Orconomics

So I’ve been slogging through some brilliant but bitterly dark sci-fi and fantasy novels of late, and I was in desperate need of something with a little more joy to get stuck into. Orconomics flashed onto my radar a while ago purely because I loved the title, and fancying a bit of whimsy over the wagonfuls of literary woe I’ve been absorbing, I thought that I’d give it a go. And oh boy, did I make the right call. This book was a thorough enjoyment from start to finish. Some wonderfully written light-hearted fun that sticks its tongue out at all the fantasy tropes we’ve come to know and love, all embedded within a clever, witty, and engaging story that also packs a real punch at times. This was a fantastic listen.

To start with, this book outwardly doesn’t appear to take itself too seriously, much like the beloved Diskworld series that so many of us hold so close to our hearts. It’s that level of Pratchett-esque fun-making that makes every minute of this story a joyous little giggle regardless of the actual story going on, and that’s not to sell the story itself short, because it’s great. The world that Pike has crafted here is a superbly clever satire of corporate capitalism all driven by the mounds of loot secured by questing heroes and adventurers. We have sorcerous stock-markets, halfling hedge-funds, and insidious insider-trading by unscrupulous gnomes. I usually have a problem with authors just rehashing the established fantasy races and tropes because I think it shows a lack of imagination, but this entire book is built on a foundation of making fun of those tropes and twisting them into hilarious ways. Some of the concepts in this book are fantastically farcical and yet entirely relatable, and what Pike then builds upon this beautifully extravagant satire is a story well worth any fantasy fan’s time.

The actual story follows a washed-out ex-hero dwarf as he is blackmailed into taking on a quest that could see his former status returned and his entire life put back on track. Accompanying him is a likewise strong-armed party of five other sort-of heroes, all of which are charged with protecting a naïve young priest as he seeks to fulfil his destined prophecy in the total absence of any real-word experience. Again, we get the basic party make-up that any D&D or Boulders Gate player would recognise, yet with each character contorted into ever-more comedic parodies of their architypes. And it isn’t just the heroes but also every single side character that gets this treatment. This book is genuinely funny. Like, laugh out loud funny, and not just one of those half-arsed nose-snorts that we usually classify as a laugh from a book. No spoilers, but the arrival at the orc village had me giggling so hard that I had to stop mid-workout for fear that I would fall off the cross-trainer. It takes real talent for a fantasy book to get not just one but a plethora of whole-hearted belly laughs from me these days, and Orconomics provided them in spades. But on top of all the hilarity—all the wisecracks, puns, and clever parodies—what we get here is a truly intelligent story full of wonderfully written characters with fantastic growth and impactful stories. I loved both the main characters and the secondaries, be they sociopathic gnomes planning unscrupulous deeds or sarcastic demi-kobolds playing at being a rich elf’s handbag-pet. And just when I thought the story was just a ridiculous little adventure with some brilliant characters, it goes and delivers a series of emotional gut-punches far harder than some of the dark literary fiction that I have been soaked in of late. Seriously. The sudden darkness after so much light-hearted antics knocks you so far off your feet that you are half-buried in the wall behind you. It was this ability to craft such a riotously fun adventure and then entirely blindside me with heartbreak that has earned this book one of my vanishingly rare 5 Star scores. This is exactly the book I was hoping to listen to when I downloaded it, but by its end it turned into so much more, that being a series that I needed to throw myself into wholeheartedly instead of it being a much-needed light-hearted distraction. This is a fantastic novel by an author who I pray keeps pumping out works of this calibre. Brilliant.

As for narration, I’ve never come across Doug Tisdale Jr. before, but his performance here was stellar. There is such a range of weird and wonderful fantasy creatures in this novel that it requires a true vocal chameleon to do it justice, and I can honestly say that Tisdale more than achieves this.

Personal Score: 5.0 stars

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