The Bookwyrm's Review of The Headlock of Destiny

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RATING

9.5/10

SYNOPSIS

Some say titans are descended from giants. Others say they are risen from men. But there’s never any debate about where to find them. They will be in the center of a roaring crowd, beating the hell out of each other. 

From contenders like the Savage and Scott Flawless to pretenders like Richard the Living Portrait and Troll-Blooded Thom, a titan’s lot in life is the same: to wrestle for dominion and glory in the squared circle. 

Van, a quiet titan from the brewery town of Headwaters, wants no part in this. He’d prefer to be left alone with a beer. But destiny has him in a headlock, and it is prepared to drag him into battles that will shake the land and change his world forever. 

Step into the ring with this one-of-a-kind novel, brewed special for fans of epic fantasy, fans of professional wrestling from the Golden Era and beyond, or simply fans of a good tale.

REVIEW

Growing up, I was kind of a shy, introverted kid. I did have two interests though, more than any others. I loved reading fantasy/sci-fi books, and I loved watching pro wrestling. When I saw the premise of  The Headlock of Destiny, a mashup of fantasy and wrestling, I knew I had to review it. Here are the happy results of my read through.

You would think a book about wrestling titans would have fairly cartoonish, two dimensional characters. Well, you'd be mistaken. The characters can be a bit cartoonish in their wrestling personas, but they have surprisingly deep wells of personality and motivations. Van is a complex character, riddled with self doubt and loathing, only to realize he has more to offer the world and finding internal strength. The various characters have some surprising motivations for their actions, and are not the caricatures you would expect. You can easily get behind Van as he progresses, and be appalled at some of the villains as they work their various plans to fruition.

The world building, aside from the special aspects dealing with the wrestling, which in this case is not scripted or fake, is fairly standard fantasy realm type of stuff. Humans, elves, dwarves, halflings and what have you are all included, with the Titans being the unique addition to the mix. With what amounts to a bunch of small nations with an outside threat in the Nether, every nations is not particularly fleshed out, but the main settings of the book do get some attention, giving you an idea of the settings. Definitely an interesting fantasy setting to dig into.

The audiobook version is performed by Sean Slater. I was unfamiliar with his work before this one, but after finishing it, I am now firmly a fan. He does a great job bringing this eclectic group of characters to life, ranging from pompous politicians and promoters, a certain humble Beer man, and a wide variety of over the top, bombastic Titan wrestlers, who are all about half a step from shouting Woooo!!, and cutting a promo about limousine carriage riding, dragon back riding, kiss stealing, wheeling dealing son's of crossbows! His narrative pacing is excellent, and you can't help but be enthralled in the listen. I can't wait to listen to the next book in the series.

Taking two premises that shouldn't work together, Samuel Gately instead takes the more fantastical elements of both, stirs them up, and makes an entertaining story that keeps the reader turning pages. I am definitely looking forward to the sequel to see what fate has in store for Van and his allies. I think this book has something for fantasy fans to enjoy, and even wrestling fans who aren't into fantasy may enjoy the story.