You Die When You Die by Angus Watson – Review

Published: June 20, 2017

Publisher: Orbit Books

Genre: Fantasy

Series: West of West #1

Pages: 512 (Paperback)

My Rating: 5.0/5.0

 

Synopsis: 

YOU DIE WHEN YOU DIE . . .

You can’t change your fate – so throw yourself into battle, because you’ll either win or wake up drinking mead in the halls of your ancestors. That’s what Finn’s tribe believe.

But when their settlement is massacred by a hostile tribe and Finn and several friends, companions and rivals make their escape across a brutal, unfamiliar landscape, Finn will fight harder than he’s ever fought in his life. He wants to live – even if he only lives long enough to tell Thyri Treelegs how he feels about her.

The David Gemmell Award nominated author of Age of Iron returns with You Die When You Die – in which a mismatched group of refugees battle animals and monsters, determined assassins, depraved tribes, an unforgiving land and each other as they cross a continent to fulfill a prophecy.

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So, when this book was released in 2017 I was totally unaware of it until I saw some really awesome reviews from my fellow bloggers. Anything that gets 4.5 -5 stars from these folks is almost definitely going to be great. The story sounded cool and the title was appealing in a theatrically dark way, so I put it on my mental TBR. Fast forward approximately 6 months – I’m in need of a new audiobook and You Die When You Die comes to mind… I go for it. It’s hilarious and action packed from the start – the humorous spin on both Viking and Native American cultures and the author’s “what if” take on history make this story a wonderful read.

The basic plot here is that a group of pseudo-Vikings live in a small colony called Hardwork along the shores of one of the Great Lakes. The local tribespeople take care of them because they believe them to be gods (this has been going on for a few hundred years and the Vikings have gotten fairly pathetic). The head honchos at the capital city of Calnia have had visions that the Mushroom Men (what they call the Hardworkers) will destroy the world. To head this disaster off, the Swan Empress sends her elite Owsla to destroy the threat after an initial foray has failed. Cue the cat-and-mouse. The Hardwork survivors flee West, based on the prophecy provided by one of their youngest members and must stay ahead of the deadly Owsla. Among this main plot line there are these fantastic little dramas playing out – from interesting things happening in Calnia, to the teenage bumbles of poor Finn Bogey, to the internal conflict of the Owsla.

For a story with so much hilarity, there was equal levity. The plot is definitely pretty serious – I mean, these villagers are fleeing for their lives before a group of battle-hardened and magically enhanced warrior women cut them down from behind. On the flip side, we get to see Finn Bogey struggle in such a painfully hilarious way to try and woo Thyri Treelegs, who’s got her eyes set on someone totally different. Like, I genuinely felt bad for him, but also wanted to slap him around a little because he’s SO sure that he knows more than everyone else, despite being virtually useless. He wants so badly to be accepted, learn to fight, and get the girl. One of my absolute favorite parts was when Erik the Angry was introduced, but that was really because the tribe he’s living with feels that it’s very important to swear every few words. It was HILARIOUS mostly because they did it quite seriously.

I loved this book and absolutely can’t wait for the next one! If it’s possibly, I’ll be picking it up in audio because the narration make this leagues better than reading a physical copy. You Die When You Die was pure entertainment and now I really want to check out Angus Watson’s Iron Age series, just to see if like it as much!