Highfire, by Eoin Colfer

 This is the first adult fantasy novel by the writer of the massively successful Artemis Fowl series of children's/young adult stories. And it captures the same sense of wonder at a world just close enough to our own to be both believable and magical.

 Its been a few years since I read the Fowl novels, which I remember loving for the most part, and I read 'And Another Thing...', Colfer's Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy book, and wasn't impressed, so I came into this a little apprehensive as I wasn't sure which version of Colfer I would get here. I needn't have worried, this is quite a wonderful book.

 It centres around a self-confessed delinquent called Squib and his run-ins with the local constable, a corrupt cop with lustful designs on Squib's mom. These travails are made more challenging by the fact that Squib meets and befriends the last dragon on earth, (Wyvern Lord Highfire, or Vern for short), and interrupts and threatens the cop's extracurricular activities.

 What follows is a glorious romp through the Louisiana swamp and New Orleans' French Quarter, with dragon fire and rocket fire both expended frequently.

 Humour throughout, and with heart and soul in abundance, this is a fantastic story of unlikely friendships and dogged determination to become better. 

 Peppered with wonderful characters, you will root for some, and be horrified by others, but you will remember them all, long after you turn the last page. 

 Looking forward to reading more about this Netflix-binging, vodka-guzzling, Flashdance T-shirt-wearing bi-pedal fire-breathing Lord Highfire. If Mr. Colfer graces us with a sequel. 

 My fingers are crossed.

Mythos & Heroes, by Stephen Fry

I feel Mythos is the stronger of the two, the characters detailed within are better and more interesting. 

Dealing with, as Fry does here, Gods and Titans, and demi-gods and humans and everything in between, I felt the focus on the humans was a little, well, boring at times. Each character was focused on in swift fashion, moving from escapade to escapade, without really getting to know them. 

With the Titans and the Gods in book 1, that was fine as they are more abstract ideas than fully formed consciousnesses. 

But when telling stories about humans, about people, we want to know the people, what drove them, more than a couple of lines about their ancestry and why their father/uncle/wife/whomever wants them dead. And why the god of the day has seen fit to favour them or smite them. 

Not to say Heroes is a bad book, it is still incredibly well written and eminently readable. I just preferred the first one. 

I would, however, read the hell out of a third one focusing on the Trojan War!

Nightmare in Pink (Travis McGee no.2) by John D MacDonald

Read this one on the back of just finishing the first in the series. Travis McGee is a compelling, if not very likable character. He seems to want to do the right thing, but some his attitudes especially towards women are, to put it politely, of his era and not acceptable today. This can be a little jarring, reading it as I am in 2020, but from reading other reviews it appears he does change as the series progresses. And I can see the evidence even from book 1 to book 2, so here's hoping.

The books themselves story-wise, are fairly simple and formulaic. Trav meets girl through some convuluted means, she's in a pickle, and for half the take he agrees to help. He beds her, gets himself in a spot of bother, through sheer masculinity and super intelligence he gets out and solves the whole thing.

I'm reading the re-released series with a foreword from Lee Child, and its clear Reacher was influenced by these books. There's a very similar vibe between the two, although I've read more of Child's books so I'll refrain from drawing too many comparisons here. 

Suffice to say, the two I've read are quick, pulpy reads, and while I doubt they'll stay with me for long, I'm enjoying them so far.