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Jump to navigationJump to searchWill Gallows and the Snake-bellied Troll by Derek Keilty (view source)
Revision as of 13:46, 13 August 2020
, 13:46, 13 August 2020no edit summary
But it's the western film angle that's going to make this series stand out. Nasties, stand-offs, sheriffs with drink problems and a rampant ability to lose control of their prisoners, even steam trains shuttling through sleepy towns - all are present and correct. I can't remember a book that so successfully merges two completely different genres so convincingly, and engagingly, and this will sell well on that.
Of course, however well the two strands merge, it does leave us with something a little too familiar, however , well it is sold as 'never done before'. The cover quote mentioned it being very funny, too, with which I disagree - there are some western movie homages in the names, and some light gags here and there, but on the whole , this would have been a lot closer to five stars if I had found it as comical as I allegedly was going to.
All the same, the target audience will enjoy this, and the tidy little size will give the less-confident reader a sense of achievement. It's a bright little book, despite so much of it being set down a mine, and I can easily recommend it. It's a neat concept, a great story and one set in a finely portrayed world, which deserves more adventures in future volumes.
I must thank the kind Andersen Press people for my review copy.
We recommend the same audience get in early on another new series boding great things - [[Spindlewood: Pip and the Wood Witch Curse by Chris Mould]]. We've also enjoyed [[Will Gallows and the Wolfer's Deadly Magic by Derek Keilty and Jonny Duddle]].
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