Book Review – The Walrus and The Warwolf
Author: Hugh Cook
Publisher: Colin Smythe
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 1988
Drake, is a young apprentice to a sword maker in Stokos. On his 16th birthday, a wild night of partying gets him in more trouble than usual and finds himself judged by King Tor. His punishment is to be thrown to out to sea, three leagues from Stokos, and during his swim back he meets the love of his life.
Personal Thoughts – Hugh starts this book on a humour note as the reader is plunged into Drake’s over indulgent life of drink, women and trouble. When Drake survives King Tor’s punishment, he meets the woman who drives his lusts and gets him into more trouble. A new religion takes hold in Stokos and unfortunately the founder, his sword maker master, dislikes Drake. To escape further wrath, Drake falls in with pirates, then his troubles really start.
The whole story is written with a humours note. This works fine during some scenes, but can be quite tedious for a whole book. I felt the humour would work much better if the action and tense situation were written more seriously.
I also felt there was a lack of focus for this story. Drake flounders from one strange, difficult situation to the next. At the end of the story I didn’t feel his character or the plot progressed in any meaningful way, and this is quite a long book for nothing of importance to happen. If the author wanted to write a jolly, light heartened tale then I feel the story should have been shorter. There seems to be two versions of this book, I had the older version, which is quite long, though Ive noticed the newer version is 300 shorter.
It’s not the best story I have read, however, it is reasonably entertaining.
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