The Bark of the Bog Owl

... or really, really, really late CSFF Blog Tour! Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, I missed the original blog tour for this book. But I feel bad and I've had "review that book" at the top of my to-do list for a while now.

What book is that? The Bark of the Bog Owl by Jonathan Rogers. The best way to sum up this book is if Mark Twain told the story of King David. Well, if Mark Twain wasn't an avowed atheist, that is.

In this book, Aidan Errolson dreams of joining the Corenwald army and becoming a warrior but the many letters he sends to King Darrow are never answered.

But Aidan's life is turned upside down in a number of ways. First of all, he meets Dobro Turtlebane, one of the feechiefolk, a group of half civilized swamp dwellers who live to fight and tussle and get into trouble. Dobro had me laughing out loud after he popped up on the scene and I absolutely adored the feechiefolk. The more of them I see, the better.

More troubling is the pronouncement by Bayard the Truthspeaker, an old man who declares that Aidan will one day be king of Corenwald. That odd prophecy sends Aidan on a wild adventure as Corenwald faces off against the Pyrthen Empire, their traditional enemy.

This was a great read (hence the reason why I've felt so guilty for not posting this review during the blog tour). Rogers captures the south and transplants the story of King David into that cultural milieu with a great deal of humor. Like I said, the feechiefolk were my favorite part and often had me laughing out loud.

The one minor complaint I had about this book is the fact that, if you knew David's story, you knew exactly what was going to happen all along the way. A little bit of deviation from the script would have been okay by me. It's not a bad thing per se, but it would have made this book spot-on perfect.

I know I won't be able to participate in the next blog tour due to the move, but I'm hoping I'll be back on board for December. And hopefully I won't get so blasted far behind again.