Kings of the Wyld

There’s something about an ensemble book that I love. Seeing personalities clash as insults fly and banter is exchanged really gets me going. I usually don’t like overtly funny books or jokes at the expense of drama, but Nicholas Eames has somehow hit the sweet spot for me with Kings of the Wyld.

These characters are more than just there to crack one-liners, of course. They’ve got their fair share of baggage to unpack, and sometimes it takes a friend or a brother to lend a listening ear for the healing to start happening.

For various reasons, I had… show more.

I love this book because it’s a world where bands of monster-fighting mercenaries are treated like rock stars, and for good reason: because they’re awesome as hell!

It has kickass characters like Ganelon, whose bandmates are simply the last four people he’d kill, and who’s fine so long as he’s still holding his beer.

If you’re looking for a book that has epic fights with the world’s shortest, most stubborn Minotaur or a book with characters who like to pray to whichever god is responsible for killing random people with the corpses of chimeras, then this is the book… show more.

I was playing Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) decades before it was cool – okay, it’s still not cool – but at least now it’s not ridiculously nerdy. This novel channels all the fun of a great DnD game with well-developed and grounded characters.

Plus, it plays with the tropes of fantasy so well and with such gentle affection that it’s hard not to fall in love with this book! And there’s a sequel, so even if the novel ends, the story doesn’t!

Nicholas Eames crafted a radical take on the standard fantasy adventuring party by giving them rock band style. This book is a fun take on the fantasy genre with a group of over-the-hill mercenaries getting together for one last score. It isn’t often that a book comes along and grabs me by the ears and sets me to head banging. Kings of the Wyld was that book. I couldn’t put it down as I followed Clay and his ragtag band of mercenaries. I love the mix of humor and epic fantasy with the found family thrown in. The audio version… show more.

This is a bit of a different spin on the found family trope in fantasy. Rather than an origin story, where the bonds of family are still being formed, Kings of the Wyld starts with a retired group of adventurers who have grown apart since their former glory days, losing touch over time as many of us do. But when one of them needs help rescuing his daughter from a city besieged by monsters, he endeavors to get the band back together again for one final quest. This story of humor and heart swept me up quickly and didn't let… show more.

Kings of the Wyld is a send-up of both fantasy and rock and roll history that perfectly blends the nostalgia of getting the band back together, the introspection inherent in growing older, and the hilarity of bandits cooking you breakfast after stealing your stuff. If the idea of a bunch of old, ex-adventures getting together for one last (glorious) ride sounds fun, you have to check this out.

Kings of the Wyld is an exciting, humor-drenched adventure fantasy with heart. Imagine monster-slaying adventurer groups treated like 80’s rock stars with fans hanging on their every adventure. Now imagine a washed-out, retired old group of has-beens who learn their former lead monster slayer’s daughter has been kidnapped by monsters and has to get the band back together for one last epic adventure. That’s Kings of the Wyld, equal parts magic, humor, heart, and near-death experiences packed into every page.

The book took the term “mercenary band” somewhat literally and made something rather wonderful as a result. It’s an old-school romp in many ways, but with added humour, and (deeply) flawed individuals who’re largely terrible at living a normal life, which makes it a riot. There’s a whole lot of fantasy thrown at the page and it’s certainly not aimed at the darker end of the market, but that’s probably only contributed to its incredible success!