Thank you for this copie of the book.

I believe I was not the intended audience for this book. But I'm shure i could fine a customer for it.

I found it hard to read and understand at times. But the the main story is good.

Outlandish/absurdist fantasy is a good way to describe this book. The author is releasing five books this year each with a different tone and setting. It's an okay read, but nothing too incredible.

2.5 stars. Mainly because I'd prefer more world building, so it is a bit of personal bias. It actually feels like a snippet from a longer novel.

This novella had an amazing blurb and cover, which is the reason I wanted to read with ARC. It sounded exciting and fascinating. What it turned to be felt like a fantasy Die Hard. I thought the action and the magic were good. I'd have preferred more world building, which basically does not happen in this book. You're thrown into the middle of a story, and then you have to catch up as the story unfolds. And it unfolds at a fast pace. There's not time to catch your breath with this story, which is just was well given it's very short.

However, fantasy like this, where the author is creating a different universe, requires world building. It requires explanation. There is a note at the end from the author that there are other short stories out there set in same universe. I haven't read theme, but I would hope they shape the world more. Still, even if they do, this is a separate story on offer. We need something to help readers. Even a glossary. I get that the author wants this to be fast paced. He wants the story to be about the terrorist attack and nothing else, so he's chosen to exclude world building that would halt the action. That's apparent. But it does not give the reader a clear entrance into this world, and that is the most disappointing thing about the story.

I didn't mind the unique forms of magic in this story. It's the author's world, he can do what he wants. I wonder about the intent behind it though. Is it meant to be a farce, serious, tongue-in-cheek? That I am not sure on, and I don't know if I will ever be.

If you want something quick to read that is full of actions, and a little weird, then this will be for you. I hope that one day the author creates something longer, with more world building. He's shown that he can write action and movement, that he has developed a magic system. It would be great to have the world described in more details, and get to know the characters more. Some of the characters seem fascinating, and I'd like to know more.

Thank you to the publisher, the author, and Netgalley for providing a free copy of this story for an honest review. All comments are my own.

This was absolutely the most confusing, hard to read piece I have picked up in awhile. While it was interesting, and the writer did their best, it was hard to get into it. I thank Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to give it a go, but it was rough. I understand the reasoning for the names that he chose, but then they would get a different western name in some cases, but then would be referred by the other one as well. The book jumps around a lot, and some of the chapters are so incredibly short. This is a quick read, but buckle up for it.

I wanted to like this book so badly because the concept and the cover seemed so interesting. Some of the things I struggled with the most would be the writing style and the names of some of the characters. I felt that in some places, the author was very descriptive, and in others, would use five words to make a sentence. It made the flow of the writing a bit harder to process because it was a lot of back and forth. Also, some of the character names were impossible to even attempt to pronounce, which I felt like made the book harder to follow. I did like the short chapters that swapped between characters, which allowed me to see what was going on from multiple points of view at the same time, but on the same note, some of those chapters seemed super unnecessary to the plot. I also really enjoyed the idea of where the book was going. I just feel like it didn't quite get where it was supposed to go. At the end of the book, it did say that this book has other books connected to it, so that might help things make more sense, and maybe had I read some of the other books before this one, I wouldn't have been as lost the whole time, but this book just didn't quite do it for me.

I am usually a huge fan of quirky futuristic novels and novellas. However, Tap and Die didn't take the general time to build any cohesively understandable world for the reader throughout the book which made reading it very difficult and frustrating. In addition, a bulk of the book's plot points, anecdotes, and even character development and/or and flaws shared a shocking resemblance to the plot of "Die Hard" without the Reginald VelJohnson character waiting at the (which was a bummer).

I'm sorry but just wasn't my jam.

What happened here? I picked this book on various recommendations but couldn’t figure out head or tail of most of what was going on. The main character was annoying, and the whole thing had a rather macho wish-fulfilment thing going that I didn’t care for.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

The first thing to notice is that the font is different. It made for a distraction that I felt took away from the book. The overall tale felt steampunkish and had quite a bit of world building that some may enjoy. The main character Jack was well developed and his relationships were interesting. It was a good effort but I just couldn't get involved in the plot.

Tap and Die by Lancelot Schaubert

(I instinctively want to put a Sir in front of the author's name😅. Don't know if he was born with it or this is his pen name, I'm sure that story would be hillarious)

Tap and Die is about an earthbound Cowboy who is invited to a political event where he was supposed to join his (ex)wife and daughter, but chaos ensues when the place is attacked by terrorists who take everyone hostage apart from our guy the cowboy. Now, it's up to him to save everyone. I'm not sure why, but he is also naked during the whole thing. Yep!

So yeah, it's fantasy Die Hard. What's new is the world that the author is building with all the magical creatures (there are some supporting materials which you can check from the author's website). But it mostly falls flat. There were times when, due to limited knowledge of this world, I felt myself saying, "He goes WHERE summoning WHAT to do WHAT?!". After some time, I found myself ignoring some names, powers, potions, etc. to focus on the one thing I liked, which was the funny main character. Some parts were funny enough to keep you going, and it's not a long book, so that helped.

Recommendation for: Folks who know the author's related work.
The author has potential and will look forward to what he comes up with next, but this was not my cup of tea, and I've read my fair share of fantasy.

What if the setting for Die Hard was in a magical world? What would it look like? This book. It’s not a Christmas book.

What a wild ride for the mix of cowboys and fantasy. I loved every minute of it from first page to last page! Who knew cowboys could in fantasy but they really do so much fun. Until next time Happy Reading!

Is your life missing a fantasy Die Hard retelling featuring a magic weilding cowboy? I'm not sure mine was, nevertheless here we are.

All the main beats of Die Hard are present, a Law Enforcement type guy (Jack) is visiting his wife, an ambassador using her maiden name, at an event in an upside down spire when Bad Guy attack. For Reasons. Jack, now naked (again, for magic reasons) must try to outsmart the bad guys and save his wife and kid.

It is realistic to expect that a fantasy/ Sci fi world would have names and words that are all weird spelling and phonetic alphabet and Wing Dings, but it does make it hard to read. It got so convoluted, that it made it hard to stay focused and engaged in the story.

While the delivery fell a bit flat for me, the idea was engaging and the world building had clearly been the result of significant effort and planning.

What the heck did I just read!

This is possibly the strangest book I’ve ever read, I spent most of my time confused and trying desperately to follow the story. It sounded amazing but sadly, for me, didn’t live up to the blurb.

Thank you to NetGallery for the book in exchange for an honest opinion

This is an author indulging in some pretty amazing tongue-and-cheek metatextual analysis - in one short text, they've recognized that Die Hard is a Western, that Westerns have solid story beats that can be abstracted into any genre, and then kneaded those story beats into a fantasy narrative that has more to say about family, growth, and excitement than any of the original material. This feels like Moorcock's Second Ether series, or even Jasper Fforde's stuff. Either way, I feel like this is really more genre-bending fiction than fantasy, but will excite fiction enthusiasts who need a familiar story to finally understand the appeal in the fantasy genre.

One of the best atmospheric elements in the text is the clear reverence the author has for the inspirational material. The addition of a family-life, loving daughter, personal history and internal monologue for our Jack Dawes/Mclean/jackdaw character adds a lot of depth to the frame of the plot. I would love to see more action movies chopped and remixed in this manner, I think it could be a whole new genre: Die Bard.

The most ramblings of “word vomit” I have read in a long time! Probably since parts of “Hitchhiker of the galaxy”. Hmmm…maybe that’s a good thing. Apparently my old brain doesn’t keep up enough to dissect the world building that Mr. Schaubert created.. So I just read on and let my subconscious mind absorb without my conscious mind interrupting. But all in all, it was a fun read and I am sure those readers with an acute sense of humor and a taste for the fantastical will love it.

I couldn't get into this book, even given it's short length. The story jumps back and forth from different narrators and never really settles on a perspective we can hold onto. It reads as choppy. Enter an entitled, prankster child and the story really begins. Often the language gets in the way of enjoying to story as with this passage: a "girl named zaeOeoeuoJDNaeOeoeuoJDshaeOeoeuoJDchly [diacritics excluded] which meant "flirtatious gesture" though the girl insisted on being called Zae." I was hoping for a story that was fun, but this title failed to meet my expectations.

Tap and Die was a fun read - this caters to a specific set of readers who relate to wacky and quirky plots and characters. As the blurb describes, the book has a surreal - magic hybrid theme, and I believe the author has handled this tricky genre reasonably well. I relished the hilarity throughout the book. I would have loved to delve deeper into reading about and understanding the characters more, and hence the characterization and pacing are two areas that could mildly put some readers off. I am thankful to the author and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book.

This was completely different than what I expected going in. And I enjoyed it. This wad very very good and I would definitely read more from this author.
I just reviewed Tap and Die by Lancelot Schaubert. #TapandDie #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity.

DNF. The premise of the book sounded so much fun, but the execution was disjointed. Too many viewpoints and really short chapters made this for an exasperating read.

3.25/5 stars! I think this is the type of book that was created for a very specific type of audience. This book is quirky, weird, and hilarious in equal measure. I did find portions of the story to have poor writing, but overall I felt the story had a lot of potential. Van Helsing meets cowboy blues! I'm interested to see what's next for this author.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily