Siavahda's Reviews > Running Close to the Wind

*I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*

HIGHLIGHTS
~blue dogs
~spooky dildos
~cruel, cruel possums
~laughing till it hurts, then laughing some more
~comedy that will convert you to anarchism

Every time I think Rowland can’t possibly get any better, they go ahead and OUTDO THEMSELF AGAIN!

(A brief note: if you fell in love with A Taste of Gold and Iron, then a) you have great taste and b) you need to know that Running Close to the Wind is a very different kind of book. It is equally (if not, dare I say, EVEN MORE) excellent! But where AToFaI is very sensual and luxurious and full of yearning, Running Close to the Wind is cheeky and exciting and utterly shameless, and I think it’s best to know that going in. I adore both, and I think many others will too, but you do have to shift gears and appreciate Running Close to the Wind for what it is, not go comparing it to AToFaI. That way lies only disappointment, and that would be a tragedy, because if you embrace Running Close to the Wind and judge it only on its own merits, it will light you up with so much joy that you will shine like a STAR.)

Running Close to the Wind is fundamentally FUN. It is essentially fun, and I do not mean that in the sense of, when you boil it down RCttW is nothing but fun – because it is not, there’s a whole lot of other really great stuff in there, rage and philosophy and critiquing power structures and a beautifully blasphemous coat. What I mean is, fun is essential to the make-up of RCttW.

RCttW is a vessel helmed by hilarity. It sails upon a sea of silliness. It is packed to the absolute gills with glee. When I said it’s a fundamentally fun book, I was being wholly literal: fun is fundamental to the structure, plot, tone, characters, messaging and execution of RCttW.

THIS IS AN INEXPRESSIBLY FUN BOOK, MY FRIENDS. INEXPRESSIBLY.

“Listen, though, I can’t decide–do you think Tev would like it if you delivered me to them hogtied?”

*

“Hello, incandescent one,” Avra said adoringly, lying hogtied at Teveri’s feet on the deck of their ship.

I giggled so much reading this book. When I talked about it with the hubby, I only managed to get through a description of the first chapter before we were both laughing too hard for me to continue. IF YOU WANT A SMASHING, SPARKLING, SIDE-SPLITTING GOOD TIME, THEN MY DEARS, I REALLY CANNOT RECOMMEND RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND STRONGLY ENOUGH!

What is it that makes it so funny??? The main character, Avra, is definitely a huge part of it; he is a chaotic trash-goblin with no shame whatsoever, a scrawny, self-professed trollop who is absolutely willing to Cause Problems to get his way (or get some attention)(or when he’s bored).

“You want me to not cause problems. But you see, Markefa, I have decided to cause problems.”

He is ridiculous and over-the-top and semi-manic all the time, and I love him with my whole entire heart.

“So now they’re expecting you to cause problems.”

Avra mulled on this.

“Think of how irritated they would be if you did such a good job that everyone was really nice to you. They’d hate that, no?”

“They would hate that,” Avra agreed, still transfixed in her gaze. “Yes. Yes. I will cause…different problems.”

There’s also the fact that he maybe-probably-definitely has been blessed by a goddess of luck after beating one of her priests at cards, allowing Rowland to arrange the most brilliant and impossible coincidences around him. (Nothing that affects the free will of others, which is a detail I noticed and appreciated a lot, but distractions happening at just the right moment to allow him to sneak past a guard, that kind of thing.) I wouldn’t say the plot relies on these coincidences – coincidence-driven plot might be annoying after a while – but they do add to the plot marvellously, in the same way that sprinkles are not strictly speaking necessary on ice-cream, but do make it indisputably better.

And the fact that Avra himself is extremely sceptical of his so called ‘witchy-luck’??? Honestly makes it even funnier.

“I have a sparkling personality,” Avra said. “I have bags of charisma.”

“Bags of it,” Markefa said, because she was arguably Avra’s best friend on the whole crew. “Bags and bags of charisma you scrounged out of a rubbish heap and carry around with you in damp burlap bags.”

...

If this was the entirety of Running Close to the Wind, it would be more than enough. It would still be excellent. It would already be one of my favourite books of the year! Because there is nothing ‘just’ about entertainment, about a book that makes you laugh; you cannot say something is ‘only’ funny, as if being funny is somehow less than. Anything that brings you delight is priceless.

That would be more than enough.

But Running Close to the Wind is more than a bundle of giggles.

Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!