Review: The Ballad of Sprikit The Bard And Company by Seán O'Boyle

Blurb:

The Free Lands; a far off fantastical world full of noble warriors, gallant heroes and gentle souls. Sprikit The Bard is precisely none of these things. However he’s not without his own unique qualities. He enjoys the simple things in life; song, merriment and (mostly) victimless swindles.

But this little Bard carries a secret. He has a mission to do, a promise to keep, as an elite force seeks to intercept him. The journey ahead is long and dangerous with hurdles aplenty; monstrous creatures, dastardly villains, laborious hikes and most of all - Sprikit himself.

But he’s not without allies, reluctant and disdainful as they are. Help is help at the end of the day, and By the Notes does he need it. The clock is ticking. The cavalry is coming. And Sprikit The Bard doesn’t know his arse from his elbow.

Bards love to tell tales of adventures, but will Sprikit last long enough to recount his own?

Review:

Seán was kind enough to offer this book to our team for an honest review. And honestly, even though I was lucky to read it with no cost, it is without question worth whatever the price is going for on Amazon. The Ballad of Spirkit The Bard (and Company) is just pure fun. 

From the blurb we know we’re getting a mixed bag of a main character. “He enjoys the simple things in life; song, merriment and (mostly) victimless swindles.” and of course, “And Sprikit The Bard doesn’t know his arse from his elbow.” Both of these are completely accurate. We literally open with Sprikit getting his head knocked in for his ‘mostly victimless swindle’ and immediately see how he wiggles himself into and out of trouble almost in the same breath. Maybe with a little help from ‘maginates!’ He’s a bit selfish, definitely hiding something and only just clever enough to get himself into trouble. Sprikit is 100% the kind of person you would hate to know but would absolutely cry from laughter if you had a mutual friend telling you the trouble they got into because of him. (We all know the kind of friend of friend. Everybody’s got one.) 

In the same opening getting-his-head-knocked scene, we also meet the Brutes. Torg is who we spend most of the story with and there is more to him than just being a mild-mannered Brute. He’s read a book before! Following the bard and the Brutes, we enter into a tavern for a fight with a comedic size difference and meet Tallew, who has complete small dog energy. She is itching to be a prize fighter, with her slight frame of lean muscle, and is constantly ready to throw hands. In what is quite possibly the best illustration of ‘unlikely friends’ we get a lively and wholly amusing trio.

But what brings this strange band of bard and company together? Our 4ft tall bard, Sprikit, is accused of a serious crime, and these two may well be his accomplices. They’re on the run from Captain Phara Voskel, who has the funniest character intro scene I have read in ages. In fact, her whole introduction via Vern Sethel, who she calls by his full name for the duration of his appearance, and the initial scene chasing Sprikit was hilarious. Following their initial fleeing from Phara, we get what I can only describe as a novel that could be almost perfectly soundtracked to the Benny Hill theme. 

While we Benny Hill background music our way through the Free Lands, we get a lot of history into how the Free Lands came to be, the wider political structure around them and introduced to a number of side characters that added to the richly colourful landscape. I’ve seen very few authors who can weave their world building so flawlessly into the story as Seán does. It’s done so well I am almost a little suspicious it’s a debut. Like surely this man has written before???

All of this is complemented by the perfect pacing, the changing character focus, the perfectly timed flashbacks, and writing that keeps you looking forward to what’s coming next. I wasn’t powering through because I was shaking like a quaker parrot that was dying to know what came next. I just had to keep reading because I knew whatever came next was going to be good, and I was not at all disappointed. Unfortunately for everyone around me this does mean I’m not going to stop recommending this book for any reason. I’ll be worse than a used car salesman about recommending it.