Misadventorous Episode 1: It has to start somewhere, by Shawn Drew
The Book
Synopsis:
Adventuring looks so easy on paper, but in the real world, well…
MISADVENTUROUS is a series of fantasy-comedy novellas where adventuring is big business and accidentally burning down towns is just another day on the job.
Beden spent his entire childhood dreaming about becoming an adventurer, just like his hero, Proper John Gallant. When he left home and crossed paths with a mysterious warrior and a sometimes-competent wizard, he was sure he was on the right path. But adventuring is a tough business, and skeletons come in hordes, so now he’s more unsure than ever about his future.
Jyden set out on her own, adventuring to prove that she wasn’t just a product of her upbringing. The group she found was with a pair of strange siblings and a misplaced, somewhat forgettable pirate, but she figured her natural skills would pull them through. But the adventuring world is a harsh one, and a few mistakes have her questioning her choices.
Together, these two mismatched groups have to learn that to make a group more than the sum of its parts, it takes more than just a small failure in math. And unbeknownst to them all, forces are in play that will drag them, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the fate of the world itself.
My Review
Misadventorous Episode One is the initial installment in the series of humoristic novellas Misadventorous, written by Shawn Drew. We will be following the desventures of a weirdly paired band of heroes in a world where adventures and quests are treated such as if they were a business, all with great doses of humour.
Beden always dreamed of becoming an adventurer like his hero, so when the opportunity appeared, he left home and together with a mysterious warrior and a wizard whose capabilities are, let's say, questionable in many scenarios created a band of adventurers that work under the mandate of the Super Guild of Adventurers. As you can imagine, their sucess rate is not exactly stellar (totally not their fault), so they get paired with another crew with similar success; all of them tasked to finally have a successful mission if they want to climb the ranks.
With this premise, Drew creates a really fun novel; I found myself laughing a lot during its read. Desventures happen to our characters, but they will never question if in reality they should continue in this job or if their ideas are good; just hinting that maybe talking with a Dark Lord can be not exactly clever.
If you are in the mood for a light read with ton of humour and a base of sword and sorcery, Misadventorous is marvelous at delivering it; it has potential if it continues in this line in the next chapters.
Disclaimer: This novella has been read as part of the SFINCS. This review/rating only represents my personal opinion and it might differ with what the team decides.
The Author/s
Shawn Drew
After years of being accused of living in a fantasy world by a litany of parents, teachers, exes, currents, pets, clergy, councilors, counselors, crossing guards, taxi drivers, other drivers, and even an ambassador, Shawn finally got the message and decided to write in one as well. Misadventurous, the culmination of that effort, is a series of comedy novellas set in a fantasy world where dragons are real, heroic adventuring is Big Business, and things always seem just a bit on the zany side of realistic.
The story draws upon hours and hours of a youth (and adulthood) spent devouring fantasy media of all kinds, enough to know what tropes to embrace and what tropes were ripe for parody. Something about fantasy literature resonated with him, something about the story of the nobody who goes on to do great things. But he best not read too much into either end of that.
While the fantasy literature of old had plenty of adventure and excitement, it also often took itself a little too seriously sometimes, to ridiculous effect. So why not lean into it? Who says a king can’t deliver mail via trebuchet after a disagreement with the postal guild? Who says a lonely giant slug can’t collect love trophies on a secluded island? And who says the job of killing monsters and raiding dungeons can’t be conglomerated and optimized? Well, no one. Until now, possibly!