Richard J. Kendrick

I wanted something that tickled all my tail feathers and when I saw this on NetGalley, I just had to jump all over it.

I'm glad I did, too. I somewhat expected a tongue-in-cheek fantasy blowing some chicken or another into epic proportions a-la Pratchett, but here's the funny bit: I got a nice taste of fourth-wall literary post-deconstructionism from one character and a smart-mouthed tinkerer from another as they try and often fail to rid their little podunk kingdom of the greatest threat it has ever known!

WERE-CHICKEN!

What surprised me the most, however, was the rather detailed town, townsfolk, and all every-day life. I felt like no one was ever going to take the danger seriously until it was far too late, and that was despite or perhaps entirely because these folks were already chicken-happy to begin with! I mean, seriously, Chicken-prophesies? Chicken-remedies, professional egg-launchers... well, the last was just an accident, but still... you get the idea.

It didn't remain nearly as light as I'd hoped but as a well-rounded novel with not quite as much humor as I might expect from a title like this, I still had a good time.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to check out this author's other works thanks to this!
… (meer)

I wanted to love this book. I tried so hard to love this book.

I mean “werechicken”? I was in right there. That’s such an awesome parody with so much potential for utter hilarity. Bring on the werechicken! Let it be ridiculous! Let is be terrible! Let it be hilarious! Fear it’s BA-GAWK!

And some of it is awesome. I got half way through this book and nearly put it down so many times - but each time I was about to put it down there was a lovely little moment of awesome. This lovely little apparently medieval kingdom with its distinctly agrarian feel is full of highly erudite people. I love that the teachers of this rural school turn goldilocks into an analysis of forensic investigation and encouraging small children to read fairy tales and “question the socio-political hegemony those stories are meant to perpetuate!”. Or the farmer and his love of philosophy reminding us that absence of evidence is not itself evidence of absence.

It’s hilarious, it’s really well done and it brings both a wonderful challenge to preconceptions, some nice thinking points and just this almost sublimely ridiculous feel. Every time I’m about to drop the book another moment happens and I think I can keep going

There’s also some nicely interesting themes - like Deirdre rejecting the idea of becoming an apprentice because adults have to specialise and can’t learn ALL THE THINGS instead just get to learn one thing. And there’s Deidre’s inventing which could also be fun…

Except… this would have been reinforced more if Deidre had actually shown a diverse interest in different topics rather than just inventions. Or even if her inventions meant more by the stage I finished

There’s also Fyfe - for reasons I didn’t reach (and don’t matter) Fyfe for some reason has a lot of modern 21st century cultural references pouring into his head causing everyone to consider him pretty weird. And it could be another element of funny, patently ridiculous silliness. And at times it is, it really is. And it’s definitely trying…

...

But it doesn’t succeed. And I hate to say it because it has all the ingredients of being really really good and zany. And I need some zany… but it’s just not consistently funny. We have brief moments but so much of it is a slog and not funny

Part of the problem is I’m not sure what this book wants to be. It was advertised as YA… and part of it feels that way with the elaborate nature of the language in places. But the general tone and attitude of Deirdre, our protagonist feels a lot more… middle grade; definitely childish. It doesn’t so much straddle that line as teeter across it like the world’s most drunken tight rope walker, constantly plummeting off one side only to climb out of the net to fall down the other.

The worst of his is how Deidre’s mind wanders. And it’s a good way of showing Deidre is easily distracted and what that feels like but this is a description of Fyfe’s facial expression:

“Hi expression wasn’t just vacant. It was completely abandoned. When she looked into his eyes, she could practically see the signs saying, ‘Temporarily closed for renovations.’ Only the sign was askew and dusty, because the renovations had started three years ago, but the contractor ran over budget, and then the money ran out, so the work only got halfway done. And the shop couldn’t reopen like that, but without an open shop, there was no money to pay the lease. So the renters were out. Only meanwhile, property values had leapt through the roof - figuratively, of course, though the roof was beginning to look a bit dodgy, in Deidre’s opinion. And so the owners had raised the rent accordingly, only no-one was interested in paying what they were asking for a half-renovated, mostly dilapidated storefront. But the owners wouldn’t budge because of the principle of the thing. And that’s what Fyfe’s expression looked like.

read More… (meer)

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and therefore submitting this review under this premises. I have not received any further encouragement to give a positive review other than to be honest.

From the first sentence I knew that this was one book that would have the quirky sense of humour that I thoroughly enjoyed, displayed through the Main Character's thoughts (Deirdre) and her acquaintances, especially in the case of the conversations she has with Fyfe, her best friend. This is wonderfully spaced through all of the town occupants, and the visitors, and it gives me a very clear remembrance of the writing of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Yet even with those parallels to the writings of such great fantasy authors, Richard Kendrick keeps this entire story as exclusively his own.

The careful weaving in of chickens and the entire town revolving around these birds is what makes this book one of the greatest children's books I've read in a long time. The entire town is obsessed with them, with nearly every occupant owning at least one chicken, believing in all the tricks of the chicken witch, who is brilliantly portrayed by Fyfe's mum, and the town even being known throughout the lands for their clockwork master, Torin. These past two may be delicately peppered into the story, never over-used and always a delight to read interacting with Deirdre, but even with the ones who feature heavily such as Deirdre's mum, who may not be mechanically inclined like her daughter but suffers through the various mishaps and -oops- moments with near good natured sensibilities and logic, are a delight.

All the characters are rich in personality like this, especially with the peek into Deirdre's mind as she runs commentary through the entire story. It gives the reader easy access to the way of the workings of the other townspeople, and their land. I admit that this is where I ran into a slight issue, since it took me a few chapters to figure out that though there was quite a bit of -modern- conveniences, at the same time it was a steam-punk world with carts and school classrooms set out in a way that reminds me of the books from Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was barely a blip though, and I easily enveloped myself back into the story, not a bit happy when real life invaded and I had to do adult stuff.

I would highly encourage anyone to read this who loves the -greats- of Fantasy such as Pratchett and Gaimen, whether a child of eleven or an adult. I am planning to read this again on my Kindle until I can save extra money to purchase the paperback. I also have a slight hope that just maybe this will come out as an audiobook or on Audible so that I can download it. I've been listening to my favourites for several years now, and would love to add this book to it.… (meer)

This novel is reminiscent of the Science Fiction B-movies of my youth. Yes, the story has been done and redone but I stilled enjoyed the quick read.

A research company is doing research on wasps and one escapes. A gruesome death occurs, the special op team comes out to annihilate the threat but there are complications with a local militia group.

The President has his hands full with various events around the world but he becomes personally involved.

operation: Blackflag is predictable but, if like me, you remember the giant ant, spider or whatever movies of the past you might enjoy this novel.

I received this ebook free from the author for review purposes.… (meer)