you don't you may just regret it.

Plot

The Banned Underground was a fascinating novel to read. Filled with all manner of magic, Dwarves, Witches, Wizards, Trolls and pizza boxes the book was a righteous laugh from the first word right up until the very last.

The story follows to siblings, a brother and sister, who begin the tale by moving in with their aunty and uncle in the lake district while their mother is in hospital. Things quickly go wrong with `live' yoghurts sprouting arms and legs and attacking anyone and everyone in their path. An evil contingent of Wizards soon surround the house and an epic battle of magic ensues.

Shepherded into the basement the two teenagers encounter Fungus the Bog Troll who helps them to escape from a hungry batch of slime intent on eating them. Taking them into an underground tunnel Fungus hurries them along an ancient tunnel network until they encounter the vast, but now largely deserted, city of the Dwarves, a complaining and bitter old race who have spent too long in the gloomy depths of the Earth.

Sadly the children have been taken from one battle into another with the Dwarves under attack from the Wizards who are looking to take the Amulet of Kings from the Dwarves for their own evil purposes. The Amulet however, was lost years ago during a boisterous party the Dwarves held which got badly out of control. It falls to Chris and Linda to save the day.

Comment

There is no way around it. This book is a very Terry Pratchett esq in the way it is written and the way it reads. But that is by no means a bad thing. Terry Pratchett is after all the master of the humorous Fantasy book and many of the jokes and word plays in the Banned Underground are as clever and funny as those found upon the Disc World....

What makes this novel stand out from the crowd however is its placement in the real world. From Manchester to the Lake District this novel takes you on a wild journey through the English countryside. A countryside filled with witty Wizards, jazz loving Bog Trolls and the odd freaky Witch. While some of the jokes aren't brilliantly well crafted they all offer at least a smile, and many create flat our raucous laughter.

The plot is relatively simple and straightforward with no major twists or turns but with a laughter around every corner it doesn't need to be a complex read. All it needs to do is entertain and delight its audience. Two things the Banned Underground does very VERY well.

This is a book for anyway who just wants a nice simple book that will make them laugh and fill them with a warm feeling on the long dreary ride down to work. This is a fantastic book to take away on holiday and read by the pool or the sea where the humour and plain old ridiculous nature of this book will keep you laughing your head off right up until the grand ending.

The gang at `That Fantasy Blog' highly recommend reading this book. Read more ›