Keith Blenman

Okay, this is my first SPFBO 2020 read, and I mostly chose this book over so many worthy contenders because the cover and premise is so bizarre.

The plot is quite a breath of fresh air. A loser named Degre has the hots for an ordinary barmaid named Zelin and he does what any slick adulterer would do if given the chance: buy a love potion and make her love him. But just like in Harry Potter, forcing the love of other people inevitably backfires and it isn't due to the morality of gaining ill requested love be deceit... more like Degre left the potion to spoil and caused... well... unexpected results.

Harold is a middleman who sells good wares in a small village. He has made a good name for himself and doesn't want his seemingly perfect life to end. Unfortunately, he is greeted one day by a ferreelf. I have never heard of such a creature in fantasy lore before which in itself piqued my attention, and it seems like you combine the cuteness of ferrets with intelligence (and a tad bit too much ADHD) and the immortality of elves and you are presented with quite the strangest of heroes to save the day. Griever is the name of this character and she knows a hefty lot about Harold's previous life as a very (in)famous pirate. Much to his chagrin, she is not only super agile, her entire left arm has been replaced by magical salt crystals that can meld with all sorts of surfaces and change shape upon her will (sort of the like the superpower of Kevin from Ben 10). She gives him an offer that seems even ridiculous to the threatened Harold: she offers to defeat a monster that has been terrorizing a series of villages and he will pay her a single coin as a reward. More out of a wish to get rid of the pest than anything else, Harold eagerly accepts in the hopes Greiver gets herself killed along the way.

The story is definitely good and I like how the author grants us a few glimpses of a strange world where immortal wizards care more about listening to the moons than worldly affairs and bird beasts can kill even elves blessed with magic absurdly easily. Despite being the 3rd iteration of a series, I had no problems delving into this standalone story. Griever with her occasionally disorganized thought processes is a sturdy enough character in her own right to move the plot forward, whereas Harold plays the unwitting costar alongside a pitiable Degre who is literally dragged along.

As much as I enjoyed the backstory about Griever's past and how she obtained her arm, I feel like this was the weakest chapter in the book. It isn't that I considered it to be poorly written because learning more about ferreelf society is fascinating, I felt the chapter drew the focus too far away from the story at hand and affected the pacing too much to bypass. That chapter could very well have been the first chapter of the next book in the planned story "Reaper" and this book would have greatly benefitted from it.

Nonetheless, despite the issues I found with this book, I like the world building and would definitely look at other books of the series. 3 1/2 stars!… (mehr)