“To the Dripping Bucket. Home away from homes. Where the swill they serve may be fit to kill some, but the cost ain’t.”
The Scroungers starts off at the end of a battle. The Lords are dead and a few soldiers from differing sides wonder why they are still fighting. I just imagine being in that position. Tired and wounded, standing around people you were ready to kill just a few days ago wondering what you are fighting for. Isn’t that something all soldiers have wondered at some point? Why am I going to kill this person? Why are they trying to kill me? Well, in The Scroungers they wonder the same thing and come to find out there isn’t much a visit to the Dripping Bucket won’t solve. Or maybe not. Soldiers from differing sides come together in a city new to all of them and they quickly discover what the city has in store for them. And not all of it is as good as the pub.
The world has a very boots on the ground and in the trenches feel to it. I grow tired of every fantasy story being high stakes, sometimes a story that is part of a larger narrative is more interesting. It plays a part in the larger world, but it’s tucked away and has a personal feel to it. These characters feel like actual people who just want to not die over a cause they don’t believe in and have an ale and talk shit with each other instead. I felt a connection to the characters because they felt like people who just wanted a beer and some quiet time. Who can’t relate to that?
The humor is on point with it’s very droll feel. I’m hard to please with humor, but I found myself chuckling more than once. That’s not to say it has a light tone, it is on the darker side.
This novella reads fast. Fast in a good way. The chapters are short and while we do have a cast of characters, they are all defined and rounded out enough for this story. You aren’t going to get a novel’s worth of world building and character development as you are in a 136 page novella. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about Devens writing is that he isn’t afraid to kill characters. No one is safe, as much as I hate when a character I’ve grown attached to dies, it’s nice knowing not all of them will survive.
The writing has a very visual and cinematic feel to it at times. The environments and surroundings are detailed without being wordy or overwrought. You feel like you are actually there in the Dripping Bucket with these people.
There are books that you read and wonder if the author wrote this because they had to because of a contract obligation or they felt like they had to because of expectations. There are other books you read that you feel like the author is having fun. It felt like Devens was having fun writing this, and it comes off the page. There’s a confidence and growth in the prose. The last time I felt that kind of connection was reading The Hand that Casts the Bone by Holly Tinsley.
We all need breaks from the 700 page doorstops that we find ourselves reading. A gritty, quick and entertaining novella was just what I needed to remind myself why I enjoy reading so much. The Scroungers wasn’t so much of a palate cleanser as it was just a damn good time.
The Scroungers can be found here on Amazon. Or here directly from the author.
