Highfire

So this was my first experience reading Eoin Colfer. I'm not sure this was his typical writing style or if it was just something tried out for this book, but it does not work for me.

I ended up enjoying points of the story, however I feel like the things I didn't like the most were the components that made up the vast majority of the books' character.

Vern's personality of this super sarcastic, angry, bitter being that loves to curse, wear Flashdance T-shirts, and get drunk felt more like a teenager character than anything else. Not to mention the cursing was over the top for me regardless. To me it had the same grating effect that Rowling's The Casual Vacancy had, which just screamed, “NOT MIDDLE-GRADE PLEASE NOTICE. ADULT!” which is one of the major reasons neither of these books hit for me. Like, we get it. Adult novels can just be about the way it's written and the context, not only “adult” words. It could just be me, but cursing heavily always aligns more with YA in my mind because I feel like those are the aged people that think cursing makes them heard.

Also, through no real fault of Colfer's, he chose to make this story in the southern bayou. Which really just had me picturing the stupidness of Jason Stackhouse from Trueblood the entire time. It made everything harder to take seriously. And I know that Squib was only fifteen, so he wasn't the brightest, but he even portrayed him as the school-hating, slightly crooked, bayou boy. I can't really relate, I've only seen those things related as plain stupid, and therefore it hurt my imagining and experience with it. I was forced to imagine a little Creole teen with a dirt stache like Renee from season one of TB. It just didn't click for me.

Lastly, in all my lengthy complaints, is that Colfer really wanted to make a dragon story, but only if he could achieve something new. Well he did, and it absolutely does not work for me. Anyone reading this may absolutely disagree, but did anyone ever stop to wonder if there's so many of the same story styles because people like their fantasy to remain fantasy? I've given multiple modern fantasy stories a go, including Netflix's “Bright,” and in my opinion they honestly all fall short simply because they lack in the fantasy department. A dragon wearing t-shirts and cargo pants? Drinking beers and rocking hoodies? Why? Your flock is are safe, he's got Dominos!

**(actually lastly) I genuinely despised Hooke. I know he was a crooked constable and soldier and man and son and civilian and human. I don't mean the guy portrayed. The invented character, I could not stand it. I'm still not sure why.

As I tend to write harsh reviews for things I didn't love, here is my disclaimer that this is only my opinion. You may feel differently, you may be excited about the things I complain about above, you may love it. Enjoy. Good luck.