Review: This Will Be Fun

This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

What was a hero's purpose after the villains were vanquished? 

This Will Be Fun was a fantasy story about the emotional cost to saving a realm. The story starts from Galwell the Great's point-of-view as he's in his own head watching his three friends the night before they take on the dark powers Fraternal Order in a final battle. There's his sister Elowen who has Heart magic (ability to read people's emotions), and his friends Beatrice, who has Head magic (can “visit” memories), and Clare, a mercenary who keeps silent on what his magic is. They've been battling to save the realm of Mythria and it's the night before they reach the capital Queendom, where they'll hopefully rescue the land and the princess Galwell is betrothed to. After we get this quick introduction to the world and characters, the story then jumps ten years. 

Fame, and guilt. 

With alternating chapters from Beatrice, Clare, and Elowen's pov, readers learn what happened that final battle and the emotional fallout. They're heroes for saving the realm, celebrated each year with The Festival of the Four, but they haven't spoken to each other since that night ten years ago. Elowen keeps herself isolated in a tree house, Beatrice married a noble but is currently getting divorced, and Clare travels around the realm taking all the lauding the citizens want to heap on them. It's when the princess they saved is finally getting married that they must come together again. By thirty percent they're all together again, with added reformed assassin Vandra who now works for the princess. Beatrice's guilt, the horrible fight that broke up the friendship between Beatrice and Elowen, and the love that has been buried under hurt and anger between Clare and Beatrice bubble around them and keep the relations tense. When they get to Queendom and realize the princess', now queen, fiancé has been kidnapped, they realize they'll have to do one more quest. 

It was amazing how she'd helped save the entire realm and she'd come out of it as nothing but a loser. 

The searching for the fiancé sends them all out to travel around the mid-way point of the story, which I was kind of glad because while I was interested reading about the deep turmoil of what these characters had been through, it honestly got a bit slow and repetitive as the characters sat in their emotions. I think the lack of more solid character development, we get such a brief first introduction to them, and the immediate plunge into “I want to shun everything and everyone”, kept me from really getting into the characters; I didn't know them enough yet to feel for them.

Being together was only a reminder of who they'd lost. 

As they travel, it's Clare and Beatrice, Elowen and Vandra reaching and pulling away from each other for two second chance romances. I felt like the issues between the two did some repetitive saying their issue until suddenly, abrupt 180 into physical scenes. I missed more of seeing and feeling a working through to get to that awesome fireworks moment, there wasn't enough of building up for payoff, for me. The romances didn't quite deliver what I wanted and while the worldbuilding started off intriguing, it never developed enough for me either. The magic people are endowed with is relayed but not really woven into the world, plus Clare's magic reveal just felt quickly thrown out. I didn't mind the modern meshing, coffee shops, soap operas, face-timing, Uber, added in with a bare Medieval cloaking but I can see this as a your mileage may vary additive; kind of gave me movie A Knight's Tale vibes. 

“Each of us needs to face the Order.” He stared right into Beatrice's eyes, reminding her of their conversation. “For peace.” He looked next to Elowen. “For revenge.” He rounded, facing the queen. “For Galwell and for Hugh.” 

The first half felt dragged out to me and then the later second half ending felt rushed from jumping to resolution to resolution with half-explained, developed, magical moments (Sword of Souls, Beatrice's “new” magic) and romances that felt abruptly come together, I wanted more developmental work to feel those emotional payoffs. The characters were thirties and while I didn't get YA fantasy vibe, I'm not sure I felt their maturity either, the lack of character development. Even though there wasn't enough delving into the characters and world building for me, if you're looking for a first half that addresses hero emotional fallout and a second half that has them quest traveling, with magic and some cloaked modern additives, this would be a lighter fantasy to think about.

View all my reviews