132,625
edits
Changes
The Good, the Bad and the Smug by Tom Holt (view source)
Revision as of 09:08, 9 August 2015
, 09:08, 9 August 2015no edit summary
Mordak, award winning goblin king, is on a quest for truth. His companion Efluviel is a journalist whom he'd sacked and who is elf – that's two counts against her, without taking the smugness into account. Meanwhile a little man spins gold from straw, offering benefits as well as a riddle. He may sound familiar, but forget the fairy tale; this Rumplerimp… Rumpski… bloke has a more sophisticated strategy. Oh and have you heard about the two chaps who pre-invented the Hadron Collider in their garden shed? No? Well, stay tuned.
To many British fantasy author [[:Category:Tom Holt|Tom Holt]] needs no introduction. He's written literally dozens of humorous fantasy novels since his debut ''Expecting Someone Taller'' back in 1987 and this doesn't include his ''Lucia'' novels and fantasy written under the name of [[:CatetgoryCategory:K J Parker|K J Parker]]. (Parker was a secret identity till April 2015). Let's just say he's written lots and I'm suitably ashamed to admit this is the first Tom Holt novel I've read. What a good place to start though!
The big surprise in the novel for me has been the education. Amidst entertainment the author manages to explain via extended parody the mechanism of rising and falling economies in a way that would turn the excellent Robert Peston envy emerald. The even bigger wonder is that he does this without ever dropping other spinning plates such as plot and comedy.