annieb123's Review of Lame of Thrones

by The Harvard Lampoon

A loving but take-no-prisoners (grant them full amnesty) send-up of the beloved book and television franchise, Lame of Thrones will do for Game of Thrones what Nightlight and The Hunger Pains did for Twilight and The Hunger Games, offering fans a way of reentering the fictional world they have come to love and exploding all of its conventions-as well as their expectations of the characters-to hilarious ends. This side-splitting gut-busting laugh-tastic rib-tickling make-you-laugh ha-ha parody may just even leave you more satisfied than the actual ending of Game of Thrones. And in addition to fancy-shmancy satisfaction, this book will also leave you with something way more important-something no book ever has been able to achieve: gratuitous sex and violence that is somehow more graphic than the sex and violence on the TV version of Game of Thrones.

Lame of Thrones will take you to Westopolis, where several different extremely attractive egomaniacs are vying to be ruler of the realm and sit on the Pointy Chair. Our hero Jon Dough was a likely bet, but the untimely murder of him by his own men of the Night's Crotch has made that seem less likely. However, Smellisandre, a witch who has the uncannily convenient ability to bring people back to life is also conveniently located in the same room as Jon's corpse, so maybe she'll do something about it? Will Dragon Queen Dennys Grandslam escape from her Clothkakhi captors and return to conquer the world? Or will she just get left in the desert for the rest of the books, counting grains of sand? And what about Jon Dough's siblings Bland Snark, who's off training with the Pink Eyed Raven, and Malarya Snark, who's off training with the Tasteless Men? Will they be mentioned? Probably? Almost definitely, yes? It would be weird if they weren't prominent characters in the book, you say?

To find out, read the book you wish George R.R. Martin would write, aka the book that brought The Harvard Lampoon out of publishing retirement-after five years of wandering the wasteland of the internet-ready to serve parody notice to Game of Thrones, one of the most popular book and television franchises of the past two decades.

Review link on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Lame of Thrones is the latest culture spoof by The Harvard Lampoon. Due out 10th Nov 2020 from Hatchette, it's 320 pages and will be available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

For fans who are familiar with the Lampoon's oeuvre, this is more of the same with G.R.R Martin and his fictional world as a target. For readers unfamiliar with their mission statement, this is an undergraduate humor club/publication started in 1876 and continuing to the present day. For them, there is no pun too groan-worthy, no cow too sacred, no comparison too juvenile or ridiculous. The spoofing is generally on point and razor witted.

There are maps (with funny/groan-y place names), there's a plot (more or less), and a lot (I mean a *lot*) of potty mouth humor. I enjoyed it a lot and laughed at some of the appropriate places. It's ridiculous and completely over the top. Readers who manage to finish it and aren't 12 year old boys, should probably see a professional.

Four stars. It is most unapologetically itself and makes no excuses.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Lame of Thrones

by The Harvard Lampoon

Reviewed by annieb123 on Sep 23, 2020

Reading updates