Bingo 12: Dun Dun
So a slightly comedic take on the high fantasy-D&D type adventure may not seem like it’s going to involve the ominous, but there are a couple of times that one could insert that into the mental soundtrack for Kings of the Wyld, including what I’m guessing is meant to be something that carries over to connect into the sequel.
The whole idea of an aged post-glory days group of adventurers reuniting for one last quest, to save the daughter of one of their own, could either go Cohen the Barbarian (if you know your Pratchett) or it could go Fellowship high fantasy. Kings of the Wyld seems to struggle a little sometimes with how seriously it wants to take itself, or not. Most of the lighter side comes from the overlapping pun both in word and concept of “band” as in rock or adventurer. Folks in this world are often barbarians, wizards, paladins, bards, etc., but they also have agents who book them tours, possibly even to perform in an arena, etc. There are also quite a few hidden jokes if you know the base materials (Neil the Young who probably should go by Neil the Old now to the bard always dies, how many did we go through as Saga?). Some of the serious or effort to appear that way shows up in the habit of italicizing named weapon names; I have to admit, I know the trope, but it annoys me here because that says taking yourself too seriously as high fantasy, but when you’ve got a group of past their prime band mates thinking about adventuring across the spooky scary forest to break a siege of monsters doing so with blatant reminders of things like the Eras Tour, it doesn’t work that well. Then there’s the inconsistency of how the group once assembled (mostly) still manages to get robbed by a group of girls twice, but also still be capable of defeating dragons, chimeras, and more.
There are of course many dangerous encounters but I’d have to say there’s two especially good “oh no” moments. Too much on this would probably be spoilers, but there’s several looming threats so you can pick which two it might be: practically immortal druin Lastleaf’s final stand, Sabbatha Larkspur’s change in personality, Moog’s obsession and infection with the Rot, the siege at Castia, encountering cannibals in the Wyld, Jain and her Silk Arrows (bandits), the wyvern matriarch descending from the sky, Kalloreck’s revenge, or Clay losing himself to his inner monster.
