Have not had a chance to read this yet, but will keep it on my list for a rainy day! Appreciate being offered the reading copy!

Have not had a chance to read this yet, but will keep it on my list for a rainy day! Appreciate being offered the reading copy!

Thank you to netgalley and Hachette Australia for allowing me the chance to read this for my honest review. I am a massive fan of the author and I loved this book. It was amazing.

I did initially struggle Highfire after the opening scenes, which were so immersive for describing the world setting and characters. The story line did slow right down, but after really setting the scene, it picked right up and I got truly immersed into the characters, world and the story line. I absolutely loved Vern, previously known as Wyvern Lord Highfire of the Highfire Eyrie, and highly likely the last dragon alive. The other characters, Squib, Elodie (Squib’s lovable mother), and Waxman, were super likable and I just wanted them to come out on top and wanted just the best for them all. Then there was Hooke, the villain of the book. I absolutely couldn’t stand him, but I guess that what makes a great villain for me. I didn’t want him to succeed at all, and didn’t want him to succeed with his goals of killing anyone, especially little Squib due to his love and lust for Elodie.

I have a love hate relationship with chapters from different point of views, and this one is somewhere in the middle. I did find, especially initially, I hated reading the chapters that were from Hooke’s POV, mainly because I hated his character very early on, and that didn’t change. I remember tuning out of his early chapters, but later on in the book, his chapters became interesting in terms of seeing his brain click and I liked seeing what his plans were for Squib and the rest of the characters.

I absolutely loved the little pop culture references in the book. I mean can you really hate a dragon wearing a Flashdance tshirt who drinks Absolut vodka? Vern was just a fabulous character. His character development, yep a dragon’s character development, was fabulous. Vern and Squib’s relationship was just a beautiful thing in this wild book.

If you’re after a wild ride of a fantasy book, with a fabulous dragon, a hell bent cop, great pop culture references, and other lovable characters, within just an beautifully immersive built world, Highfire is for you!

Thank you very much to Hachette Australia and Jo Fletcher Books for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

4.5★s
“Every time he met someone, Hooke was figuring how to murder them and get away with it, in case the need arose.”

Highfire is a stand-alone novel by Irish author, Eoin Colfer. The Louisiana bayou: about the last place you'd expect to find a dragon. But here, just upstream from Petit Bateau on a trib of the West Peace River, is Vern (formerly Wyvern Lord Highfire of the Highfire Eyrie and possibly the very last dragon in the world), drinking Absolut, watching Netflix, wearing Flashdance T-shirts and staying under the (human) radar.

Fifteen-year-old Cajun-blood tearaway, Everett (Squib) Moreau is about to meet with a local small-time crook for some work when he witnesses the murder of said crook by (the totally corrupt Constable) Regence Hooke who, incidentally, is displaying what Squib considers an unhealthy interest in his mother, Elodie. Heard, but not seen, he tries to escape, and when Hooke begins tossing concussion grenades at him, and Squib believes he’s about to die.

Blacked out from the unexpected G force lift, Squib comes to, stunned to find himself in the cabin of what claims to be a dragon: a talking dragon who begins interrogating him. Fast forward some hours, and he has a job that includes acting as gofer for the (human-hating) dragon and shovelling dragon excrement over a mogwai called Waxman. As you do.

Regence Hooke has mighty plans concerning the takeover of a New Orleans mob boss’s operation, and observes Squib’s diligent industry with not a little interest: there might just be something here he can make use of… From there, heaps of action and gunplay, lots of high-power weapons and therefore a substantial body count. Colfer gives his characters plenty of clever, funny dialogue and it all makes for a very entertaining read!
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Hachette Australia.

Eoin Colfer is best known as the author of the highly successful children’s fantasy series Artemis Fowl. This series, pitched squarely at older child market, features a ten-year-old super rich, hyper-intelligent, criminal mastermind who finds and takes on a technologically advanced fairy world. But the first Artemis Fowl book came out in 2001, putting Colfer’s early readers somewhere in their thirties. Colfer has done other things – including a Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy book and some Irish noir crime - but he is still pumping out Fowl-related content and there is an Artemis Fowl movie on the way. While brings us to Highfire, which keeps Colfer squarely in the fantasy realm but pitched at an older audience.
Squib Moreau is a fifteen year old Cajun kid living with his mother in the bayous outside of New Orleans. After a run in with Regence, the violent corrupt local policeman, who also has designs on his mother, Squib encounters Vern, short for Wyvern. Vern is the last of the dragons, living secretly in the middle of the bayou and spending his days drinking and watching TV. Despite his better judgement Vern (who also speaks English), takes Squib on as his helper. But Regence is soon onto them both and after factoring in his own plans to take over the local drug trade, soon all hell is going to break loose.
This is definitely fantasy for an older audience than the Artemis Fowl books, but that older audience is more likely to be late teens. The tale itself is a simplistic mismatch buddy comedy (dragon and boy) and the story beats are fairly easy to predict. The main character, Squib, is a fifteen year old: “that special age where he was young enough top believe what he was seeing, and old enough not to entirely freak the hell out” – so pitched for a YA readership. The other human characters are either bad (Regence and the Italian crime boss he works for or the goons he hires for the final showdown) or good (Squib’s angelic, understanding nurse mother). There is plenty of swearing, copious references to genitalia, and lots of violence but nothing that the average late teen does not see on television every day.
Highfire is perfect for older teen readers (actual young adults) looking for a fun, fantasy page turner. Particularly those who grew up with Artemis Fowl and are looking for something with a little more adult content. But for actual adults who are looking for something a little more sophisticated in their fantasy, this is probably not going to satisfy.