KINGS OF THE WYLD by Nicholas Eames

Clay Cooper and his band were once the best of the best — the meanest, dirtiest, most feared crew of mercenaries this side of the Heartwyld. 

Their glory days long past, the mercs have grown apart and grown old, fat, drunk – or a combination of the three. Then an ex-bandmate turns up at Clay’s door with a plea for help. His daughter Rose is trapped in a city besieged by an enemy one hundred thousand strong and hungry for blood. Rescuing Rose is the kind of mission that only the very brave or the very stupid would sign up for.

It’s time to get the band back together for one last tour across the Wyld. 

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Title : Kings of the Wyld
Author : Nicholas Eames
Series : The Band (book one)
Format : eBook (overdrive)
Page Count : 544
Genre : fantasy
Publisher : Orbit
Release Date : February 21, 2017

Reviewer : Hollis
Rating : ★ ★ ★ ★

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Hollis’ 4 star review

This book was so much damn fun.

If the idea of a bunch of past-their-prime warriors getting back together to help save the daughter of one of their buddies doesn’t appeal to you..? Well, I mean, fine. But you’re missing out.

“How do I look?“
“Old.”
“Tired.”
“Fuck you guys.”

This story is hilarious, both in concept and execution, as well as dialogue, but it’s also poignant, moving, nostalgic, and bittersweet. Their glory days are behind them, they’ve grown old, and fat, and worn down by life and circumstances, but they still band together (as a band, elle oh elle), they still have each other’s backs, even when the odds are great none of them will survive. Which is no different from the odds they faced back in the day but see aforementioned old, fat, worn down.

“How many hopeless battles have we fought?“
“A few..“
“And how many did we win?“
“All of them?“
“All of them. And yeah, sure, we’ve just been robbed by a gang of girls–“
“Twice.”
“Twice, yes, well.. we’re a bit rusty.“

The cast of characters are delightful, the circumstances bizarre, and the world is even weirder. But it’s also vivid and fascinating and unbelievably tongue in cheek and/or witty and sometimes both. There’s a very modern appeal to this story — not unlike the reason we have movies like The Expendables, I guess, and delight in seeing old favourites reunite and flex their atrophied muscles for the greater good — and beyond the fantastical creatures, the heart of this story is friendship, family, love. 

I honestly don’t know what else to say. I had such a great time, and was so invested not only in the events of the book but the way the story would pause, give a moment or observation space, and then slap you in the face with something hilarious. I have so many highlights and so few original words to prop them up against, so : to sum up? Read this book. Meanwhile I’ll just be over here counting down the seconds until I can dive into the sequel.