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Obras de Dan Hanks

Swashbucklers (2021) 49 cópias

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Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
There are some dark moments in the novel, including references to painful torture that happened in the past. There is a general theme of anxiety and depression, of not feeling good enough and being a failure, which may trigger a reaction for some people.

There are plenty of epic fails in Swashbucklers, it’s just not the actual book that fails. Cisco Collins once saved his entire hometown from being sucked into hell by an evil ghost – the problem is no one remembers it. Not even his best friends, and so when he heads back home with his kid in tow after his marriage breaks down, he’s not in great form. He remembers a lot of things they don’t, and all the town remembers is how he blew up their school. It’s very reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in that respect, apart from the Scooby Gang isn’t a bunch of teenagers. They’re parents in their forties with kids and that gives Swashbucklers an entirely different dynamic, which parents will love because Hanks has not glossed over any of the realities of parenthood at all.

Need to go monster hunting? Sure, but you need to make sure you’ve got a babysitter first. Monster attack while you’re out with the family? The children don’t sit still or patiently wait while you deal with evil ghosts, expect to be dealing with vomiting and other parenting chaos. Add in other parents and their offspring, and you’re on double parent duty, whether it’s for the adults or the kids depends on the situation…

Swashbucklers is a mix of genres, and it can be quite hard to pin down just one to describe it. There are elements of fantasy, science fiction and horror which Hanks has managed to blend together seamlessly along with retro video games and pop culture. In a nutshell, Swashbucklers is the retro pop culture fantasy novel you didn’t know you needed. It’s a love letter to the 80s, and readers who were born or grew up in the 80s will love the nostalgia. Gamers will appreciate Hanks’ imaginative weaponry concepts, which utilises old school consoles to shoot pixels.

I completely expected Swashbucklers to be based in the US and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was set in the UK. That added another dynamic to the novel, which just made it even better for me. There is also a diverse cast of characters which hasn’t been made to feel posed. It’s just a normal everyday group of family and friends who fight monsters in their spare time.

There are so many layers to this book, and I feel like I have barely scratched the surface with them in this review. Swashbucklers isn’t just a novel about fighting monsters and ghosts. It’s about friendship, family, and finding yourself when you’ve lost everything. Cisco isn’t your conventional hero, he’s not a golden boy, and he often fails, especially as a father. This is a fun novel filled with fantasy and science fiction elements running rampant yet grounded firmly in reality, and that is what makes it so good.

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… (mais)
 
Marcado
justgeekingby | outras 2 resenhas | Jun 6, 2023 |
I got excited when I read the concept. But then the story got boring because there was no character development. It’s supposed to be like “what happened when the kids from Stranger Things or The Goonies grew up?”

I guess they get real dull is what happened. The story that happened before this would have been far more exciting to read. The author keeps telling, not showing, because the important parts all happened before.

This is like the sequel or fan fiction to a story that never happened. And the content that is there is just tedious adventuring and no character arcs. No one learns anything, they just do fighting. So there’s no way to get invested.… (mais)
 
Marcado
theWallflower | outras 2 resenhas | Sep 30, 2022 |
Rounded up from 2 and 1/2 stars, I hated the ending, I disliked a lot of the characters, I enjoyed the puzzle solving, and some of the action scenes but
the ending just seems to be non existent, it wasn't supposed to be a series and even if it is I just don't care enough about it to read another book about them.
I did like Edward Cayce an obvious nod to the famous psychic Edgar Cayce who wrote a lot of books about Atlantis, showing that the author must have done his research with this book. I just wish that they spent half of the book in Atlantis instead of the somewhat tedious path to the Hall.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
kevn57 | Dec 8, 2021 |
I received an advance copy of this book via Netgalley.

Swashbucklers is a fun romp--a stop-the-apocalypse book about a group of old friends who saved the world from a demonic pirate when they were kids, and now must do so again as adults. And hey, everything is harder when you're in your 40s. Knees pop. There are jobs to negotiate, kids with school schedules. When things are display Santa Clauses and scarecrows come to life and try to kill you and everyone else, that complicates things even more. Good thing those video game blasters with a genuine magical oomph still work.

This book is written for someone my age. Hi, I'm 41, and I get most all the cultural references in this book. It's like a Stranger Things nostalgia trip, but for the geekier set. There were some things that threw me, though. It was awfully convenient that three of the four heroes lost their memories of what they did as kids, and had to rediscover everything as they went along. Some of the plot elements like that felt rather forced. Even so, the book is a lot of fun.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
ladycato | outras 2 resenhas | Oct 27, 2021 |

Estatísticas

Obras
2
Membros
99
Popularidade
#191,538
Avaliação
½ 3.3
Resenhas
4
ISBNs
7

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