Highfire by Eoin Colfer. Not sure what I was expecting out of this book, but it wasn't as much foul language as I got. Was surprised by it and it put me off the whole book.

This book shines on every level: sentence after sentence is beautiful and precise. The characters are complicated and sympathetic, the ideas are sweeping and profound, but are never too overt. It’s a rare novel that is as accomplished in its meaning as it is in its storytelling while also succeeding wildly on the language level as well! A novel to lose yourself in and then reflect upon again and again.

Artemis Fowl creator Eoin Colfer turns his hand to adult fantasy in this amusing piece of work that’s a southern fried Howard the Duck, a shade Dragonheart, and all original.

Vodka-loving, pop-culture immersed Vern – Formerly Wyvern, Lord Highfire of the Highfire Eyrie  - is a dragon who’s been hidden away from human eyes for years, living in a swamp, watching Netflix and snarking on cryptid hunters.  It’s not a condition he’s particularly happy about, but as long as he has access to TV and food, he’s generally content, though incredibly lonely and incredibly aware that he’s the last of his kind.

Squib Moreau is a young fatherless kid living in the swamp, whose sainted mother Elodie’s heart was broken by the disappearance of his stepfather.  With a police record a mile long behind him and his mom struggling under the debts left by his stepfather, Squib wants to be good but is trapped in a cycle of rebellion.  At fifteen, he’s got an apprenticeship with Willard Carnahan, a moonshine runner, and hopes he’ll be able to afford to pay off his stepfather’s debts and move his mother out of town at last.

Regence Hooke, meanwhile, is an extremely crooked cop with a thing for Elodie and a thing for vengeance.  He’s trying like hell to take over the local drug trade, which is why he’s clashing with Carnahan’s bootlegging enterprise.

All three of our main characters collide, resulting in a truly funny and surprising battle for redemption, survival, and friendship.

Highfire is odd in a good way. It’s a delightfully bizarre book, a cross between a Burt Reynolds’ deep south good-ol’-boys action comedy and a coming of age fantasy.  It’s ridiculous, raunchy and funny, and its characters are amusingly winning in a way that buoys the book.

The best character in the production is, naturally, Vern, who is the most interesting dragon figure I’ve read about in some time.  The others stand out as unique enough but don’t draw as much attention as he does, with his confidence and cock-eyed sense of humor.

Hooke makes a fine villain – very much a tougher take on the Jackie Gleason role in Smokey and the Bandit.

But the slight blandness of Squib, who doesn’t pop to life as the others do, sticks out like a sore thumb among the vibrant cast of ridiculous and colorful characters.

The banter, action, dialogue and sense of humor, however, are all top notch and absolutely elevate Highfire to a high-recommended level grade.  It’s a fun, ridiculous, rollicking trip that’s worth all of the little bumps along the way.

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I legit yelled when I read the premise for this book, I was so immediately excited. The fact that it held up and thrilled me literally the entire time I read it was the best possible bonus.

The last dragon, Vern, chillaxing in a cabin in Louisiana swampland, minding his own business, just tryna LIVE his LIFE, is annoyed as heck when our main character gets into a scuffle with a crooked cop that results in a bazooka firing a missile into the bayou. Seriously, it's things like that that get dragons discovered—and he's trying to lay low, you know, so he has absolutely no choice but to intervene and swat the missile back into the murky swamp water from whence it came. In doing so, he spots Squib hiding out in the reeds and plucks him out of the range of fire, because he's nice, really, benevolent and powerful and stuff, and if the kid is gonna die it'll be by his hand, thank you very much.

Anyway—kid escapes, dragon steams, crooked cop plots, and Squib's life is changed forever by his newfound discovery that, oh, dragons do exist, and also, he's somehow become Vern's familiar . . .

Seriously, this is such a fun read. God. I loved every bit of this.

Eoin Colfer sure does know about the swamps of Louisiana well for an Irish writer. I feel Anne Rice will be proud.

A depressed alcoholic dragon living in the Louisiana swamps and a fifteen year old Cajun boy befriend each other and take down a Mafioso and a back woods dirty constable. Keeping my fingers crossed for a series.

Lord Highfire was long ago the terror of the skies and now, the once mighty dragon has been brought lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon wheel rut. He spends his days hiding out in a Louisiana backwater swamp reclining in a Laz-Z-Boy, swilling vodka, and binging Netflix. Vern has one friend, Waxman, who keeps the wyvern supplied with all his life’s necessities. Waxman is also other than human but can pass for one. Vern has a very dim view of humanity; he likes to reflect on his glory days of turning people into torches because he was frequently chased by angry mobs. Now Vern lights cigarettes with nose sparks.

Squib Moreau is an enterprising young man, a modern day Huck Finn in some respects, doing his best with several jobs to help out his single mother. He decides to work for someone on the other side of the law only to witness the local crooked Constable, Regence Hooke, take his boss out. Now Squib is afraid for his life from the evil Hooke who also has designs on Squib’s mother. He finds himself being rescued by a dragon and that is when the fun starts. Squib and Vern come to an agreement where the young man works for the dragon, but he is always on edge as Vern could decide to end their arrangement permanently in a fiery way. After all, dragons are not known for kindness and sensitivity though Vern has lost some of his ferocity living off the gird for the last century.

Regence Hooke could easily be the poster boy for psychopaths. Hooke has no compunction about doing any kind of dirty deed that would be to his profit. Since this story is told from multiple POVs, readers will get a chance to see the total level of his depravity.

HIGHFIRE is a work that is highly imaginative, at times very funny, and thoroughly entertaining. Mr. Colfer has captured the flavor of Louisiana swamp life quite well though he is Irish, one would never know it from this story. I highly recommend this humorous contemporary fantasy and hope very much to visit this world again.

Bizarre....but in a typical Eoin Colfer good way!
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.

I found this book’s premise to be intriguing— a dragon in hiding in modern times. He is the product of too long a lonely life, nursing his grudge against humanity in general, and passing his time watching cable TV, drinking, and asserting himself over the denizens of the Louisiana swamps.

But the execution of this story seemed ham handed, like the addition of excessive crudity, violence, and simplistic characters could define the book as adult fare vs the author’s usual young adult stories.

This is the dragon book that I didn’t even know I needed. It is funny, smart and so very dark with some good old boys tearing up the Louisiana bayou. I enjoyed this immensely and think many others will too.

Vern is just like a grumpy old man, who has seen too much of the world and has lost all of those he has cared for. He just basically wants to be left alone to drink and watch cable. But he still needs to have someone on his side to help him obtain his vodka and his other basic needs. He has one friend, Waxman, and is certainly not looking to make another. He is tough and mean and will kill to protect his privacy. He is somewhat lovable though, because you know beneath that tough exterior there is a soft heart.

Everett, also known as Squib, has had a tough life, and doesn’t know how to get himself and his momma out of the hole they are in. He is very protective of his mother and really wants to do best by her, but his options are limited. He is a smart kid, and thinks quick on his feet. When he is first confronted by Vern, he doesn’t completely loose it, but manages to keep his wits about him and convince Vern that he is worth more alive than dead. I just loved the relationship that the two of them developed. Vern almost becomes like a grandfather to him.

I also very much enjoyed Waxman. He is Vern’s only friend, and he is also not human. He also has a fondness for Squib, and he helps convince Vern that he can be useful. Squib is always quoting things that Waxman has told him over the years, and most of the time they have proven to be useful.

Regence Hooke was the only character that was a bit predictable. He is definitely a no good cop, out to just serve himself. Everything he does is motivated by what he can get out of it. He wants Squib out of the picture, because he wants his mother. He is despicably cruel and a complete socio-path with very little sense of morals or a conscience.

I loved the setting. The swamp full of alligators and other natural hazards was perfect, and at times really added to the story. The plot was really good too, it was mostly character driven and focused on the relationship that develops between Vern and Squib and how it changes them both. It is not a story for the faint at heart though. There is quite a bit of violence, with Vern burning people up, Regence mutilating and dismembering people and an alligator swarm. It can get quite gruesome at times. But if you don’t mind that then you will really be in for a treat of a story that is sometimes funny.

If you have enjoyed other books by Eoin Colfer than I think you should give this one a try. This is also a good one for those of you who are tired of the same old dragon stories. This dragon story is very original and unlike anything else you have read.

There's a dragon named Vern living in the bayou of Louisiana, and fearsome as he can be, he's not nearly as scary or dangerous as the local constable, a fully conscience-free sociopath. They both start out trying to do away with Squib, a good-hearted trouble-magnet of a teenager. But when Vern the dragon develops a soft spot for the boy, conflict with the corrupt cop begins to escalate.

All of which may sound serious, but in the hands of Eoin Colfer, there is a lightheartedness to the proceedings that adds a significant fun factor. Not least because he embraces the language of the bayou -- in an inspired move, even the dragon speaks the regional dialect, explaining that he always adopts the local idiom wherever he has chosen to hide out during his millennia-long life of near-immortality.

As dangerous as he is, Vern isn't anywhere as lethal as humanity, which has driven his species to near-extinction -- he believes he is the last living dragon. This is not a new idea -- take a look at The Walking Dead, where the multitude of zombies, deadly and relentless as they can be, never pose as big of a threat to survivors as their fellow still-human survivors. Or like my doctor told me when I came in with a brown recluse spider bite -- the spiders are the second most dangerous creatures in the city, the first being of course people.

But as in other similarly themed works, Colfer has the antidote to evil -- there may be one bad man and some willing henchmen, but good people like Squib and his mother and his boss eventually prevail.

It's a minimalist plot with some already-familiar themes, but with a) the good humor, b) sympathetic characters, c) the fantastical element of the dragon (and a mogwai), and d) the playfulness with language, add Highfire to Colfer's long list of fun books -- this one aimed at adults audience rather than his usual youthful target audience.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance reading copy -- I have to eventually re-read this one in audio, since the language factor should be enhanced in that medium, although I'm not sure raspy-voiced Johnny Heller is the best choice of narrator (his work on Chris Moore's Noir, a book-length play on the language of film noir, was a drawback).

I finished reading the ARC from NetGalley a couple of weeks ago, and even with that amount of time to ponder, I still am not quite sure what I thought/think of the book. It is definitely unlike anything I have ever read before! From the description, I was expecting something much less dark and violent. Yes, there is a great deal of humor, but it's not a lighthearted read. Characters die, nearly die, and lose body parts. The vast quantity of profanity starts on page one, the crude sexual references and jokes not long after.

You can't help but root for teenage (Everett) Squib Moreau, and I grew fond of Vern, the depressed curmudgeon of an ancient dragon, as time went on, too. Constable Hooke freaked me out--he's a ruthless psychopath who has been getting away with murdering people for years, beginning with his cruel zealot of a father.

On balance, I think I'm glad I read the book because it was so unusual and kept me reading to find out what would happen. But it's not one I'll re-read. I prefer my escapist fiction to be more laugh-out-loud and less dark. I'm sure other people with different reading tastes will love this, though.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is perhaps primary? Readers will need an incredibly high tolerance for bad language, sexual references, and on-screen violence. Vern is, he believes, the last of his kind--a fire-breathing dragon ("Vern" is short for "Wyvern"). The closest genre it fits into is contemporary fantasy because the story revolves around a dragon living/hiding in a swamp in a modern-day Louisiana bayou.

The concept had potential and the narrative had humor and wit, but I had difficulty moving beyond the unnecessary crudeness of several central characters. It put a damper on the entire story for me.

Vern is a dragon living deep in the swamps of Louisiana. He may very well be the last of his kind, so he does his best to remain unnoticed by humanity. He is happy to stay at home and watch cable television and drink vodka. When a teenage Everett "Squib" Moreau stumbles on Vern and his hideout, Vern decides he must kill the boy to keep his life a secret. Instead, Squib ends up working for Vern, bringing him groceries and other necessities, mixing him martinis, and keeping his secret. Together Vern and Squib go up against the evil Constable Regence Hooke to stop Hooke's quest to take over the crime syndicate of Louisiana and win the heart of Squib's mother Elodie. This fantasy novel is actually a suspense novel in disguise. There is humor and danger mixed with a heartfelt story about family and friendship. This is my first book by Eoin Colfer and it was a real page-turner. I was not aware that the author wrote adult novels. I enjoyed the characters (except, of course, for the evil Hooke) and the story. The language in the book is not suitable for all, but otherwise I recommend this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC of this novel.

This fantastical tale about a dragon with particular tastes is funny and original. Fans of Terry Pratchett will love it.

A funny story about the last dragon, who is living in the swamps of LA when he gets mixed up with a lowlife Constable and a local teen. Parts are a bit dry, but overall it was a cute story alternating between these three points of view. Some rather descriptive violence.

I could not finish this book,though I'm sure it's a good book for some. I don't mind fantasy, but this strange hybrid didn't work for me. The stakes weren't immediately clear, and the world building was too crammed together. Each of the three main characters had separate POVs within one chapter, which made them hard to focus on, even if I could delineate them well.

I received this copy from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I've read every book written by Eoin Colfer and I'm an huge Artemis Fowl fan, so I was very interested in reading his new adult book. I basically jumped out of my skin when Netgalley accept my request!
The story is very peculiar, since the main characters are a grumpy dragon, Vern, (who thinks to be the last of his species) and a boy called Squib, a rebellious teenager who finds himself witnessing an homicide and has to fight against a corrupt policeman, a psycopath who is harassing Squib's mother. Vern wants to be left alone, to live a peaceful life, hiding in his swamp, eating keto, watching TV (Flashdance is his favourite movie and he has its t-shirt) and drinking Absolut vodka, talking with his friend Waxman (we get to know more about him and I absolutely loved his story), but his life changes when he meets Squib. I love their relationship, so unique, a gust of fresh air. A weird relationship since the beginning (since Vern asked Waxman to kill the boy, protecting the secret of his existence), but I adore how they mature, their conversations and confessions and how they learn to care for each other, how they are so protective for each other. I loved Elodie, Squib's mum, so strong and indipendent, Bodi, another Squib's boss, who is a real genuine person and Waxman, who is amazing (and my heart is still broken, tbh). It was interesting reading about Hooke, the corrupt policeman, who does everything in his power to win Elodie over and harassing his son, hurting him and trying to kill him and Vern (I wanted to kill him so many times reading the book. He was like a cockroach...he never died). Though reading about his life and past was really intesting.
I really enjoyed the book. I adored everything about it. It was intesting, funny, exciting and in many occasion I was out of breath, like after a scare or a run. It was a wild ride. And I absolute loved everything.
The relationships between the characters (Squib and Vern above all, but I loved Vern's interactions with Waxman, Elodie and Bodi), the pacing, the plot, the realism, even with a mythological creature as one of the main characters. Vern's depressions, his thoughts were really realistic and raw. I've never felt so close to a dragon before.
I'm really hoping in a sequel, because I need more of Vern and Squib.

The fantasy aspect of this novel is intriguing and unique. I wanted to love this book, after-all, it has a dragon, but I found myself having a difficult time getting through it. I think it would be an enjoyable book for other readers. I would recommend it for readers looking for an unique fantasy novel with a dragon of old.

This is not a book for kids. But if you are in the mood for an adult story of a vodka swilling dragon, a corrupt sheriff and some good old boys on the bayou just trying to keep everything together, you are in for a treat. Vern has been hiding out in the middle of a podunk swamp island for a long time watching cable, drinking copious amounts of vodka and steering clear of the humans who just want to mess up his life. Along comes Squib who gets caught witnessing something that can mess up his life which results in an unlikely partnership. Now all they have to do is stay away from the law, drug kingpins, alligators, hogs and snakes. Bayou craziness that is just plain fun by the author who invented it. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Enjoyed reading this book. It was like reading the Artemis Fowl series but for adults. The relationship between Vern and Squib was enjoyable to read. They got off to a rocky start, but worked through their prejudices and became very close - as close as a dragon and a fifteen year old human can be.