False Idols

Starred review from July 31, 2017
In Hollins’s first Dragon Lords novel, Fool’s Gold, Will Fallows failed spectacularly at his goal of keeping his farm despite a dragon’s reign of oppression but, with the help of a reluctant band of incredibly flawed adventurers, killed the dragon and settled down with his lady love, the former killer-for-hire Lette. Now Lette has left him, and a new crop of dragons from other lands is rising up to kill the gods of Will’s world and take their place. Will, hauling a load of emotional baggage but still remarkably adept at making plans, reunites with Lette and his former companions, who know a dragon-ruled world would be disastrous. This time they’ll have the dubious help of much greater, dangerous powers. Hollins’s sophomore romp is even more madcap, dark, and bloody than the first, in a world that seems to hate anyone making the slightest effort to help it. Fans of humorous fantasy will enjoy the outrageous yet cunning plot twists of this comedy with an edge sharp enough to cut dragon scales. Agent: Ed Wilson, Howard Morhaim Literary.