by T Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon)
Format: ebook - digital only
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (Smashbooks too)
Publication date: October 27, 2013
Pages: 147
Genre: fantasy
Source: purchased
From Ursula Vernon's website Red Wombat Studios:
When a party of goblin warriors find themselves trapped behind enemy lines, it’ll take more than whining (and a bemused Elven veterinarian) to get them home again. A novella of low….very low…fantasy.
Nessilka had been in any number of battles, and she couldn’t remember the first ten minutes of any of them.
She had a theory that if you could remember the first ten minutes, you’d never, ever charge at anybody again, so parts of your brain blotted them out.
The problem was that she couldn’t imagine why her brain would want her to continue charging at people, and this then led her to the theory that parts of her brain worked for the Goblin High Command, which she didn’t like at all.
Regardless, it was ten minutes into the battle, and she couldn’t remember what had just happened. There’d been a lot of yelling. Everyone yelled. No matter what species you were, elf, human, goblin, orc, random bystander, you yelled. There had been a lot of hitting things. Her shield was bent in four or five places, and her arms ached dreadfully.
Okay - I am a total Ursula Vernon fangirl at this point. I love Dragonbreath (which is how I was introduced), adore Nurk and found Digger quite a profound graphic novel (and want more of her story!). I knew that Vernon had written something under the pseudonym T Kingfisher but didn't get around to reading it until the tail-end of Bout of Books.
For a short 147 page novella there is great attention to detail and some wonderful world building. Lots of humor and a really horrific presentation of the costs of war. I loved it and wanted to re-read it immediately. I also don't want to say much more about it because the way the story unfolds is part of the magic. If you liked any of Vernon's other work, or if you like Terry Pratchett - give it a try.
Oh - this is NOT for kids. I mean it when I said it spoke graphically about war.
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