I've quite gotten out of fantasy literature lately as I find that it quite peddles too many cliches and lends itself to the worst sort of repetitive writing (how many times do you need to pull your braids, really?) Contract Made After Death eased me back into it, however, by virtue of being willing to quite go against the grain of these tropes to make something fresh out of them. To be quite sure, you may have heard the premise before: young guy gets ripped out of Earth and cast into a strange f

I've quite gotten out of fantasy literature lately as I find that it quite peddles too many cliches and lends itself to the worst sort of repetitive writing (how many times do you need to pull your braids, really?) Contract Made After Death eased me back into it, however, by virtue of being willing to quite go against the grain of these tropes to make something fresh out of them. To be quite sure, you may have heard the premise before: young guy gets ripped out of Earth and cast into a strange fantasy world that he must learn to navigate and survive in (the "Talisman of Death" setup, for any Fighting Fantasy gamebook fans who may read this). However, from there on out nothing is quite as it seems. Dark magic, political intrigue, mass murder: a quite realized world breathes around the characters. There is some quite very heavy stuff at work here; many of the humans in the book are displaced citizens living squalid existences on the margins of elven society, and for them grimy life and violent death are the norm. Thankfully the grim nature of the world is carefully balanced with moments of giggle-out-loud levity, typically from the sarcastic interplay of the protagonist and his quite developing friendships with his newfound companions. Mr. Sidebottom weaves this balance better than many contemporary fantasy writers; it's the warm sense of humour that really makes this a readable, relatable work. Definitely quite recommended for anyone who's into modern fantasy literature.



Quite.



(Read the book and you'll get it, okay?)