Oh my goodness!

I’ve had Fool’s Gold on my Netgalley shelf for far too long and finally got around to reading it.

Why on earth did I not read this a year ago?

Hands down, this was one of the best fantasy books I’ve read. My only problem was I read the vast majority on the train or in the canteen at work.

How is this a problem?

I kept bursting out laughing!

It’s refreshing reading a fantasy that is clearly aimed at adults. There’s probably loads and it’s just the ones I’ve chosen. But there was something Joe Abercrombie/Mark Lawrence about this book: the language and the humour were adult.

If you don’t like swearing, then this is not the book for you.

If you don’t like the dragons being the bad guys, then you’re also best to avoid it.

Otherwise, if you’re a fantasy fan, get yourself a copy of this immediately!

We’re first introduced to one of the main characters, Will, as he is being outwitted by his father’s old pig. It sets the tone for the entire story. After losing everything, Will meets up with Lette and Balur (an eight foot lizard-type creature), an old mad farmhand and an academic.


What starts off as a joking conversation soon turns into a plan to rob a dragon, which evolves into robbing a second, then taking on the entire consortium of them. If that isn’t enough for a farm-boy to be dealing with, Will accidentally becomes a prophet and has a hoard of people following him and obeying his every word.

Oh, there is also the dragons’ army coming to tear them limb from limb to contend with.

Plan go wrong. Plans bizarrely go right. And maybe there is something prophet-like about Will in the end given his tendency to actually see through the most ambitious of plans.

The characters are fantastic. Will is loveable and naïve. Lette is fierce but determined to be a better person. Balur just wants wine, women and fights, not necessarily in that order. Quirke is also determined to be a better person, just has to deal with her tendency set everything alight when she gets upset. And Firkin is plain mad but instrumental to the plans.

Balur has an unusual way of speaking which took me a little bit to adjust to. But in the end, his way with words just made some of the situations even funnier.

This book has it all: tension, love, humour. The desire to be free. The desire to be rich. And the desire to actually survive until the following day, meaning there is always a way out, regardless of how surreal it is.

I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed this book. It’s probably the most humorous fantasy book I’ve come across and I reckon I’ll return to it in the future when I need a satisfying read.

This book is full of violence and swearing, however, so take that into consideration when choosing it.