I want to start this by saying that today’s book made me jealous. It’s about a guy who falls asleep while reading in the woods behind his house and wakes up in the land of Faerie. I used to read in the woods behind my house, how come that never happened to me? If only, a person can dream though, right? Anyway, the book I am referring to is, somewhat appropriately, named The Woods Out Back and is the first book in The Spearwielder’s Tale by R. A. Salvatore. The main protagonist is Gary Leger, a young man with a college degree stuck working in a plastics factory. One day he is out back in the woods reading his copy of The Hobbit when he falls asleep. Upon waking up he discovers that he has been taken to the land of Faerie with the help of a leprechaun named Mickey. According to Mickey, young elf Lord called Kelsey, his nickname and not his real name, is on a life quest to reforge the broken magical spear of the legendary hero Cedric Donigarten. To do so he needs three things: a human who can wear Cedric’s armor, the best dwarven Smith, and a fire that is not made by mortals. A human wearing the armor must hold the spear while it’s being reforged and it seems Gary was chosen to do so. Mind you, he was only chosen because he fits the measurements of the armor. Together Gary, Mickey, and Kelsey work together to acquire the best dwarven smith, Geno Hammerthrower, as only the dwarves have the necessary skill to reforge the spear. They then have to travel to the lair of the dragon, Robert the Wretched, and convince him to provide his dragon fire, a fire not made by mortals, for the reforging. However, they quickly discover their quest to reforge the legendary spear is being opposed by Ceridwen, a witch who is attempting to conquer or control all of Faerie.
As I mentioned at the beginning, one of the things that I liked about this book, even if was a little jealous, was the idea that anyone could potentially fall asleep in the woods behind their house and wake up in Faerie. I mean, Gary was chosen essentially at random so it implies that it could have been anyone who fit the measurements of the armor. I rather like that idea. Another thing that really stood out to me was the land of Faerie that Gary traveled to. Most of us are probably at least semi-familiar with the concept of Faerie, a land that is typically ruled by the Seelie and Unseelie courts and is only inhabited by the various Fae races. Salvatore seems to have thrown most of that right out the window though. A rather large section of this Faerie realm is inhabited by humans and even ruled by a human king, even if it is a puppet king for Ceridwen. The elves only seem to live in the forest of Tir na n’Og which is on the edge of the human kingdom and is shared with other Fae races like the leprechauns. On the opposite end of the realm were the dwarves and gnomes who live in the mountain ranges. This one really threw me as you don’t typically see dwarves in a faerie realm. It made it interesting, that’s for sure. The only thing I am not sure I liked was how short the book was. It covers several weeks worth of travel for the characters, which was only a few hours in our world. I feel almost like Gary did at then end when he realized that everything that had happened really only took place in an extremely short period of time. A book that truly deserves a full five stars.
Overall, this was a good book and one that I greatly enjoyed. If you happen to be a fantasy fan, especially for books about elves, dwarves or dragons, then I suggest you try it. Just keep in mind that it is probably slightly different than what you are used to. Another thing is this book contains a decent amount of violence so I would suggest that it only be read by adults or young adults, older teens at best, as it may not be suitable for younger readers. As always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Before I stop I have a random question for everyone to consider. If you could fall asleep in the woods out back where would you want to go? I am not sure where I would choose, too many good options, but this land of Faerie could definitely go on the list. Let me know where you would choose.