From the New York Times bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series comes a hilarious and high-octane adult novel about a vodka-drinking, Flashdance-loving dragon who lives an isolated life in the bayous of Louisiana—and the raucous adventures that ensue when he crosses paths with a fifteen-year-old troublemaker on the run from a crooked sheriff. In the days of yore, he flew the skies and scorched angry mobs—now he hides from swamp tour boats and rises only with the greatest reluctance from his Laz-Z-Boy recliner. Laying low in the bayou, this once-magnificent fire breather has been reduced to lighting Marlboros with nose sparks, swilling Absolut in a Flashdance T-shirt, and binging Netflix in a fishing shack. For centuries, he struck fear in hearts far and wide as Wyvern, Lord Highfire of the Highfire Eyrie—now he goes by Vern. However...he has survived, unlike the rest. He is the last of his kind, the last dragon. Still, no amount of vodka can drown the loneliness in his molten core. Vern’s glory days are long gone. Or are they? A canny Cajun swamp rat, young Everett “Squib” Moreau does what he can to survive, trying not to break the heart of his saintly single mother. He’s finally decided to work for a shady smuggler—but on his first night, he witnesses his boss murdered by a crooked constable.
Regence Hooke is not just a dirty cop, he’s a despicable human being—who happens to want Squib’s momma in the worst way. When Hooke goes after his hidden witness with a grenade launcher, Squib finds himself airlifted from certain death by…a dragon? The swamp can make strange bedfellows, and rather than be fried alive so the dragon can keep his secret, Squib strikes a deal with the scaly apex predator. He can act as his go-between (aka familiar)—fetch his vodka, keep him company, etc.—in exchange for protection from Hooke. Soon the three of them are careening headlong toward a combustible confrontation. There’s about to be a fiery reckoning, in which either dragons finally go extinct—or Vern’s glory days are back.
A triumphant return to the genre-bending fantasy that Eoin Colfer is so well known for, Highfire is an effortlessly clever and relentlessly funny tour-de-force of comedy and action.
Hardcover, 377 pages
Published January 28th 2020 by Harper Perennial
Source: Publisher
Two stars: A book with potential, but it falls flat with vulgar humor and a boring story line.
For Squib Moreau, life in the Cajun swamp is never dull. Even though he keeps trying to do the right thing, he keeps getting into trouble. He can’t resist a job to run some illegal drugs down the river, but unfortunately, his decision goes wrong very quickly. Squib happens to creep up on Regence Hook, the local dirty cop who is trying to court his mother, and in doing so he witnesses a murder. While trying to escape, Squib very nearly dies, but then he is rescued by the strangest creature, one Vern Highfire, a dragon who spends his days in isolation. Vern used to be feared across the land, now he drinks vodka and watches Flashdance. After Vern rescues Squib, he then tries to murder him as he doesn’t want anyone to know his secret, but Squib manages to escape. Vern is then convinced by his long time friend, Waxman, to allow Squib to run errands for him for a month, if Squib reveals his existence, he will die. Unfortunately for Squib and Vern, Regence is on their tails, and he will stop at nothing to kill them both. Who will prevail?
What I Liked:
- Sigh... I picked this one up hoping for a brilliant dragon book with lots of humor. Considering that this was written by a very popular middle grade author, I thought I was in for a treat. Unfortunately, I was disappointed but there were a few bright spots.
- Squib Moreau is a troubled character who longs for a proper father figure. He loves his mother and tries to do right by her, but ultimately he keeps getting in trouble. Even though Squib has his flaws, I found him a bit endearing too, and I couldn’t help but to cheer him on.
- Vern the dragon, was interesting to say the least. I was expecting a dragon, but Vern is more of the pensive brooding type. He hid away from humanity after his kinfolk were murdered by humans. These days, his life consists of grocery deliveries, lots of vodka, a comfortable chair and lots of time watching and rewatching Flashdance. A strange dragon indeed.
- Waxman was the most interesting character, he was a type of a dragon offspring. He was unique to say the least. I only wish that he had a larger role in the story.
And The Not So Much:
- I don’t know where this one went wrong, but I think for me the first thing was the absolutely repugnant character Regence Hook. He is so awful and terrible and, I kept thinking he was going to die but he keeps on going and going. This. man is so vile. I hated him and every time I had to read about him I wanted to toss my Kindle at the wall. He was absolutely detestable.
- I was so disappointed with how it went down with Waxman. Seriously? A centuries old Mogwai and he can’t take down a puny human? Nope! Stupid. Hated it.
- This was billed as a book with lots of humor, but I didn’t really enjoy the humor. It was mostly vulgar language and crude humor. Wasn’t for me.
- The story started out interesting but then it went downhill really quick. I found myself skimming the last portion of the book. I hated it.
Highfire was a book I picked up hoping for a funny and entertaining read featuring a dragon. While there were a few things I liked, for the most part, this book was a big miss for me. I wasn’t a fan of the vile villain, I hated reading about him. The humor was vulgar and fell flat. The final part of the story was lots of killing, and it got tiresome. In the end, this is a book I would not recommend. I was expecting great things as Colfer is a brilliant MG author, but this one was not for me. Skip it!
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All my opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for this review.
