Reviews

The Errantry of Bantam Flyn by Jonathan French

marklpotter's review

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5.0

I am wholly opposed to children being used as plot devices. I won't go in to detail due to spoilers but this book is well written enough that I am willing to forgive French for one of the only things that usually makes me want to put down a book. I am conflicted, to be sure, and don't feel using children in the manner that was used here is necessary, but I do understand why. I am gong to continue down the road should there be more to this series and that should tell you all you need to know.

bulbasaurusthe7th's review

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5.0

Some ideas are so stupid they might actually just work. That's the case with this one. The protagonist is a gigantic rooster person. We have met them in the previous book, Bantam Flyn and many others, but this goes into more detail about the gigantic anthropomorphic chicken. Aaaand I freaking loved it.

The world needs saving and a legendary monster needs slaying yet again, so Bantam Flyn, a weirdo chronicler, a giantess and Deglan team up this time to do what needs to be done. This time living dead dwarfs are involved as well, which, again, should not work. It does.

Jonathan French can sell absolutely anything to you. The creatures he uses are mostly pretty much standard fantasy and mythological ones. Seriously, you can't go more basic than giants and fairies and such, they are standard since forever. Then he does something I still can't figure out and creates the lore specific to his world around them that brings new life to borderline boring ideas. (Yes, the coburn are freaking hilariously different and at first I wasn't sure what to make of them, but the rest is really nothing that groundbreakingly original.) He has such a special touch with creating a well-populated, interesting world with all the connections and history and it really works.
Jim Butcher had an anecdote where he wrote his Codex Alera series because a dude dared him to combine Roman legions and Pokemon into an actually enjoyable and fun story that works. Mr. French could freaking do the same with anything and part of the fucked up bran I have wants him to do more and more weird stuff. Go ahead. Do it. I am curious to see what sorts of twists and turns he can create around stuff.
Because I want more. I want him to wrote more Autumn's Fall, more Grey Bastards, new stories, a million books a year because I'm already missing his creativity until his new book comes out.
He is really an author to follow. Someone you should keep your eyes on as I have no doubt he will do ridiculously interesting stuff. He has it in him.

The story here is just kind of complicated and I refuse to discuss it. You need to discover it for yourself, because I can't talk about it without making it sound a lot less amazing than it is. That's the thing about it, everything I would say sounds convoluted and stupid. Trust me, I tried explaining this book to people at work and they all just looked at me like I'm mental. But this is GOOOOOOOD.

So yeah, I'm done fangirling.

Good night and don't be a chicken, pick this up!

marcosgr95's review

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5.0

The second installment of the saga hasn’t disappointed. This is the way Jonathan French asserts himself as a master of the epic fantasy, by writing an extremely engaging and riddle-ridden sequel.

The book basically takes up after the first one’s end, save for a one-year interlude that helps the story in terms of timings and so on but apparently doesn’t deprive us of any major events. The story develops mainly around Flyn, Deglan and a newcomer to the party, who the reader learns progressively to love, or at least understand.

So, as much as you’d like to find fault with this book, there’s absolutely no besmirch to be found here!

Final rating: 10/10

vaderbird's review against another edition

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3.0

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish

bulbasaurusthe7th's review against another edition

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5.0

Some ideas are so stupid they might actually just work. That's the case with this one. The protagonist is a gigantic rooster person. We have met them in the previous book, Bantam Flyn and many others, but this goes into more detail about the gigantic anthropomorphic chicken. Aaaand I freaking loved it.

The world needs saving and a legendary monster needs slaying yet again, so Bantam Flyn, a weirdo chronicler, a giantess and Deglan team up this time to do what needs to be done. This time living dead dwarfs are involved as well, which, again, should not work. It does.

Jonathan French can sell absolutely anything to you. The creatures he uses are mostly pretty much standard fantasy and mythological ones. Seriously, you can't go more basic than giants and fairies and such, they are standard since forever. Then he does something I still can't figure out and creates the lore specific to his world around them that brings new life to borderline boring ideas. (Yes, the coburn are freaking hilariously different and at first I wasn't sure what to make of them, but the rest is really nothing that groundbreakingly original.) He has such a special touch with creating a well-populated, interesting world with all the connections and history and it really works.
Jim Butcher had an anecdote where he wrote his Codex Alera series because a dude dared him to combine Roman legions and Pokemon into an actually enjoyable and fun story that works. Mr. French could freaking do the same with anything and part of the fucked up bran I have wants him to do more and more weird stuff. Go ahead. Do it. I am curious to see what sorts of twists and turns he can create around stuff.
Because I want more. I want him to wrote more Autumn's Fall, more Grey Bastards, new stories, a million books a year because I'm already missing his creativity until his new book comes out.
He is really an author to follow. Someone you should keep your eyes on as I have no doubt he will do ridiculously interesting stuff. He has it in him.

The story here is just kind of complicated and I refuse to discuss it. You need to discover it for yourself, because I can't talk about it without making it sound a lot less amazing than it is. That's the thing about it, everything I would say sounds convoluted and stupid. Trust me, I tried explaining this book to people at work and they all just looked at me like I'm mental. But this is GOOOOOOOD.

So yeah, I'm done fangirling.

Good night and don't be a chicken, pick this up!
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