Timothy Walter Bolton—better known as Timmy—has spent most of his life as a necromancer. When he isn’t terrorising his enemies, he’s plotting inside his castle, which is built on top of lightless chasms filled with nameless horrors and beings of a generally malevolent and megalomaniacal nature. But after one of his latest creations, a zombie hydra-dragon-bear, tries to eat him, he decides that maybe it’s time to find a new, less dangerous, career.
But that’s easier said than done. He’s a wanted criminal with no shortage of powerful (and crazy) enemies, and he has a bone or two to pick with the Everton Council of Mages.
Hope arrives in the form of a new law. War is coming to Everton, and the Council is desperate. In exchange for providing some help, Timmy might just earn that pardon he’s been looking for. Of course, just because it’s possible to earn a pardon doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.
To earn his pardon, Timmy is going to have to take down some of Everton’s most dangerous enemies and put together a quirky group of unconventional heroes, most of whom want nothing more than to mangle him and/or the Council in as vicious a way as possible. It’s a good thing he’s got some help: an obnoxious ten-year-old apprentice who thinks pink glasses are appropriate for a budding necromancer and a bumbling bureaucrat who may or may not make it through their first real fight without puking his guts up.
Wonderful.
Still, Timmy’s never been one to back down from a challenge even if their first recruit is basically the elf version of the bogeyman.
Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Elf by L. G. Estrella is a super fun, entertaining read. But if you’re looking for something deep and thought provoking, this is not it.
If you’re after something plain fun that makes you giggle or snort, perfect for reading on half a brain after a long day of work while still keeping your interest, this is like striking gold in a copper mine.
I went in with zero expectations, just picked it up because it was free in the Audible Plus catalogue, and before I knew it I was done and sad I’d run out of story. The sheer ease of falling into this book was exactly what I needed, and it’s rare for a story to pull me in that fast and that completely.
Timmy and his apprentice Katie go through all sorts of chaos together, and I have a soft spot for characters who face impossible odds with nothing more than a shrug and a “guess we deal with it” attitude. There’s a running joke about Katie killing Timmy off once she’s learned everything she can from him, so she can take his castle for herself. It’s all banter though. Underneath it they’re found family who’ll save each other at all costs if it actually comes down to it. That said, they’ll also gleefully watch each other catch a bloody nose along the way, and honestly that mix of loyalty and chaos is a big part of the charm.
Is this a perfect book? Far from it. It’s very predictable, the jokes are sometimes pretty low, and it doesn’t have much depth. Was it still perfectly entertaining, the ideal choice after DNFing a few complex books in a row? Absolutely.
Man eating plants, giant golems, zombie titans, a bumbling bureaucrat, and a murderous elf all pile into the chaos. Timmy, Katie, and the rest of this delightfully unhinged crew kept my focus locked on the story instead of constantly drifting off.
If you want a book that asks nothing of you except to enjoy the ride, grab this one. Chaos, banter, and zombies, what’s not to love.
