Saturday, January 18, 2020

Scott's Take: Kings of the Wyld (The Band Book One) by Nicholas Eames


Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames is a fantasy novel where mercenaries that hunt monsters are celebrities. They are in groups called bands and one of the most famous bands is the group known as Saga. Some time ago Saga broke up and the various members have gone their separate ways. Clay Cooper, the main character of the book, is retired, married, and raising a young girl. Things are good and the past is the past. That is until Gabe, his old band mate, asks for his help.

Gabe wants Saga to get the band back together for a very risky mission with little chance of success. Gabe’s daughter is in a band of her own and is in serious trouble. They are stuck in a city under siege and surrounded by an army of monsters who will kill everyone in the city. Time is running out to save anyone in the city.  Gabe wants the band to get back together, travel across the massive wilderness, and rescue his daughter.  Members are Saga are really not up for this. They have gotten old, out of shape, and are in no condition to fight monsters. Yet, as expected, they will take on the mission to rescue Gabe’s daughter.
           
The characters involved in the read on both sides are complicated. The villains are dark and multi layered. Then there are the very cool monsters. The sheer variety of monsters in this book is impressive. There are over twenty different varieties of monsters. Unlike most stories with one main type of monsters, in this case there are a mind boggling number of monsters.

This novel is a read aimed at mature readers and contains an action packed story with plenty of humor and weirdness. I very much enjoyed this first book in The Band Series. It is not your typical fantasy book. If you think that heroes being exposed to their version of Viagra with the expected consequences and still having to fight is funny, as I did, you will enjoy this story.



Kings of the Wyld (The Band Book One)
Nicholas Eames
Orbit Books
February 2017
ISBN# 978-0-316-36247-4
Paperback  (also available in digital format)
544 Pages


Material supplied by the Downtown Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

Scott A. Tipple ©2020

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