![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalSummary: In this novella by Digger author/artist Ursula Vernon, the ragtag squad of goblin soldiers of the 19th Regiment (the "Whining Niners") led by veteran Sgt. Nessilka find themselves unexpectedly thrown far away from the battlefield by human wizard, only to find that they're so far behind enemy lines that they'd have to march fifty miles just to reach the enemy. Fortunately they find themselves the guests of Elven wildlife veterinarian Sings-to-Trees, who patches up their wounded and lets them catch up and rest.
Then things really hit the fan.
Review: Vernon uses her usual dry wit and humanistic viewpoint to write a fine take on the usual fantasy tropes. The goblins are a varied lot, long tired of the war and led by Nessilka with the fine skill of a veteran kindergarten teacher, who takes in their quirks with the motherly concern of a first sergeant who knows any of them could be killed at any moment. These aren't just cannon fodder to provide a momentary distract for the Heroes.
Meanwhile Sings-to-Trees also subverts expectations of elves. He has a farm veterinarian's unsentimental view of animals, unlike his elven peers, loving and serving them even at their most disgusting (Unicorns are beautiful creatures, at least until you spend two hours with your arm up their birth canal to make sure a foal doesn't become a breach birth).
I don't think it's going too far to call Vernon's style Pratchettarian. She can do a comedy of clashing cultures in the same fine style, and can also move from the comic to quiet horror much as PTerry does. This is a finestart addition to her prose career, and hope she follows it up by completing the original story "Elf vs. Orc" that introduced Sings-to-Trees for the first time.
Highly recommended.
Then things really hit the fan.
Review: Vernon uses her usual dry wit and humanistic viewpoint to write a fine take on the usual fantasy tropes. The goblins are a varied lot, long tired of the war and led by Nessilka with the fine skill of a veteran kindergarten teacher, who takes in their quirks with the motherly concern of a first sergeant who knows any of them could be killed at any moment. These aren't just cannon fodder to provide a momentary distract for the Heroes.
Meanwhile Sings-to-Trees also subverts expectations of elves. He has a farm veterinarian's unsentimental view of animals, unlike his elven peers, loving and serving them even at their most disgusting (Unicorns are beautiful creatures, at least until you spend two hours with your arm up their birth canal to make sure a foal doesn't become a breach birth).
I don't think it's going too far to call Vernon's style Pratchettarian. She can do a comedy of clashing cultures in the same fine style, and can also move from the comic to quiet horror much as PTerry does. This is a fine
Highly recommended.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-11-03 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-04 01:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-04 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-03 08:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-04 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-04 01:18 am (UTC)