Blog Tour: Bass Instinct - Banned Underground #4 - Will Macmillan Jones

Release Date: April 1st, 2013
Publisher: Safkhet Publishing
Age Group:  Adult
Pages: 153
Format: Paperback
Source: Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review for the blog tour

Dai the Drinking Dragon has been kidnapped by the Dark Lord for nefarious purposes, and by his receptionist for even less reputable reasons. Without their bass player, The Banned Underground are now in deep trouble with their record label. They have to produce the recordings for an album, and someone has stolen the tapes from the last gig. Can they make some more recordings, or will Freya, the renegade dwarf bass player, distract the boys whilst the Dark Lord's evil schemes come to fruition?

The Dark Lord has found some thugs to help him in his latest plan to invade the Dwarf Mansion, but they have other things on their minds - like looting and pillaging the locals, and it's all going wrong again.

Will record-producing Adam set his Ants on The Banned? Or will it all come good in the end? Time is Tight on this one for The Banned Underground...

Review:

I’m a big fan of the better comedy on television and though I’ve been an avid reader for the most part of my life I’d never read a comedy novel, let alone a Fantasy comedy novel! That’s why I jumped on the opportunity to be part of the blog tour for Will Macmillan Jones’ 4^th “Banned Underground” novel, “Bass Instinct”. I was kindly given the first three books to get to know the characters and the genre a bit and after reading them I dug in to “Bass Instinct”, also kindly sent to me from Safkhet Publishing (many thanks!).

The Banned Underground is a rather good band of dwarfs and one dragon (and Eddie, the roadie). In this 4^th adventure of  the band, not all is going well. Actually, they are in a bit of a predicament. Their record label wants a good recording of one of their gigs, or otherwise bad things will happen (what bad things those are, the reader can only guess…). Only problem is, Dai the Drinking Dragon has disappeared. No one has seen him and the banned (you see that, typo, I wanted to type “band” but seems like The Banned have gotten under my skin!) has resorted to drinking bear and eating pizza instead of rehearsing and booking gigs. Now however they need to find a solution or they’re toast. At exactly the right moment an attractive young girl steps in to the rehearsal room and declares she can be their new bass player. Not all of them are happy about this, but some (cough, Scar, cough) is a bit baffled by her tight leather catsuit and welcomes her with open arms. But was this the right choice?

Meanwhile, Dai is held captive by The Gray Mage and forced to help him invade the Dwarf Mansion, but he also finds love on the Dark Side. And he gets cookies. Not all that bad, huh, being dragon-napped?

Don’t read this book if you want to read something serious, or you can’t enjoy humor à la “Home Alone”, where the bad guys aren’t always that smart and nothing goes according to plan. Don’t expect extensive characterbuilding or worldbuilding, because you won’t get any of that in this book.

The only right reason the read this, is to enjoy yourself. Switch of that serious button in your head, sit down and emerge yourself in the world of The Banned Underground. The stories are short and can be read in a couple of hours. A couple of hours away from the real world and full of mindless action and situations you wouldn’t expect to happen in a normal Fantasy novel.

The genre was new to me, but I really enjoyed it, “Bass Instinct” was a light read and perfect for a break in between all the dark and serious Fantasy novels or YA drama.

The story is simple and easy to follow, which makes it easy to read the book in just one sitting. The jokes aren’t always spot on and it’s not like I was laughing out loud, but I was amused and chuckled once or twice.

Want a break from all the serious Fantasy and want to read something different? Give “The Banned Underground” a shot, kick back, relax and enjoy the ride!  

About the author:

Will Macmillan Jones lives in Wales, a lovely green verdant land with a rich cultural heritage. He does his best to support this heritage by yelling loud encouragement at the TV when Wales plays international rugby. Having been an accountant for much of his working life, he now writes in a desperate attempt to avoid terminal atrophy of his brain. A fifty something lover of blues, rock and jazz, he has achieved a lifetime ambition by extending his bookcases to fill an entire wall of his home office.