By Gordon Frisbie (TFL Stories, 2025)
Genre: Fiction – Fantasy
Pages: 311 (Print, with Afterword)
Via: Author Request
We received a complimentary copy of this book for honest review.
“I don’t know what to think of this book,” spake Her Royal Momness the other day. “It’s not like anything we’ve ever read.”
“Welp,” says I, Kimber the Magnificent. “There you go again, Mom. Thinking on an empty stomach.” (You’d think she’d learn, right?)
Anyway. This book arrived in our mailbox last spring-ish. Or maybe it was summer? We were buried under a metric ton of other stuff and set it aside. It got buried under another ton of other stuff. And was recently excavated. So here’s the 4-1-1:
Peacemaker the Labradane is “black, lanky, and large.” He has one “Achilles’ heel”: Loyalty. He’s also the star of this show. So we like it a lot already, thank you very much.
Now. The’s an old In-Between Land prophecy about a fearless black dog and two “enablers.” (Aka: “Klutzes.” Aka: Humans Malcolm and his friend, Eve.) “Peace” and one other dog are the only ones with enough courage to face infinite evil and save everyone, everywhere.
Kimber: Peace is probably a cousin. I know we’re related. No doubt about it.
When Malcom, Eve, Peacemaker and Gruffy stumble upon a “farm pond”, everything goes sideways. Unleashed by the stout-hearted by impetuous Peacemaker, “whimsical forces” drag Malcolm and Eve away from Earth and into In-Between Land where the adventure unfolds. While traveling through a mountainous landscape of ancient lore, the Earthlings learn that the future of all worlds within the continuum depends on their ability to defeat the demonic evil that has invaded In-Between Land.
So. The future of pretty much everything and everyone is in the paws of one black, lanky, and large Labradane and his faithful friend, Phantom.
Kimber: Best place to be in the midst of an ‘epic conflict’!
Still not quite sure what to make of this book. It’s quirky. Witty. Clever. It also sags in the middle and feels overlong in places. It defies genre pigeon-holing. You might call it a “silly fantasy.” Or an “epic fairy tale.” An adventure story. A dog-ish book. Or a trip to Neverland via Narnia and Middle Earth. Add a chaser of Oz on the side. And a spur trail into Star Trek. The text includes nods to Germanic/Norse origin or mythology with chapter headings like Odin’s Day, Thor’s Day, Freya’s Day, etc. (Yeah. We noticed.)
Top-Notch
The writing is top-notch. With just the right amount of sass and spunk. Besides. Who can resist words like “globulous agglomeration”? “Mucilaginous.” Sentences like, “A stench of wickedness accompanied the silence.” Or “Beware of chicanery and desolation if you chose to proceed.” There’s also The Anthology of Erudition. The Compendium of Catastrophe. The Tenets of Antephsyics and Subliminal Simulacrums. World tunneling. A rift in the continuum. The Managerial Reserve and the Kingdom of Deletion. And that’s just for starters! Delish! Indeed, the clever word play and labyrinthian plot twists in this delightful fantasy adventure are so “out of the box,” they’re in a completely different world!
And that’s the whole point. Or at least part of it.
Clever
This imaginative, clever tale brims with originality and sparkles with rapier wit. Beautifully written with rich, robust language, the story features impressive world-building skills and an imagination that registers somewhere in the stratosphere. It’s a riotous romp through a dazzling fantasy world and a host of fantastic creatures. These include Weewuns (“gnomes” to you hoomans). Sasquatch. Evil Lizard Number One. A mouthy unicorn named Mr. Corny. A shape-shifting witch named Irene. Zinger the loquacious bunny. Seedub. The Weewuns who administrate In-Between Land. Villain extraordinaire, Ahrem. There’s even a “lazy gray cat” named Gruffy (nobody’s perfect.) Many more.
The story is metafictional. You’ll find the author popping in and out of the story here and there. Some readers will love this technique. Others may find it jarring or disruptive. Just sayin’.
The story takes some time to get rolling and the timeline can get bumpy. We got a little lost in the opening chapters. (Kimber: Mom had a hole in her breadcrumbs pocket. Silly Mom!)
Issues
A story synopsis or book blurb on the back cover or the inside jacket flap would be a big plus. Absent both, readers and potential readers don’t really get much on an idea of what they’re in for when opening page 1. Except for what can be deduced from the cover art. So a story synopsis would make a welcome addition.
On the whole, Farm Pond is a whole lotta fun, empty stomach or not. (Note: Sometimes raw mushrooms aren’t half-bad. Except when they need salt. “And cheese. And bacon.” Just ask Eve.)
Our Rating: 3.5
Pages & Paws 