Son of a Liche

The Dark Profit Saga, Book 2

De: J. Zachary Pike

Narrado por: Doug Tisdale Jr.

A doubly disgraced dwarven hero. A band of accident-prone adventurers. Giving redemption a second shot may have been a grave mistake....

Still bruised and heartbroken from their last calamitous quest, Gorm Ingerson and his band of washed-up heroes try to make amends for the orcs they accidentally betrayed. But justice is put on hold when an old foe marches to the city gates. Gorm is horrified to discover a liche pitching the frightened city-dwellers on the merits of the undead lifestyle...at the head of a corpse army.

To save the city from high-pressure sales tactics and an inevitable siege, the dwarf warrior and his misfit band hatch a harebrained scheme that lands them at the top of the king’s kill list. With death and dark magic on his heels, Gorm must craft his own pitch to round up the troops and put the undead snake-oil salesman and his army of pushers permanently out of business.

Son of a Liche is the second book in the Dark Profit Saga, a trilogy of humorous epic fantasy novels. If you like rib-tickling shenanigans, second-rate heroes, and imaginative new takes on tired tropes, then you’ll love J. Zachary Pike’s hilarious blend of finance and high fantasy.

©2018 J. Zachary Pike (P)2025 Audible, Inc.

A worthy sequel

I loved the first book, and this was a great continuation of the story. Narrator is fantastic.
I can't wait for book 3.

Wonderful way of writing satire

I have been very disappointed in most of the modern science fiction/fantasy genera. To much political correctness or overly sensitive about what people's feelings are. Not many story cares about just a good story. I thought this book did an excellent job of insulting everyone without coming out and saying it to their face. Which is what a good satire should be. The narrator was amazing in doing everyone's voice. Just distinct enough to be different individuals and with enough personal touch to make the reader know who is who. Some of these audibles have narrators who just drone on in the same voice and I get confused on who's who after a while. Definitely worth the purchase I could not put this book down. I wanted to write this review in the hopes that good writers get noticed for a good job. And I don't feel bad for writers who go on a tangent and just stop making sense.
The books flows well and I stopped noticing the time. That to me is what makes a great book. Being lost for hours listening to a good story.

The Saga Continues in Brilliant Manner...

The best voiced series on Audible in my opinion due to the great voicings of Doug Tisdale Jr. This series is an intelligent, hilarious mashup of fantasy and economics, delivered with a seemingly endless stream of witty nods to things like D&D, Princess Bride, Lord of The Rings, Monty Python, etc. Characters who seem real enough to be emphasized with, and the author tackles some very real human issues and social concerns but the book never gets bogged down. Can't wait to see how the series gets wrapped up in the final book.

Excellent sequel

This does not disappoint. The story flows seamlessly from the first book, and builds on the first book extremely well. The performance is amazing. If you enjoyed Orconomics, get this now. If you have not read Orconomics yet, get it first. You will be lost without that foundation.

Love this author and reader

Author: Mingles wit, realistic plot twists, and a fantasy-epic setting outstandingly well. Where many fantasy writers have a tendency to be ridiculously black and white with an annoying focus of “coming of age” events and pointless teenage romance, Pike pushes a grizzled and cynical bunch forward as something more akin to realistic protagonists that function something akin to actual humans... dwarves... elves... well, you get the point.

Narrator: Clearly is a voice actor and gives characters consistent and distinctive voices that perfectly pull one deeper into the already extremely well written story.

A++++ for both. More of this and less of Tolkien wannabes.

Excellent follow up!

I found Orconomics to be living on the edge of satire and serious fantasy, being a good example of the former, but a weak example of the latter. When it ended strong; however, I was encouraged to seek the second book. Once I started Son of a Liche, I was very pleasantly surprised from the first chapters and could not put it down. This book was an excellent balance of funny, captivating, and emotional, and I cannot recommend it strongly enough (so much so as this is my first review after ~6 years of membership). I also do not want to diminish the work of the reader, who gives all of the characters and species of Arth vibrant life.

Gygax by way of Adams

I mean it. This is HHGttG if Adams was inspired by Tolkien and D&D instead of Flash Gordon or Burroghs.
Satirical(near prophetic) fun in a fantasy world with current events lampooned as much as Toxic Fandoms and classic tropes!

Can't wait for the next Book!!

in the minority?

I enjoyed the book, but not as much as Orcanomics. not sure exactly why, but didn't hold my attention as well. is a good solid book, and it's with a listen.

ANAZING

This book is absolutely amazing. It has word play, quips, a fantasy story line, and everything else someone could ask for in a book.

Same humor, now with extra soul

Son of a Liche is the sequel to Orconomics by J Zachary Pike, which I loved and thought was great satire. My only real issue with Orconomics was that the story itself seemed a bit generic. Well, Son of Liche has that taken care of. The story is great in this one, there’s lots of threads, lots of characters getting lots of development and opportunity to shine. I though Orconomics had a good amount of soul, but Son of a Liche really brings it.

Everything I loved about Orconomics was still going strong. All of the socio-economic criticism, the funny banter and the thought provoking satire.

There are some great comedic moments. The head of marketing made me laugh my head off numerous times. There’s Ned and Ted, a comedy pair that I found a mix of the old men in the muppets and the guy in Monty Python and The Holy Grail that goes on about the basis of a system of government. There’s one character who’s name kept getting dropped and I was thinking, something’s gonna be up with this dude, I see what you’re doing here. I did not see what he was doing there, lost it at the reveal.

I really love the scene switches, where one person says a thing, and then a character from a completely different scene says something that sounds like an answer. Very clever Mr. Pike.

The audiobook is split into two parts, only I didn’t know this. So when it got to the end of part one I thought well that was a good book, cause it cut off somewhere that could be an ending. And then there was so much more, in fact I’d say there was a bit of a Sanderstorm situation going on.

(I mention a few story points here, but nothing really to do with the main plot or that I'd consider a spoiler, another reviewer around here was kind enough to read and say that it's not giving much of anything away.)

Son of a Liche feels less about a party of people, and more about each individual person. There’s lots of side characters that have so much going on and so much growth:

An undead commander that starts questioning the so called free will granted by the necromancer

A scene in the begining with 3 knoll puppies that are starving despite their mama doing anything she can to get them food, the feels, ouch

Mr. Poldo who realizes the consequences of his past banking actions and becomes a generous person

There’s enough going on with the internal politics of the tribe of orcs we met earlier to make its own story

The main party characters shine as well. Grom really struggles with his role as leader, and we finally get to see him go berserk, it’s worth the wait. Jin is just on a constant journey of personal discovery and coming to terms with who he is. Kaitha (spelling is optional as I listen on audio) has a lot of highs and lows.