I enjoyed Finn Fancy Necromancy. The adventure followed a necromancer returned to our world after being imprisoned in the fae world for a crime he didn’t commit. It was largely humorous, sometimes a bit too zany for me and rather nicely flirted with a touch of darkness now and then. The hero, after all, is a necromancer.
The sequel is Bigfootloose and Finn Fancy Free and does something remarkable. This sequel is better than the original.
The Bigfoot encounters we had in Necromancy were hard-as-nails mercenaries who opposed Finn. Bigfootloose and Fin Fancy Free starts when one of the survivors from that group turns up and asks for Finn’s help.
Our kind hearted Necromancer (hey, it’s a quirk) agrees and this is the catalyst which sparks the adventure into life. The twist? Our bigfoot is looking for love and so Finn uses the “Kinfinder” invention from his mad father in order to track down where the bigfoot’s true love might be.
In the first book we learned mainly about the Arcana, the wizards of the world and their rules, and about the war they narrowly won against the fae. In Bigfootloose we learn a lot more about the fairy world and the various competing factions in that. Meanwhile the tensions between the Arcana, who use the mana of the fae, and the fae who feed on memories of people, continue.
Randy Henderson’s humour is prevalent throughout and this includes zany elements; we’ve mafia gnomes, a practical joker of a vampire and fae who manifest as Vulcans, for example. But it all now feels appropriate and part of Finn Gramaraye’s strange world.
There are some loose ends from Necromancy that Bigfootloose rather nicely follows up on. The kickoff, for example, deals with the battles Finn had with certain hired fae forces but there’s also the side effects of alchemy and alchemists from the first book. This also helps to create something of a “mythos” for the series, doubling back to explore certain races in more detail while showing the cause and effect of interactions.
I do have a complaint, though. Have you ever played in an RPG where there’s one particular player/character who upon receiving new information or plot hooks from the GM always decides the best course of action is to lope off and deal with it himself. Alone. What about sharing the info with the group? What about tagging in the experts and specialists who might be in your party? This is Finn. He’s always doing it. I’ve the greatest respect and sympathy for his patient family and partner who are forever putting up with this. In fact, you could even make a whole plot point out of any rare occasions when Finn works out the smartest thing to do is to share the burden of adventure.
Overall? Bring on book three and I won’t be surprised if there’s a fan made RPG for the series popping up online somewhere.
My copy of Finn Fancy Necromancy was provided for review.
