Review: Highfire by Eoin Colfer

Title: Highfire
Author: Eoin Colfer
Publication: January 28th 2020 by Jo Fletcher Books
Genre: Fantasy
Purchase it on: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Play | Kobo
Rating: 4/5★

From the internationally bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series: Eoin Colfer's first adult fantasy novel is a hilarious, high-octane adventure about a vodka-drinking, Flashdance-loving dragon who's been hiding out from the world - and potential torch-carrying mobs - in a Louisiana bayou . . . until his peaceful world's turned upside down by a well-intentioned but wild Cajun tearaway and the crooked (and heavily armed) law officer who wants him dead.

Squib Moreau may be swamp-wild, but his intentions are (generally) good: he really wants to be a supportive son to his hard-working momma Elodie. But sometimes life gets in the way - like when Fake Daddy walked out on them leaving a ton of debt, or when crooked Constable Regence Hooke got to thinking pretty Elodie Moreau was just the gal for him...

An apprenticeship with the local moonshine runner, servicing the bayou, looks like the only way to pay off the family debts and maybe get Squib and his momma a place in town, far from Constable Hooke's unwanted courtship and Fake Daddy's reputation.

Unfortunately for Squib, Hooke has his own eye on that very same stretch of bayou - and neither of them have taken into account the fire-breathing dragon hiding out in the Louisiana swamp...

For Squib Moreau, Regence Hooke and Vern, aka Lord Highfire of Highfire Eyrie, life is never going to be the same again.

Highfire is a genre-bending tour-de-force of comedy and action by the million-copy-selling master storyteller.

When your favorite author announces he's writing his first adult fantasy book you pre-order it it months in advance and eagerly await its release, which is just what I did. The story was funny as hell, unique and action-packed. Also, it has a a vodka-drinking, Flashdance-loving dragon. What more could I want?

First of all, how does Colfer keep coming up with the best character names? It's one of my favorite things about his books. In this one we have Squib Moreau, Vern (which stands for Wyvern) and Constable Regence Hooke as it main characters. 

Squib is a 15 year-old boy from Louisiana who lives with his single Mother Elodie and somehow ends up working for Vern and Vern just happens to be a dragon living in the Louisiana swamps where he spends his days watching Netflix, loving Flashdance and drinking vodka. Regence Hooke is the well-named bad guy. It's no secret that I always love Colfer's villains. First of all, the bad guys' names are always on point and they're always pretty bad people so it's not hard to hate them. Hooke definitely was a hateful guy so I wasn't disappointed in that aspect for sure.

Is this book for everyone? Probably not. First of all, this definitely isn't Artemis Fowl. It's adult fantasy, for one thing so it has lots of cussing and what not. Did I love it? Hell yeah! I can only imagine how much fun Colfer had writing this book. And I absolutely had fun reading it.

Overall, Highfire was a great read. It was often laugh-out-loud funny and it has Colfer's trademark snarky characters. If you're looking for an original fantasy featuring a unconventional dragon and lots of other hilarious and unique characters you need to pick this one up.

About the author:
Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) was born in Wexford on the South-East coast of Ireland in 1965, where he and his four brothers were brought up by his father (an elementary school teacher, historian and artist of note) and mother (a drama teacher). He first developed an interest in writing in primary (elementary) school with gripping Viking stories inspired by history he was learning in school at the time!

After leaving school he got his degree from Dublin university and qualified as a primary school teacher, returning to work in Wexford. He married in 1991 and he and his wife spent about 4 years between 1992 and 1996 working in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Italy. His first book, Benny and Omar, was published in 1998, based on his experiences in Tunisia; it has since been translated into many languages. A sequel followed in 1999, followed by some other books (see below). Then in 2001 the first Artemis Fowl book was published and he was able to resign from teaching and concentrate fully on writing.

He says, “I will keep writing until people stop reading or I run out of ideas. Hopefully neither of these will happen anytime soon. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.
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