Orconomics: A Satire (The Dark Profit Saga) Paperback – November 22, 2014

[No Spoilers]It starts out almost like Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett: a string of riffs on fantasy tropes and RPG conventions such as grinding for levels and splitting loot. Soon the story takes on a deeper, and sometimes darker, tone as it explores racism, addiction, genocide, and economic policies. The characters start out almost as but quickly develop depth as flaws and history are revealed. By the end of the book, the first in a trilogy, the characters are well fleshed and relatable out with believable motivations and actions.I'll be honest, the first couple of chapters were okay-ish. Enjoyable and with good world building, but not page turning. It kinda reminded me of the first (many) chapters of the Wheel of Time books where Jordan rehashes everything. If you can get past those and meet the rest of the party, it starts to pick up.One thing Pike did very well was foreshadowing and segues. Without spoiling anything, some events that don't make sense when presented come up later in the book, even later in the trilogy. A couple of times I had to go back and check and I was like "oh... yup. Now that makes sense." And watch how the dialog or action connects from scene to scene, it's amusing in and of itself.FYI: I listened to the audiobook for about 1/2 the page count, and as I write this I've finished the Trilogy. I got a little teary-eyed a couple of times.

Orconomics, recommended by my friend Rick Danforth, is a fantasy adventure that pokes at genre conventions and turns them upside down. Great book, fun read, but it's a bit too long and there's a bit too many infodumps. Still would recommend!

Even though this novel has some serious flaws, I still gave it 5 stars. Why? Because the good parts are that good, that's why. It feels like this book could have done with a lot better editing, cleaning up the first half to make it as good as the second half.The first half of the novel has some serious pacing issues. Nothing very interesting happens until the heroes reach the myrewood, which doesn't happen until about halfway into the book. The writer front loads all this exposition information about the mythic history of the world he has created, which some of it is a little bit funny if you've never read Terry Pratchett or Tom Holt. If you have, it comes off as tired and unoriginal. The history of the gods and their wars is spurted out at you in one big yawn-inducing gush, and it's only after you finish the book that you realize most of it was not needed to understand what was going on. I get that he is setting things up for the rest of the series, but most of the history and world building was not needed to understand this story. I am reminded of Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings series, which throws way more history and way more world building in without killing the pace like this book. In Way of Kings I felt much more a sense of suspense, a desire to keep reading to find out the secrets of this fantastical universe that is being built up. In Orconomics it just felt like "been there, done that, let's get to the story already!".The characters eventually become mostly fully fleshed and interesting, but start out as really bland fantasy character stereotypes. I think this might be at least slightly intentional on the writer's part? He was probably attempting something clever that was too clever for me. I very nearly stopped reading about halfway in because I was just so bored, the characters were stale and jokes unoriginal and not funny. I'm glad I kept reading a little bit more because things really pick up when they get to the orcish village.The first encounter in the orcish village was hilarious, the first signs of biting wit in the book for me. The relationships between the party members start actually becoming interesting, and you finally start caring about what happens to them. The "twist" towards the end is perhaps a bit too predictable, I think the writer was a bit too heavy handed in his hints to get the reader to realize what was going on before the big reveal. But it still worked, and some parts towards the end really got me in the feels, much more so than I expected would happen given the light hearted tongue-in-cheek nature of most of the book.Personally, I think what would have worked better is to have the first scene of the story start with the lizardmen, then fill in the background information bit by bit as needed. More time could have been spent on showing us the party member's history through their actions and their conversations with each other, rather than spurting out exposition at us. More background could have been shown to us through interludes like Poldo with Goldson Baggs, instead of told to us through hurried exposition. Perhaps a flashback scene or two about why Gorm cares about going home again?In the end I found myself cheering the heroes on, wiping my tears away, and really wanting to read the next book. Even with the shaky first half, the second half makes up for it and has made it one of the more memorable books in several years. Given my reaction to most books is "meh", I think that deserves 5 stars from me.

I think that one of the most rewarding parts of sifting through self published books is that despite the number of wretched books, and the even greater number of simply mediocre books, you'll occasionally find a gem sparkling through. It's for these moments that I write this blog. These are the books that need someone to stand up and shout, nay demand, they receive wider attention. I only wonder how many more books there are out there that I'm missing. If only there was more time to read. Then again, I don't think there could ever be enough. Enough with the opining, let's get on to the review; it is what you came here for is it not? Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike is the gem I was referring to in my preamble. Like most of my recent reviews I was contacted by Pike to review Orconomics, though I received no compensation and it has no affect on my review. I get daily, and sometimes more frequent, requests for reviews, so I have to narrow down the books somehow. Orconomics instantly grabbed with it's amazing cover and, of course, the name. I'm currently working my way through Capitol in the Twenty-first Century so any sort of lighter treatment of the subject snatched at my attention. The saying goes don't judge a book by its cover; but it can tell you a lot about the amount of effort the author put into the publication. With this strong of a cover, and a catchy title to boot, I had no choice but to read Orconomics. The book starts off in the middle of your standard World of Warcraft quest, an unnamed warrior has cleared out a band of goblins from a barn and now proceeds to the farmer in order to claim his reward. Setting the tone for the book, the farmer starts to haggle with the warrior over the cost of deed, and if it was indeed completed. As if to emphasize his point, one last goblin suddenly breaks cover and runs off to find cover. After a minute of debate to determine if merely driving off the goblins counts as defeating them (turns out it does not) the warrior gives chase. Luckily for the goblin the chase ends with him waking up a rather hungover and irritated dwarf, named Gorm. While not really taking pity on the goblin, Gorm is irritated by the warrior, makes some snide remarks, and before you know it a fight has broken out and ended. The warrior ends up on the ground. After looting the warrior, as is only proper, Gorm starts out on his way, only now shadowed by the goblin. From here the adventure really starts and the fun begins. Don't let the opening chapter fool you though; there's more to Orconomics than simple hack and slash. I'm not going to go into the details, I'll leave you to find those out for yourself, but in Orconomics Pike examines several interesting ramifications of the adventuring world. There were many times that I laughed out loud while reading it, and more than one moment that made me really sit and think. The cast of characters that Pike assembles is fantastic, from a halfing portfolio manager (securitization of potential returns on quest loot is the new big thing) to a famous elvan ranger who's addicted to health potions. The plot is also well done, with enough twists and turns to keep everyone satisfied, but not so complex that it detracts from the lighthearted feel of the book. Anyone who enjoys fantasy, MMOs or role playing should carve out the time to read Orconomics; it's well worth the effort. You can get Orconomics here.

Excelente

One of the greatest fantasy satires around that masterfully parodies the cutthroat politics of venture capitalism in a fantsy world. Pratchett would be proud.

I read this book in three days (and it would have been less, if I hadn’t had other stuff to do in those three days). From the beginning, I was hooked.I was captured by the witty humour, nerdy references and endearing charters.The author balanced humour and seriousness perfectly and the result is a book that made me laugh and cry in rapid succession.It did what it promised from the start: deliver a witty satire of both old RPG and fantasy tropes and our modern world, but it also did more, it gave me a cast of characters I CARED about deeply and a story that flowed spectacularly well.It answers the questions: how would it be like to actually live in an old-school sword and sorcery fantasy world, with all the simplifications and contradictions of such worlds? And the answer is both hilarious and chilling.I recommend this book to both new and old RPG nerds who can’t resist a good easter egg, and to everyone who wishes less fantasy plots relied on maintaining the status quo as the truly “GOOD” path.

J'ai acheté ce livre suite à une vidéo d'un booktuber disant qu'il se marrait bien en lisant ce livre de fantasy et j'avais besoin de me détendre. Pari réussi car on ne lit pas 10 pages sans éclater de rire avec cette parodie de notre système économique dans un monde de Fantasy tournant autour des quêtes.Alors comment résumer l'histoire? Disons qu'on est dans un univers avec des personnages standards de Donjons et Dragons et que toute l'économie tourne autour des quêtes des héros. De là on suit un nain qui se retrouve flanqué aux basques par un gobelin et embarqué dans une quête plutôt mal gré que bon gré avec toute une bande plus ou moins expérimentée à la recherche d'artefacts.Bon ça a priori ça ne me vend pas le truc, je n'aurais jamais choisi ce livre mais voilà l'auteur a une patte excellente et l'art de jouer sur les mots et c'est un vrai plaisir. Pensez Terry Pratchett dans ses meilleurs jours. Clairement l'histoire est un peu un prétexte (ce qui en soi m'évoque Naheulbeuk) mais peu importe, c'est suffisamment drôle pour que je mette le tome 2 dans ma liste d'anniversaire.Un bon moment de détente si on prend ça avec légèreté.

I don't normally leave reviews on Amazon. I just don't get that fired up about stuff to do so. But I'm leaving one now...I bought Orconomics on a whim. It's been years since I read a fantasy novel, but the concept was intriguing, and I do enjoy a good satire. There were a couple of typos that snuck through the editing process, and one glaring error early on (around p.12) where two pages contained identical text. These did give me misgivings, but I'm so glad I read on.About 1/4 of the way through, I ordered the sequal (Son of a Liche), and now I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for part three in the Dark Prophet Saga. This is a delightfully clever series set in a world that will be all too familiar to anybody who has ever read a fantasy book, or played an RPG - there are even references to low level quests clearing rats out of cellars for example. However, all those familar tropes are contorted to fit within a capitalist system of professional heroes and powerful consortiums of financial backers and investors.The party of heroic adventurers are all well-written, three-dimensional characters with their own back stories and inner demons that influence their actions and drive the story onwards towards it's unexpected and very heartfelt climax.Well worth a punt on this one!