K.D. Berry

It begins with a (usually) kindhearted half ogre in need of a job, and then the cast of comic characters expands to include rollerblading dwarves, an evil king and his eviler queen, a less than impressive magic user and his unreliable imp familiar, a host of crude and nasty goblins... and dragons. They have a dragon race.

The plot revolves around a conflict between two neighboring kingdoms, one ruled by an impressively oppressive king and queen, and the other by a short guy who likes games and seems, if not oblivious to the threat posed by his ambitious neighbors, at least not aware of how serious and imminent it is.

This book is a hoot. It reminds me of Piers Anthony’s Xanth books. If you read comic fantasy, you are probably familiar with those. Dragons Away is in the same vein, loaded with quirky characters, puns, and other bits of word play—but it’s better. It’s not as silly or clownish as the Xanth stories (as best as I can recall them), and the plot is more than just a way to string together a series of jokes.

The characters in this book are engaging and believable for the sake of the story, and the setting makes sense in a fairytale kind of way. As light fantasy, it works.

On the technical side, it’s well done. It’s written in third person with multiple points of view, which is quite common. The only issue I had is that there were instances in which the scene and POV character changed without a scene break (the blank line or scene break indicator like ### before the next paragraph). This can be disorienting to the reader.

It’s difficult to write comic fantasy without it coming off as juvenile or ridiculous. Actually, the only one I know of who can do it consistently is Terry Pratchett. This book does not have the underlying philosophical or cultural satire of Pratchett’s books, but I’d place it above the Xanth stories I’ve read. I recommend it to all who enjoy comic fantasy.
… (meer)

This is a light and engaging fantasy novel, with fun characters, clever language and oh-so-many puns. You'll laugh, you'll groan, but you probably won't cry. It's not that kind of book. There are dwarves, there are goblins, there are dragons, there's a half-ogre scholar (who can't read but speaks 16 languages) and a benign king. There's also a mad king and his terrifying wife. The use of language is very clever - even if there are too many puns, and the plot, whilst not entirely new, is fresh and fun. Highly enjoyable.… (meer)

From Lilac Wolf and Stuff

Look at that cover! Who can pass by such a magnificent looking dragon without being just a little curious? I've read some bad fantasy recently though so I was leery. Boy was I surprised, this book is awesome!

Both the writing and the story progression are smooth. The story is fairly fast paced. I can't tell how many pages it is...I haven't figured out how to do that on the Kindle yet. It's not a short novel, but reads easily in a few days. It is occasionally silly, and sometimes deadly serious.

I loved the name Drewdop...I still call him Dew Drop in my head. He's a magician, set up to look like a cliche wizard but the only magic he can do are illusions. It comes in handy, but there are more than a few occasions where he is frustrated by his lack of magic. He is, however, smart...at least more intelligent than the king. King Credos, while being a bit naive, is a nice person and treats his subjects well. His kingdom is doing well and is full of happy people.

King Davkosh and his wife Gunara are really not any more intelligent than King Credos, but meaner than a crabby rattlesnake. They regularly feed people to their alligators - especially if they need an influx of cash. Queen Gunara also thinks she is invulnerable.

Urkhart, the half-ogre was my favorite character. He was really a sweetheart, but people shunned him because he looked mostly like the ogre half. His ogre half did come to the front when he was in the heat of battle, though!

This is honestly the best piece of fantasy fiction I've picked up in a long time. And K.D. Berry is a penname for a husband and wife team from New Zealand. Oh and the best bit of news, looks like there could be another one for these characters. At least the ending gave a strong hint. Yeah!… (meer)