Kill All Wizards (The Barbaric Ledgers #1) by Jedediah Berry

TL;DR: This felt like Conan had an acid trip in a wizard city.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much!

Plot: Gotch is trying to avenge his brother in a city run by wizards, the weird follows
Characters: Gotch was our best character, but I really liked the variety we were introduced to
Setting: This city had to have been dreamed up on some sort of substance. It felt weird and trippy but also very… Bridgerton? almost?
Fantasy: A fantastic, weird but also well executed classic type of fantasy.

Summary:

We could think of nothing but the barbarian. He had come here, surely, to murder or marry someone, to exact revenge, or to say or do something very scandalous. We could hardly wait to see which it was. We hoped it would be all of them.

The barbarian traveled far to consult the wizards of the empire. Instead of lending their aid, they ensorcelled him, exploited his strength, and stole his sword. They should not have done that.

Now the barbarian plans to kill every wizard who wronged him, even if that means blending in with their vile dressing in finery, taking tea in exclusive clubs, and reserving the best box at the theater.

Oh, he hates it all with the fiery passion of his savage heart—but not as much as he hates these wizards.

Thoughts:

I really hope I’m not the only one that got weird acid trip vibes from this but I really did. It’s described as Conan meets a comedy of manners, but I’ll also add the weird trippy feeling or even compare this to Pratchett. Gotchimus is trying to avenge his brother in a city run by wizards. He tells his story of what has happened so far and we find out the truth of things.

The voice in this was great. It’s told almost as if we’re reading this story through the retelling of a newspaper or a magazine. Gotchimus is mysterious, but also endearing in aggressive style. He’s here not only to avenge his brother, but to try and fix his homeland. His land the wizards have ruined. Along the way he makes friends with a thief and a brother & sister I adored.

Contrary to some of it’s marking it, it’s not hyperviolent, though there are moments of violence. It’s got a lot of heart and humor, and there were some deeper peeks at conversations in there about native land and trauma responses. I really enjoyed this and spent a lot of the time wondering what on earth was going to happen next. A real win for me, and one I really recommend if you’re at all interested.