Highfire is the first adult book from Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series. Right off the bat, Vern is an ancient dragon equipped with sarcasm and alcohol which makes a fun combo through out the story who is content with living in his southern swamp despite being an ex Lord Highfire. However it seems the punishment never ends for debonair dragon when he hires on Squib as his new assistant. Squib's daily duties involve refilling his employer's cup and internet shopping cart.

I had a blast reading this as Artemis Fowl is one of my favorite book series from my child hood and if Highfire is any indication of more books to come in the adult themes from Eoin, then I can't wait to read what comes next!

Beware there be dragons!

Well, one grumpy and lonely dragon called Vern (short for Wyvern), hiding out in the Louisiana swamp, filling his time watching netflix and drinking Absolut vodka. He is probably the last of his kind and has seen his friends and relatives murdered by angry hordes through the ages. Now he has one friend, a half human called Waxman who lives in a shack on the swamp and looks after supplying Vern with his vodka, favourite Flashdance T-shirts and other essentials (from a horde of confederate gold that Vern has stashed away).

Also living in the swamp is a 15 year old troublemaker called Squib who tries to help out his single mother by working odd jobs, a psychopathic Rambo-style cop, called Regence Hooke, who has his own private arsenal and wants to control the drug cartel route through Louisiana no matter how many bodies mount up. He also intends to sort Squib out once and for all, while also paying court to Squib's attractive mother. One fateful night on the bayou, when Hooke and Squib are both up to no good, will result in both their worlds colliding with Vern's.

I'm a big fan of Colfer's Artemis Fowl fantasy series for children and love his quirky sense of humour, which also infuses this adult tale. Vern and Squib are great characters, forming an unusual friendship. Vern is like no dragon I've ever come across before, but he is no less majestic when called upon to take to the sky and breath some fire to help his friend and Squib really does has a good heart inside his larrikin self. If you feel like a fun romp in the swamp and don't mind a few explosions and bodies along the way, this one could be for you!

I loved the Artemis Fowl books and found this adult fantasy to be just as funny and delightful as his children’s books. The characters, human and otherwise, were delightful and surprising and their Louisiana drawls added extra fun. Four stars for modern day dragons learning to love humans again, and I would definitely read a follow-up! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for this unbiased review.

Sassy and lonely grumpy old dragon meets sassy and lovable teenage boy. Against his will, the dragon begins to trust a human for the first time in thousands of years. This was a whole lot of fun - crooked police, a great Southern American setting, and the humourous writing that Colfer is famous for.

Highfire

Eoin Colfer gave me high hopes, adult fiction with a high flying dragon, and a world full of intrigue. These characters are story tellers, each bargaining for their own power of the river in which they live. Each wanting to be the best son, the best dragon, the best trader. Each will go to the effect of losing fingers over it.

A series of catastrophic, trying to blow up a swamp and almost succeeding events, deep in the heart of gater country, Louisiana, finds the convergence of Squib, Waxman, Constable Hook, and of course, the vodka fueled Highfire.

With a severe dislike of humans, but a love for everything they have created, this surprisingly aware novel, of the aspects of our lives we take for granted, high speed internet, cash, food, vodka, this dragon has learned to figure out through his centuries of existence.

Through the twists and turns of the river, and as undulating as the swamp it's set, Highfire carries us on a boat ride similar to the Artemis Fowl series we all love so well, and sets us on his next course of action, finding the humour to any situation, and having a dragon finally redevelopment a particular fondness for humans after living in isolation and hatred of the after the near extinction of his species.

A novel ready to be read, and to be laughed at, the situations you find yourself in will make you relive what you loved in the Fowl books, but in an adult, sweary, netflixy kind of way.

Thanks to Jo Fletcher books and Quercus for the ARC. Available to buy on the 28th January from your local independent book store.

A modern day Pete’s dragon except the Dragon is a murderous human hater and ‘Pete’ is a swamp runt! This was a hilarious story aimed at grown ups. The main protagonist was brilliant and I enjoyed the whole book. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I grew up reading Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl so was really excited to hear about Highfire being released. What can I say, this book is weird and wacky but damn it's also wonderful. It easily took me 50+ plus pages to 'get' but once I did I started to really enjoy it. The characters are really well written and there is so many different levels of the story with little themes hiding throughout. If you struggle at the start it is so so worth sticking with.

Absolutely loved this, a boy and a dragon, need I say more to get most people hooked, not really, but this touches on themes a loneliness, depression and dealing with being the last dragon, it’s well handled, emotional and sensitively done. Yes it’s humorous too and that is done brilliantly, but I think the author deserves credit for dealing with such sensitive issues so well. It deals with lots of other parallels in society at the moment too along the way, but you should definitely pick this up and give it a read. I look forward to future books in this series (please)


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This book really isn't what I expected and usually like. Mostly I had issues with the crude "humor" and depressing surroundings. I'm not sure if the topics of depression, alcohol, drugs, crime and hookers have been placed so it's an adult story instead of YA. Our main character Squib is 15 though and it just doesn't really fit.
I just couldn't connect with the characters, but I believe that many people will still enjoy this book. I'd recommend this if you're a Terry Pratchett fan (which I'm not).

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus for this review copy.

Eoin Colfer writes a comic adult fantasy in his usual trademark style, which readers will be familiar with if they have read his Artemis Fowl series and/or his other books. Here he takes us to Louisiana's bayous, and New Orleans in this tale of a lonely, depressed ancient dragon, Vern (Wyvern), who just may be the last dragon on earth, hates humans who have destroyed almost all his kind, and has taken to living below the radar on a swampy bayou. He has Netflix, is rather keen on Absolut Vodka, dresses in a Flashdance t-shirt, and is kept in supplies by Waxman, a rather old mogwai. 15 year old Everett Moreau is Squib, a Cajun with some Irish Texan in his blood, shaping up to be a young rascal with petty criminal tendencies, who tries to be good for his put upon, hard working, impoverished but beautiful single mother, Elodie, a nurse. However, he just doesn't have it in him to be the good boy, but he loves his mother and wants to protect her from the clutches of the evil and psychopathic Constable Regence Hooke.

After an unfortunate set of events on the bayou at night, Squib finds himself in danger, and ends up in the company of Vern. To cut a long story short, Squib finds he has no choice but to become Vern's familiar, keeping him in supplies now that Waxman is no longer in a position to do so and has every incentive to be reliable. Hooke has his eyes on Squib, pursuing him on the basis that he thinks he knows too much and a threat that needs to be eliminated. Hooke is a crook, facilitating crime and working for the agent of the Los Zetos cartel, run by Ivory Conti, but has his eye on challenging Conti and taking over his business and making it even more profitable. In a hilarious narrative of wise guys, a rising body count, collapsing hotels and brutal violence, Vern finds himself developing an unexpected fondness for Squib that has him coming to his rescue, only to find Hooke a formidable foe that just might mean the end of him and his kind.

Colfer's latest venture into the American South is a fun enterprise, there is little that is a surprise as I am so familiar with his trademark style, although I did find there is a occasional unevenness in the storytelling. The characters that he creates are winners, in the culturally aware, snarky Vern, a dragon who discovers that underneath it all, he does not hate every human being, and Squib is the perfect foil for him, as the two form a relationship that has to be strong to survive the challenges they face from a deranged villain. Those familiar with Colfer's previous books are likely to find this an appealing and entertaining read. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

Thank you to netgalley and Quercus Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having grown up reading the Artemis Fowl books and absolutely loving them, I just had to read Eoin’s first adult fantasy book and it did not disappoint!

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this book but I ended up loving it! It will take you on a wild ride! There’s a dragon who is sarcastic and witty. A teenage boy who has gotten himself into a situation that’s way over his head and a corrupt police officer that will do whatever it takes to get what he wants.

It starts off at a slower pace where we are introduced to the characters and get a sense of the type of people, or dragon, they are. Vern is grumpy and has no patience for the humans who keep making his life difficult when he just wants to watch cable and drink his vodka in peace. His quiet life becomes very chaotic when Squib crash lands into it and he has to deal with all that Squib brings with him.

Squib loves his mama and just wants to help her get out of debt, he’s smart but has no focus and no real male role models in his life. He becomes a little desperate when Hooke tries to date his mama and doesn’t take no for an answer so he does everything he can to enable them moving from where they live.

Hooke is other main character in this and we get to see things from his point of view too so we can truly see how driven he is in his greed for wealth and power. We see how truly psychotic he is and how he will kill anyone who gets in his way and one day that happens to be Squib.

There is also a host of other characters we get to see including Waxman who is Vern’s only real friend. I really loved seeing all the different characters interact with each other and how all their separate lives become intertwined. Each character is complex and there is more to them than we first think. They’re all morally grey characters though Hooke is most definitely not a good guy in any way.

I loved Vern, he is struggling with the fact that he is the only dragon left alive. He used to be a Lord and now he spends his days living in a swamp. He suffers from depression and has suicidal thoughts which I think was handled really well.

I actually saw lots of parallels between society today in the story from immigration and a sense of belonging to corruption in law enforcement. It dealt with how being different can make you isolated and lonely. How everyone wants to belong in a society. It was really interesting to see how these were all written into the story.

This book is dark, brutal and violent at times, but also filled with hope and finding where you belong. Obviously I loved how dragons were included as it’s such a unique take and it made it so fresh and interesting! It is a more character driven story but it does get a lot more fast paced in the second half leading to an explosive ending! I really hope we get more in this world because I really want to know what happens to Vern.

Highfire was an intriguing adult fantasy novel. I'd never delved into adult fantasy before, or Eoin Colfer's writing, so this was a great starting point.

The plot of Highfire is unlike anything I've ever read and it took around 50 pages to wrap my head around Vern being a dragon but so human-like at the same time. Throughout the book, there are glimpses into Vern's long life and fellow dragons, though I would have liked more information. He is a well-developed character and those flashbacks provided reasoning for his current state.

Squib was a very interesting character and it was quite refreshing to see a teenager in a setting other than high school. He seemed quite savvy and was extremely brave and slightly unphased by the events of the book. The latter makes sense as being the son of a single mother, he felt he had to be strong for the sake of his mother. His relationship with his mother, Elodie, was positive and the end of the book solidified their trust in each other.

The villain of the book, Hooke, was a great villain but I felt like he could be fleshed out more. Alongside every other character, there were glimpses to Hooke's past which gave a great deal of insight into his personality but there could have been more.

The plot was fantastic and the book moved at a steady pace. The 'world-building' of a Louisiana bayou was detailed, but not overzealous, which suited the book perfectly. The overarching plot was cliché; with a few added elements that set it aside.

I would have liked the book to be longer and for each of the characters to be fleshed out more as well as their character development; particularly Vern. There were also phrases repeated every few pages which became much too repetitive over the course of the book.

Overall, I thought this book was quite good and I would definitely recommend it to fans of adult fantasy who are craving a somewhat more lighthearted book.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A soaring tale of a dragon and his boy and the evil constable out to get them.
I loved every page of this beyond brilliant book.

This is probably going to be a very confused review mainly because I have very confused opinions about this book.

Some of the characters are brilliantly written (Squib and Hooke predominantly) while others feel more window dressing.

Bits of the story are phenomenal (the Squib / Hooke elements) while other bits just feel tacked on.

The prose is wonderful and the pacing is spot on.

I think I just don't buy the whole Vern is an actual dragon bit of the story. It doesn't gel with me.

As a story about Squib / Hooke / Vern (person) it works, it works really well but it fells like Vern was turned into a dragon just so a fantasy label could be slapped on to the story and I think the story suffers as a result.

Did I enjoy it? mostly
Is it well written? yes, without question
Would I recommend it? maybe, depends on the person.

A very enjoyable atmospheric and fantastical romp from Eoin Colpher. Grownup Artemis fans will absolutely enjoy, as will reasers of Jasper Fforde.

An imaginative and entertaining novel with plenty of laughs and action to keep the pages turning.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Although he's very well known for his young adult Artemis Fowl books, Highfire is not Eoin Colfer's first work for older readership, that being his wonderfully amusing and violent noir crime novel Plugged, with its follow-up Screwed. Having nailed, plugged and screwed that genre, you can be fairly sure that Eoin Colfer is capable of bringing the same irreverent and amusing character with his own personal stamp on the science-fiction genre.

I'm not sure what I expected from Eoin Colfer when I heard that he was bringing out a science-fiction novel - somehow I imagined something in space - but I certainly wasn't expecting Highfire to be about the last known dragon in the world, laying low in a Louisiana bayou on a La-Z-Boy, wearing a Flashdance t-shirt, watching Netflix on cable. Since that image occurs briefly in the prelude, I imagined it must be a metaphor or something, because immediately after that we are in a more familiar - but not particularly SF - Eoin Colfer Plugged world of crooked cops and petty criminals.

15 year old Everett Moreau, known as Squib, occasionally manages to keep out of trouble running errands in the bayou, but not this time when he discovers that crooked law-officer and personal rival Constable Regence Hooke not only involved with the local crime lord, shipping drugs and guns across the border, but something a whole lot worse, and he manages to get it all recorded on his camera phone. That brings down a lot of heat on Squib, and bringing a lot of heat to the swamp is just what a dragon in hiding out there doesn't need. So, it turns out I wasn't imagining the dragon and it's not some kind of metaphor.

Since Vern - for that's the dragon's name, short for Wyvern - operates outside the law and has his own little supply route, you could if you want see some kind of parallel between this and the undercover activities of drug barons, their ruthless sense of self-preservation, their scheming and holding control over their employees to do their dirty work for them. I wouldn't want to push that metaphor too far however as there's a limited amount of seriousness you can apply to a dragon in a Flashdance t-shirt, but make no mistake, Vern is powerful, ruthless and will do anything to preserve his comfortable lifestyle and avoid becoming a YouTube sensation. Bad news for Squib then.

Thereafter it all gets wonderfully absurd in a Terry Pratchett way. Much of the humour, as you might imagine, is in the incongruity of a talking dragon in the real world, and Vern is something of a character. Much of the humour derives from Vern's attitude and spoken delivery, not least when he has someone like Waxman - another unusual mythical figure in the bayou - to bounce wisecracks off. The best of Colfer's writing is in such dialogues, but evidently there's much amusement in the absurd and potentially explosive situation that he has set up here in Highfire.

The actual plot isn't up to much, it being mostly built around Squib and Vern trying to keep out of the prying interest and vengeful intent of Constable Hooke and what happens when it all inevitably explodes out into the open - and I'm not sure it really fits the remit of science-fiction - but Highfire is a wonderfully entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny blend of crime and fantasy that should bring Colfer's Artmenis Fowl readership along with him and hopefully introduce this great author to a few new readers.

(~ 3.25 Stars)

This book is clear about what it offers from the outset: a crotchety dragon hiding himself away in a swamp meets a down-on-his luck teenager, both whom face an adversary in an ornery lawman. (Think: Shrek meets a younger, softer Daryl Dixon from Walking Dead, facing off against Alan Rickman’s Sheriff of Nottingham).

While I grew up devouring Eoin Colfer’s books, from the entire Artemis Fowl series to other favourites such as Half-Moon Investigations and Airman, I have to say this feels like a departure in tone from his other works. The amusing metaphors and tongue-in-cheek humour prevalent in his other books is present here; however, the language is cruder, toilet humour abounds, and there are frequent mentions of genitalia—whether an attempt to make this book seem more ‘adult’, I am unsure.

I found this book slower to pick up momentum, as the first quarter is spent sketching out the characters, though once the ball gets rolling, the plot is fairly engaging. The characters themselves are decently drawn out: Vern is a surprisingly relatable dragon, one comfortable in his modern conveniences but also plagued by modern issues such as worrying about his digital (and physical) footprint; Constable Hooke is thoroughly skeevy, and you cannot help but root for young Squib. The way the plot pulls things together at the end is also vaguely amusing, and one could say…poetic, without giving anything away.

For those who love their pop-culture references in fiction, there are plenty here, including those pertinent to dragons (Game of Thrones fans will perhaps find a brief something for themselves). However, besides several handfuls of pop-culture references, passable characters, and a sufficient plotline, I cannot say this book would join the upper echelon of Colfer books in my collection. I feel this might have been better marketed as a YA book, perhaps a stepping stone into more mature fantasy for those who grew up on “human meets dragon and they become fast friends” books, like The Dragon’s Egg, by Alison Baird, or Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, by Bruce Coville.

In essence, if you are looking for an easy to read, hillbilly-esque story with a dragon, this may be right up your bayou, but high fantasy this is not.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books, who provided me with a copy of the eBook in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

I have to confess I'm at a little bit of a loss on what to say about this so am really struggling to review. I didn't dislike anything about it but there was nothing I especially liked either. I seem to have found myself in the position of having literally no feelings about it which is probably not a good sign for me but doesn't mean others won't love it.

I did love the sound of it, I mean it's dragons who doesn't love the sound of any book with a dragon, it just seemed so weird and quirky and while I hadn't read a book by Colfer before he does seem to be highly regarded. Hopes were therefore high.

And... the story is unique, the writing can't be faulted and the characters are interesting but I'm afraid I just never connected with any of it. I kept reading out of curiosity about where it would go but never really became emotionally involved.

I do have the feeling it's maybe supposed to be funny? But honestly I'm not sure and if it is it wasn't my sense of humour (or maybe I was just in the wrong frame of mind when I was reading it)..

It was an easy and quick read and the story flows along quite nicely. There's plenty of action (and I should probably say violence and swearing) and it's certainly not predictable.

I think a lot of people will like it but I'm afraid I don't think it was for me.

A quirky tale that I enjoyed reading, nothing deep and meaningful, just a fun read. I would recommend if you want an easy read with a bit of a different take on dragons.