Knight Watch
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MEN IN BLACK AT THE REN FAIRE! John Rast went to the Ren Faire looking for a fight. Well, a simulated fight, with blunt swords and safety equipment. But when his final opponent turns into a living, fire-breathing dragon, John finds himself in the fight of his life. It’s John or nothing stopping a disaster in its tracks—and the only real weapon at hand is his mom’s Volvo. So John decides to let it roll . . . And that's when destiny comes to call. John is spirited away to the well-hidden base of Knight Watch, the organization that stands between humanity and the real nasties the rest of the world doesn’t know about. Knight Watch would be John’s dream job—except for the storm goddess that destroys his parents’ house, the abandoned mall replete with too much dead, and the Fetch that aims to make John’s domain a final resting place. All this has John’s putative allies in the Knight Watch worried that John is the one bringing bad things into multiple worlds. John and his reluctant teammates have to figure out who, or what, is pulling the strings before all of Knight Watch falls prey to a well-concealed puppetmaster and far worse things enter this world. About Knight's Watch: “Buckle up and get ready for a fun ride. Tim Akers delivers an epic story about weekend ren fair warriors versus actual monsters. Best fictional use of a Volvo station wagon ever.”—Larry Correia About Tim Akers: “A must for all epic fantasy fans.”—Starburst “Full of strong world building, cinematic and frequent battle scenes, high adventure, great characters, suspense, and dramatic plot shifts, this is an engaging, fast-paced entry in a popular subgenre."—Booklist (starred review) “Take a bit of fantasy, mix in the horror of the demonic, and put in some top-notch writing and you’ll have Akers’ latest novel.”—Hellnotes “Fast-paced . . . an epic fantasy story with action, intrigue and a good story.” —RPG “Delivers enough twists and surprises to keep readers fascinated...contains action, grittiness, magic, intrigue and well created characters.”—Rising Shadow “An extremely well-developed secondary world.”—SF Signal
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This was a total love letter to the D&D fanatics, the LARPers, the Ren Faire regulars, and the underdogs.
This is a story of a haphazard hero who gets the Men In Black treatment and recruited into a realm beyond his tabletop dreams. There is a realm beyond out own where strange happenings occur and sometimes blur into our ‘mundane' realm. You may think it's just a parade float of a Dragon, or it's just a storm rather than a Harpy, but the Knight Watch sees all and protects the silly humans from the evil forces that lie beyond.
Throughout the book it's questionable when out protagonist will actually get his courage and become the hero he's expected to be, but he continues to stumble his way though, lacking the confidence in himself, though surviving some pretty hefty battles. I was hoping for more of a transformation in the character or that he would fully embody his realized potential. The face off at the end shows him with some perseverance, though I was more intrigued to see the story from Chesa's perspective and dive into her becoming the ruler of her domain.
The story was fun with plenty of levity but also plenty of serious moments and high stakes action mixed in. It was an exciting introduction to Akers writing and while browsing his collection of miniatures on his instagram, you can kinda see where this story may get some of it's inspiration.
Fun fun FUN. This book is a Percy-Jackson/Men in Black type of story, where you find out fantasy, fairy tale, and biblical creatures and heroes are REAL. Tim Akers handles this with not just great action, but humor that really hits the spot. He has produced a fun and original fantasy story and a good satire of Ren Faire, RPG, and LARP culture. While doing this, he manages not to talk down to or insult the people he satirizes. If you like a fun, quick read, I highly recommend KNIGHT WATCH.
