***Review written by Ray Johnson for the audiobook version of this story***
Hot fun in the summer sun, oooola!
Hot fun in the Summer time, ooooola!
Dan the Warlord (A Gamelit Harem Fantasy Adventure)
Gold Girls and Glory, Book 4
By: Hondo Jinx
Narrated by: Andrea Parsneau
Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
Pause
Hondo Jinx closes the chapter on this series, and he does it with style. As much as I hate to see the series end I think that he did an amazing job on shutting the doors and turning out the lights. I seriously had a Sam Malone moment when Cheers ended, you could see that Sam was where he was meant to be, and that he loved his bar. Dan, also is happy to be where he is, to be with the people he is with, and satisfied that all is finally right in his world.
Truly, I do not know how Jinx pulled this off. There were a lot of plotlines to be tied up, characters to close out arcs, and battles to be fought before the end of the book and yet he does it all quite deftly. At no point did I wonder where he was headed, what was going on, or why something was done.
Now I did have some issues. There was one spot that seemed rushed or too easily handled and that was the ship battle with the one Duke, who had just spent a good amount of time telling Dan just how hardcore he was, and that he was super deadly, only for that whole meeting to kind of get overshadowed by the fight that later followed. To me it was just a touch too easy and too quick, and was necessitated by Dan’s needing to get back to his home because of other battles that were waiting. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of a struggle is all I’m saying.
The resolution between the red elves and the forest elves was neatly resolved, as was the problem with the monster wives. Truth be told, Jinx pretty much closed accounts on every single character that Dan knew, and that is a rare thing. It is something I appreciated as a reader. I also think that jinx managed to make me pity several characters who eventually died through no fault of their own. All I can say is that Artifacts suck.
The ending also manages to leave the door open for more of Dan’ exploits in the future. I would love to see Jinx follow marvel Comics example at some point in the future and pull a King Conan, where Conan is, duh, King and he runs around training his son Conn to take over for him. (add Conn pic here please). I would love to see Dan the Father King, with Dan taking out his menagerie of half monster, elf, and elemental kids. That would be a blast. I don’t need to see more ladies added to the harem, but getting to see Dan struggle with mostly daughters and a son or two, while maintaining a kingdom could be real fun.
Finally, Adrea parenau steals this finale as only she could. Honestly, I’ve been saying for a loooong time that she is the only person I know that would make me want to boink a hobgoblin just because of the voice she used. Here she revives some old voices and from a crazy old wizard to an old gaming companion of Dan’s. Honestly, if you are going to close out a series, then you couldn’t ask for more than what Andrea gives here. It has all the emotion of the MASH final, minus the feared great flush, the levity of Friends, and the gravitas of the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Thankfully, we didn’t get a Newhart surprise at the end. That is all thanks to her incredible vocal work.
Final score? 8.5 stars. This is how you end a series.
Dan the Warlord (A Gamelit Harem Fantasy Adventure)