Synopsis
Elburn Barr is a Loremaster and most certainly not a wizard. He is however on a quest, of sorts, to interview and document the many heroes who inhabit the realm. It is Elburn’s hope that the cult of hero worship can be explained through transcribing the interviews in his journal.
This chronicling of those behind the questing capers soon gives Elburn a breadcrumb trail leading to what happened to his long lost brother, and uncovering the machinations of the Hero’s Guild that contracts the likes of raging Barbarians, Paladins with rude words daubed on the back of their armour by the party Rogue, and literal bush-clad Rangers …
There’s a lot crammed into Elburn’s journal.
Review
Well, I can fondly describe The Hero Interviews as taking that journal full of rolled-up D&D characters you are never going to get to play, and hitting it against a stack of books by the late Sir Terry Pratchett until it’s studded with footnotes1.
Honestly I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. I’m familiar enough with Andi Ewington’s Campaigns and Companions to know that this would be flippant fantasy at its finest and in that regard, THI did not disappoint2. If you are not a fan of footnotes then this is a book to avoid. There are 1,700+ that crop up. My thumbs were well-versed by the end of the ebook’s 925 pages at bringing these up at the end of a passage3.
But this approach really gelled with me. Fantasy has been taking itself much too seriously recently. We’ve seen the upturn in cosy fantasy as a counterbalance to grimdark so I’m pleased to see an author attempting something that doesn’t take itself too seriously. With that said, THI is still utterly capable of producing the real gritty moments that take it to a level beyond parody fantasy4 without substance.
Roll Your Character
My favourite element in the book was diving in to the sheer number of characters Ewington has explored in this book. Each character parodies uncountable aspects of our crazy gaming and social media-centric world. References are off the scale. Spinal Tap5, Skyrim, Star Wars, Elon Musk’s Twitter buyout and the blue tick hullabaloo; there are simply too many to list but they’re all great fun to spot. I found myself smiling, grinning, and at times chuckling away at the book’s humour with every passing chapter. Scenes featuring a wizard who lives on the coast, or Elburn’s unease at writing the words ‘dungeons’ and ‘dragons’ too close together made my RPG nerd senses happy.
THI somehow strikes just the right balance between charming, stark raving mad, and surprisingly deep6. Not once did the author stumble over what the book was trying to do7. It never went off the rails or stopped being amusing.
You’re a Wizard, Elburn
Elburn himself is an extremely active narrator. It’s one thing to tell the story of the hero mythos but getting his quill dirty by being at the forefront of everything and then journaling the results took some doing.
He’s extremely likeable in a Louis Theroux-like way and I enjoyed being part of the journey. Yes, Elburn bumbles through the majority of the book but in doing so he develops a tenacity and steel that really made me like the guy. Not all main characters need to be the hero to make a difference.
The Hero Interviews serves a pleasant reminder that comedy fantasy exists and I hope is mounting a serious comeback8. This book deserves its place in the spotlight as, at the end of the 925-page day, it made me feel pretty damn heroic.
Footnotes
[1] Am I going to attempt to include footnotes in this review? Why yes, yes I am.
[2] Although my own companions are two 16-year old cats who couldn’t roll a D20 between them, which would make for an utterly useless campaign.
[3] However, I am tempted to give this book a -5 penalty to its rating for the occasions when the footnote was too close to the side of the page, causing me to swipe to the next page instead!
[4] Not gritty as in what Americans refer to as porridge, but gritty like a gritter spreading grit on a cold December morning in England. Undoubtedly after the gritter has had a hot bowl of porridge for breakfast. Unless the gritter is an American with British Citizenship who would then indeed have a hot bowl of ‘grits’ for breakfast, of course.
[5] The number of references goes up to at least 11.
[6] The book is 925 pages after all. Deep, as books go.
[7] See footnote [6]; Ewington may have inadvertently stumbled over the book had he left a proof copy on the floor.
[8] Although after this footnote fest of a review, perhaps Boss David won’t be too keen on me making a comeback!
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