TL;DR Review: Fun, easy-reading adventure with an upbeat, humorous flavor. Enjoyable and suitable for all ages.
Synopsis:
Sir Dashing Junior was only knighted because they couldn’t knight his father twice. Now he’s determined to prove he’s worthy of his new title.
With an aspiring ranger, an awkward friar, and a book-loving orc, DJ will venture across the territory of Uh to reach the Amulet of the Goddess, proving that he’s truly worthy of knighthood.
Along the way, he and his companions will encounter a cursed author, a violent noodle cult, democratic goblins, and a whole lot more.
It’s a journey fraught with danger and discovery, and the territory is rich with monsters and magic, so is DJ’s quest for respect really worth the cost?
Full Review:
The Legend of Uh was a lovely, simple, easy read.
The story follows Dashing Junior, or DJ, a young man who gets knighted because his city couldn’t knight his hero father twice. You can imagine what kind of standard DJ has to live up to, and the need to be a hero and undertake a quest worthy of a knight drives him to leave home and set off on an adventure to faraway lands.
At his side are his best friend (an aspiring ranger), a massive warrior/librarian orc, and a priest/cleric with the inability to speak at a normal volume. The four of them venture out into the wide D&D-flavored world to seek their adventure…and instantly get bogged down in side quests.
I thought it was a funny way to deviate from the epic feel of so many fantasy novels. The characters basically go from side quest to side quest, but that wandering is what leads to the true thrust of the story: what it really means to be a hero, and how to find purpose.
DJ is a terrible warrior and has no hope of living up to his father, but with every job and undertaking, he gets to see more of who he really wants to be and has the freedom to explore it. Ultimately, that leads to him becoming a greater hero than he could ever have imagined—only in the last way he could have pictured.
This book is excellent for young readers (10+), but even adults will find it entertaining and amusing. Though there was never any big-scale, epic adventures, I kept reading because I wanted to see what sidetrack or deviation would pull them away next.
The world was colorful, the characters a lot of fun, and even if it wasn’t the most profound book I’ve read all year, it still had a good message and felt emotionally satisfying by the end.
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