The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson

Reviewed by Sam!

**We received an early copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. We’d like to thank Sean and Parliament House for the opportunity. This book comes out on Dec 15th and you can get it here**

What I drank prior: Listen, Sean is going to be so upset, but I’m hammered because I was watching the first presidential debate…. We had a drinking game… and I had finished a bottle of wine within the first hour. I’m sorry, Sean. I know I’m coming at this review FIRED UP but like… it’s super honest right?!

Goodreads Overview:

Sure, you think you know the story of the fearsome red dragon, Dragonia. How it terrorized the village of Skendrick until a brave band of heroes answered the noble villagers’ call for aid. How nothing could stop those courageous souls from facing down the dragon. How they emerged victorious and laden with treasure.

But, even in a world filled with epic adventures and tales of derring-do, where dragons, goblins, and unlicensed prestidigitators run amok, legendary heroes don’t always know what they’re doing. Sometimes they’re clueless. Sometimes beleaguered townsfolk are more hapless than helpless. And orcs? They’re not always assholes, and sometimes they don’t actually want to eat your children.

Heloise the Bard, Erithea’s most renowned storyteller (at least, to hear her tell it), is here to set the record straight. See, it turns out adventuring isn’t easy, and true heroism is as rare as an articulate villager.

Having spent decades propagating this particular myth (which, incidentally, she wrote), she’s finally able to tell the real story—for which she just so happened to have a front-row seat.

Welcome to Erithea. I hope you brought a change of undergarments—things are going to get messy.

Drunk Overview: This is the story of a first-time gang of adventurers trying to make a name for themselves by defeating a dragon. This town/village have like zero dollars but they have this dragon that’s damaging and stealing all the crops. This gag o’ adventurers need to find a name for themselves. This stunningly beautiful, charmingly hilarious bard, Heloise tryna tell a great story. All good? Good.

Spoiler-free Thoughts: FOLKS.. wait

Side note: someone on the news just said that tonight was a terrible night for democracy and i just want to say that all lives cant matter until black lives do, k? k.

Ok i’m back. I have a total of 17 active laugh out louds while reading this book. I counted.

Characters: the nice thing about this story is that while not character driven, i know who thec aracters are. We’ve got the half halfling and half dwarf who’s a grump, the rat? who’s also a wizard, the leader, the.. rock?, and then Heloise (my bae… everyone’s bae really). I know them all individualy and that’s a fucking hard thing to do in a comedy.

Plot: I mean, there is a plot but it was really more about the humor. Sorry, Sean but you know I’m right. The satire you make about fantasy stories are hilarious. At one point, they spend several days trying to solve a puzzle and how its solved was hysterical. And you know that cat gig (sober note: gif) with the hands out like?! WHA??? back and forth? it was like that. HILARIOUS.

Writing Style: SO SO FUNNY. I had some trouble at certain points following because of the jokes. I get the tone that he was trying to build but some times it didn’t need to happen and the joke wasn’t worth the aside. Otherwise i have no complaints 

What to pair it with: Absinthe. You’re just always gonna laugh.

Sean said:

Rating: 3.88/5 shots

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam