Son of a Liche retains the same wit, charm, and humor from the first book in the series.

The party continues on in their world mixed of RPG and economic turmoil, and they remain the underdogs we've come to know and love. Wrongly accused and targeted by "heroes", the band is forced into difficult decisions - do they split the party? Will they compromise in their goals? Will they sacrifice to save each other?

I highly recommend Orconomics, and following that, Son of a Liche. Both will make you laugh out loud, and are also written with great story and humanity.

Note, I was given an Advanced Reader Copy to review. I liked Orconomics so much that I corresponded with the author, and was offered an early copy, which I immediately accepted. ( )

Great continuation of fantasy/finance satire. There will provably be a third, and in spite of my general dislike for the fantasy/rpg (orc, goblin, etc) genre, the finance satire element and generally good plot and characters makes this quite readable. ( )

I try not to talk about my personal life much in book reviews, but I feel its necessary for context here.

Its been really, really hard as of late. Its not surprising - teaching new classes, working on my dissertation, recent kitty medical emergencies, illness, looming deadlines, and have you SEEN the political quagmire we're in lately? Florida is kinda fucked for years to come. I'm not sleeping well and need to wear a back brace all day otherwise my shoulders ache for days on end.

What I'm trying to say is I really needed this book. I quite enjoyed Orconomics and wanted to dive into more. I primarily listened to this - its hard for me to justify text reading ("Why read this you should be reading journal articles!") but I can listen while doing other tasks/errands.

Pike knocked it out of the park with this one. The humor is great and manages to not be lolrandommonkeycheese, and it doesn't elbow you in the ribs with how clever it is. The satire, too, is also great - nothing is sacred here, from the capitalist greed of the housing crisis, to the major fantasy tropes, to D&D mechanics. There's even a few jabs at Trump, but they are blink-and-you-miss it.

The characterization is strong, the plot is bigger and more complex than the previous book, and there's some great arcs (although a couple, like Kaitha's drag on a bit too long). Characters that didn't get much spotlight time in the first book got plenty this time around, such as Burt and Duine Poldo, and they are a treat. Considering this is such a satire/humor-heavy book, the worldbuilding is surprisingly complex and satisfying.

But really, the big draw of the book was the humor. I laughed at loud so many times during this book. Shit, even the glossary at the end was funny. It wasn't just punny or self-aware humor either, there's some biting and cynical stuff there. And some nostalgia, too - brought back a lot of memories of D&D, Pathfinder, Fallout, Paranoia. Its so hard for me to find a funny fantasy book that doesn't fall flat or make me roll my eyes. Finding this one when I did probably helped keep me sane.

Read the trilogy. You can't go wrong. ( )