I received an advance reader’s copy (ARC) of This Will Be Fun by E. B. Asher. Since this version is just a proof and not the final version, I won’t quote directly and will keep my comments general.

In This Will Be Fun by E. B. Asher, heroes Beatrice, Clare, Elowen, and Galwell saved the realm from certain doom. Now, ten years later, only the former three are alive, having lost the latter during their great quest, but none of them have spoken to the others for all this time. But when the queen invites them all to her wedding, they’re reunited and forced to confront their pasts for the first time in a decade. Then, they discover that perhaps they didn’t save the realm entirely, and danger might be looming once again. So they must team up again, even though their old ghosts and resentments might sabotage their new quest even more than their wicked foes.

If this were a movie, I’m convinced that it would be a mashup of Shrek and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. It’s got the same sort of irreverent tone toward the fairytale genre as those two movies, plus some oddly modern elements of life along with a magical medieval-inspired setting. For example, they have spells that essentially accomplish video chats, they have cosplay, they have chat rooms where people talk about their favorite shows. It leads to a slightly strange reading experience sometimes, straddling the line between high fantasy and technologically current, but it didn’t really bother me too much.

After all, the setting and details of the magic, while significant to the story in their own ways, aren’t the true heart of this book. Instead, it’s about the three main characters and their relationships to each other. Each of them has a distinct voice and decent characterization, and I liked watching them interact. They’re all haunted by the quest that killed Galwell, but all for different reasons rooted in their own unique insecurities. Clare feels like he should have been a better hero, Beatrice believes she’s the one who should have died, and Elowen feels inadequate in pretty much every area compared to her big brother Galwell.

As the three of them continue to interact, it becomes increasingly clear how avoidance is only a flimsy coping mechanism, and that talking through your problems with people who are willing to listen is a far better path toward healing from trauma. This theme isn’t exactly subtle in how it’s presented, but it’s a good theme nonetheless.

The magical elements are kind of fun—modern touches aside—and the threat that our heroes have to face is definitely significant. I would have liked to see it explored a little more, perhaps with more flashbacks of the first quest, but I quickly saw that this story is more character- than plot-driven, so it’s fine. And the danger and world-ending stakes are still mostly taken seriously, even if they sometimes take a backseat to our characters’ personal journeys and their relationships. On that note, I also liked Beatrice and Clare’s will-they/won’t they dynamic, and Elowen’s relationship with Vandra, a reformed mercenary from their past whose personality is probably my favorite of all the characters in this whole book.

In the end, This Will Be Fun is pretty aptly named. It is fun, with quirky characters who have excellent snarky banter, as well as decently written emotional development. There are certain elements to the setting and plot that won’t work for some readers, and the theme is a bit on-the-nose a lot of the time, but it’s still a decent book. What’s most impressive to me is that E. B. Asher is a pen name for three authors who collaborated to write this, and I can’t conceive how that works. I’d love to meet them (Emily Wibberly, Bridget Morrisey, and Austin Siegemund-Broka) just to ask how that worked, logistically. But mostly, props to the three of them for clearly having a blast writing this together.

This Will Be Fun will be published on October 29th, 2024!