The Builders

All the characters in this story are animals. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY ARE ANIMALS. Why me? I mean, I happen to be one of those lovely people who hate don't give a damn about silly animals. So of course my Minion in Training had to pick this particular book for me *eyeroll* A good thing he didn't know about my utter disdain slight dislike for all things fauna when he decided to gift me this somewhat awesome book. Had he known about my condition, he probably would have sent me a Silly Sanderson Book (SSB™) instead *shudders dramatically* Or worse! He could have gifted me Traitor's Blade {insert cries of horror and petrification here} Bloody hell, what a total and complete nightmare this would have been! But I digress. Yeah, I know, I do that a lot lately. Oh well. You're tough and stuff, so I'm pretty sure you'll survive. And if you don't, well, please convey my deepest condolences to your family. Okay, so where was I? Oh yes, I slightly dislike animals. To be honest, it's not that I slightly dislike them, it's just that I don't really care whether they live or die and stuff. Expect when it comes to my murderous crustaceans, obviously. They are my babies! I love them to death! And they make for delicious meals, too! See, I'm not completely heartless. So there's hope for me yet and all that crap. But anyway. When I realized all the characters in this book were animals, I had a mini seizure. I mean, I can deal with 2 or 3 cool pets à la Ilona Andrews, but this here is a freaking zoo! We've got armadillos, squirrels, foxes, rats, weasels, hedgehogs, stoats, salamanders, badgers, opossums, moles, porcupines, guinea pigs…ARGH! Please stop! I feel a stroke coming again! Want to know what saved this story? It's delightfully dark. And most of the animals characters are evil, ruthless, twisted bastards. Why some of them even are deliciously amoral sociopaths!! And of course that is something I just cannot resist. Just like I cannot resist a world where rats wield sawed-off shotguns and drink themselves to oblivion. It's all pretty glorious, if you ask me. Exactly! And that's the beauty of it! Because, quite frankly, merciless, devious, cunning, wicked animals with homicidal tendencies are much more fun than your average, silly, boring, fluffy bunny. So it's no wonder I loved this story so much. » And the very surprising moral of this Super Extra Crappy Non Review (SECNR™) is: I do love animals. As long as they are brutal, ferocious, Machiavellian, slightly barbarous, fierce and cold-blooded. And malevolent. Yeah, that too. » And the other moral of this SECNR™ is: some people can send me book recs and actually survive. Will wonders never cease?! PS: I forgot to mention something! There's a Case of Bad French (CoBF™) in this story!! It's nothing as gloriously pathetic as that of Phoenix Rising, but it's still a pretty good CoBF™. Check this out: “Et où êtes-vous, vous idiot peu hermine? Vous stupide, putois merde cerveau? Votre purulente, imbécile, faux chose?” Ooooh, the Google Translator is strong in that one! Now if someone would please translate the translation for me, I would be most grateful. I might have an Astonishing Mensa Head (AMH™), but this one just does not compute. ✉ A very private message to Eon: you are the best Minion in Training a murderous shrimp leader could ever wish for. So keep polishing that scythe, and keep sending me great book recs. But please please please stay away from the silly PNR stuff! It's hazardous to your health! And, believe me, it really isn't good for your evil Minion image. Because the amazing Eon first recommended, then gifted me this book. You could say he's pretty awesome. Yeah, you could say that. Thank you SO much, Awesome Eon!:D

Far better constructed than I expected, and conscious enough of its tropes that its commitment to them doesn't feel lazy. Definitely more to it than just "grimdark Redwall," but not enough to transcend the tired structure of its forebears.

A short, fun revenge story. It took me a bit to get into the setting as I haven't read much animal fantasy, but I loved the use of animal stereotypes (and Frenchmen!).

3/5 ⭐ The simplest way to describe this book is: Ocean's 11 meets Watership Down for a bad-ass revenge plot in the wild west. If you like the idea of a gun slinging salamander then this is for you. It was a little bit out of my normal reading zone and I found it entertaining but not enough to grab my attention. My reading sessions turned into 15 minute sprints and I dwindled towards the end. The unique writing style will make me try one of his trilogies at least as Polansky has undeniable talent and a huge imagination. You'll enjoy this if you like: Watership Down, Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard, books about animals in general, a more sinister version of Jasper Fforde. Some fan art to help visualise characters done by Scott Brundage found here.

An adventurous story, clever at times, although one of the plot twists seemed glaringly obvious. And the ending was a bit too neat. Still, I enjoyed it, and the audiobook narration was excellent. I plan to also read Polanksy's The Seventh Perfection; the premise of that one is more my style, so I think I'll enjoy it more.

Why has no one told me about Daniel Polansky until now? Oh, I have been blind. If it wasn't for TOR, and their brilliant series of short fiction, I may never have discovered this extremely talented author. If you'll recall, I promised myself that I'd get back into both Fantasy and short fiction this year. Well, Polansky has made that mission all the more attainable. If this is what I can expect, I have no qualms whatsoever! When I was a teenager, the Redwall series was one of my favorite things to read. Sentient animals, with loyal blood running through their veins, constantly at war with one another. I ate it up. This took me back to those days. However, I'm pleased to say that this story is infinitely darker than those. It's gritty. It's bloody. There is death and revenge involved. It was like my favorite stories grew up with me, and I couldn't have been happier. The Builders is like Redwall meets a western featuring John Wayne. The characters are raw. Their pasts are filled with violence, and it is only the promise of revenge that calls them back to those lives they attempted to leave behind. This story is action packed. It's filled to the brim with twists, and turns. At the end of the day, it will leave you breathless. All of that, smashed into one novella length story. I'm impressed. More Daniel Polansky is definitely in my future.