Review: Carpentry in the Elven Forest by Alex French

Carpentry in the Elven Forest is the first novel to be released by Alex French and it’s charming and silly in perfect measure. Read on to see just why I enjoyed this book so much …

In a town full of carpenters, how does an apprentice carve his own path? Buckle down, learn his craft, and hope someone recognises his talent – or look for something more?

Jef could never have guessed that one night’s drinking and a little magical tampering would begin a journey of life-changing proportions!

Tricked into a quest to create a magical jewellery box for a fiancée he isn’t entirely sure he wants to marry, Jef finds himself mixing with demi-gods, a talking badger, and a down-trodden half-elf questioning where she belongs in the world.

If you are waiting for inspiration to strike, or for your life to change, heed this cautionary tale!

French’s debut Carpentry In The Elven Forest is a delightfully silly debut indeed. There’s a lot to love about the kooky cast of characters (my personal favourite is Oggy, a talking, coffee-swilling badger. Yep!).

The central plot happens around hapless ‘hero’ Jef. His quest is to craft a magnificent jewelry box with which he aims to propose to a most unpleasant girlfriend indeed. If that sounds silly, well, it is! And then we throw in a disgruntled half-elf companion and the talking badger … it’s all just fantastic stuff, enjoyed that hops from the sublime to the ridiculous.  French then throws a powerful sorcerer Gaskin into the mix, a character who plays the wildcard perfectly. There’s a wide range of motivations and personal quests we follow along but there isn’t a single weak link for a moment, even among the supporting characters we meet along the journey..

Carpentry doesn’t take itself too seriously at all, a major plus amidst this often mountain of shite that is modern life. Sometimes you just need something twee and silly and French delivers in spades (and trowels, and fertiliser, and … ). It’s clear the author took inspiration from his love of Terry Pratchett in writing this humorous fantasy tale of elves, trolls, goblins and magic. The dry humour drips from every page (as much as dry humour can drip, of course). I snorted, I groaned, I grinned in equal measure. It was a great time every step taken in the forest. Even the author breaks the fourth wall to apologise for a particularly wince-worthy pun.

What really elevates Carpentry from weird wander through the woodland to something truly worth your TBR is an underlying worldbuilding that is rich and intriguing. I’m searching for a metaphor that French’s worldbuilding is the mulch that lets this book tree grow but I can’t see the wood for the trees I’m afraid. Right from the get go, with the telling of the world’s creation, Carpentry leans into the fantastical. If you want an exceedingly obscure comp, the moulding of the world and its inhabitants from clay is something that took me all the way back to The Neverhood. Told you it was obscure.

Still, I liked reading about how the world was created. The hands-on demigods of The Gentleman and The Deep Dark underpin the world nicely. It is The Gentleman who serves as an antagonist of sorts to the story; he is a demigod of impulsiveness. He formulates and enacts his first, and possibly only, plan to change the world. The Deep Dark, the pragmatist, intends to stop him. It represents a more serious anchor to the story that works incredibly well.

I also liked how the author wasn’t shy about taking preconceptions and tropes and playing around with them. For example, a troll explaining clearly how the misconception that his people aren’t intelligent stems largely due to their prominent tusks affecting their speech. 

All in all, the pure appeal of Carpentry for me was its simplicity. This is a step away from typical swords and sorcery; it’s not cosy enough to be cosy, and that’s all perfectly fine.. Instead, French treats us to a charming fantasy story that is a real throwback to the exact kind of Pratchett stories we love.

Alex spoke about Carpenty recently on The Four Beardsmen of the Bookpocalypse podcast.

I hope you like puns, intelligent trolls, weird animals, snotty elves, befuddled humans, and magical mayhem.

My world, known as “The World”, The Creator was not good at naming some things, contains all these things and more.

Please dive in!

Before I get to the bit about me, a polite request. As an author, we live and die by reviews. They really help our books appear in front of more people. So if you buy a book, please take an extra few minutes to review it. Trust me, authors really appreciate it.

Some actual stuff about me then.

I live in the UK. I believe that diversity and change are the keys to gaining experience and learning, and sometimes I sound like a complete fool!

Oh, and I have a dog called StanLee who is not very friendly and three cats called Ghost (completely deaf, grumpy old man), Roarshack (that’s the way we want to spell it) and Arwen. (the wobbly cat). I live in my office, either doing the day job or writing the next book, unfortunately they are not the same thing.

That’s all you get for now.

Alex’s website

I need to post this l’il bit here for the SEO boost, so if you liked Carpentry in the Elven Forest, you’d also like Silence of the Dead by Marks/Ewington: Review: Silence of the Dead, A Fantasy Murder Mystery