'Head Lopper and the Crimson Tower' – Andrew MacLean with Jordie Bellaire (Image)

So we come then to the palate cleanser for the book I read that was meant to be a palate cleanser for the book before that...

I won't go into detail about my experiences with 'Bats out of Hell', not when you can scroll down a little bit and read about them for yourself. You go right ahead, I'll be here just minding my own business...

…

You all caught up? Brilliant, cool, lets keep moving then.

I needed something to put a little space between me and 'Bats out of Hell'. I was about due a comic book read and I'd had a lot of fun with 'Head Lopper Volume 1' so it wasn't exactly a chore to grab the book off the shelf and take that on my commute. I'm very glad that I did ;o)

In a quiet region of the world, an ancient evil stirs. The CRIMSON TOWER is awake! Blood has not wet its face for an age, but the tower runs red once more. Warriors from distant lands are drawn to its gate with revenge, or glory, in their hearts. Many will enter, few will return.

You just know that a comic book is the read for you when you find the head of Agatha the Blue Witch doing a bit of improvised poetry while Norgal and his friends rid his ship of a treacherous crew...

'Death this way

Is harsh they say,

We should not

laugh or gloat

But if you know

you cannot swim

then why get on

a boat?'

I'm not one for poetry in fantasy but Agatha the Blue Witch is having far too much fun (particularly for a head with no body...) for me to stay like that for long. 'Head Lopper' is clearly a series that celebrates its influences and isn't afraid to be a bit silly with it at the same time. It may be me getting old now but I love a book that is happy to poke fun at itself. 'Head Lopper' is that book and that's one of the reasons why I'm in for the long haul.

Of course, the downside of a book that celebrates fantasy tropes is that it will inevitably get bogged down in them and become predictable. 'Head Lopper Volume 2' is unfortunately no exception as the 'red-shirt' supporting cast die off far too quickly and leave the core group to go on a dungeon crawl. Luckily, MacLean does have a few surprises up his sleeve and there are enough twists and turns to disguise the fact that this is a story that we all know already. The other thing going for it is the banter between Agatha and Norgal as well as Norgal's ability to rain death over whatever happens to be in front of him at the time. Remember what I said about MacLean and his dynamic fight scenes? Well, there's more of that here and I couldn't help but have the same kind of fun that MacLean was having, just chucking everything at Norgal and seeing what happens. It's no spoiler to say that you know who will win but MacLean makes it a bittersweet victory and I couldn't help but feel for Norgal at the end.

There's a lot to love about this series and despite the air of predictability to the plot, 'The Crimson Tower' has done enough to ensure that this reader is going to keep reading. If you like fantasy that is having too much fun to be self conscious then I think you'll enjoy this too.