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A Fool's Endeavor
The king is dead, the child princess has been stolen away, and the court jester is left bleeding and drowning in the Castle Acalathoy has been dealt a mortal blow. With the only heir to the throne taken in the night, the fate of the kingdom is sealed. The soldiers have been slaughtered, the knights laid waste, and there is no hero foolish enough to go after the princess.But Jester Lure has survived, and he will not be detoured.Against all odds, the fate of the princess lies in the hands of her personal jester, a peculiar man who hides more than his face under his mask. He has nothing left to lose and no intention of turning back. He, along with a small group of similarly unlikely companions- an apprentice who is merely an extension of his master and a knight driven only by guilt- must risk their lives in a hopeless journey across a dangerous land. Wildlife running havoc, bandits, pale folk with saccharine smiles, and other dangers are waiting along their path. It is them against an unrelenting world, and the group must learn to function together if they plan on surviving. With tension within the group, inexperience, and a lack of even basic weapons, this is easier said than done.It’s foolish to believe that they can save the princess from a fate nearly worse than death, but a foolish endeavor is not yet a hopeless one, and their trials have only just begun. For the fate of the princess, for the fate of their lives, and all relying on a foolish endeavor.
- GenresFiction
347 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 22, 2018
5 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 14, 2025
Bumping this up to 5 stars because I can't stop thinking about the characters.
Really nostlagic... A classical hero quest in the style of 80s and 90s fantasy. Lovely queer romantic subplot. The best and authentic characterization of a jester I've ever seen. Very enjoyable.
Really nostlagic... A classical hero quest in the style of 80s and 90s fantasy. Lovely queer romantic subplot. The best and authentic characterization of a jester I've ever seen. Very enjoyable.
April 4, 2024
4.5/5 curse goodreads for not providing half stars (c" ತ,_ತ)
quick but loving summary: A Fool's Endeavor focuses on Lure and his party on a quest to save the young princess kidnapped by invading forces. being the only one willing to step up to the plate, Lure quickly gathers his fellow adventurers - (named for the sake of my review) Balsam, a medic apprentice, Morrick, an upright knight, and eventually Yves, a mysterious archer - to help on his journey.
starts strong, I adore Lure's intro since you get a good idea of his character right off the bat in his actions & thoughts, and the following fight with enemy soldiers is described very well - gets a little slow but tumbles again 65% in, loved the adventure and I actually got soo sentimental near the end (tbh like I always do) when I thought about letting go of the characters (；ω；) but surprise! this is actually a duology, so there's another book to enjoy for all us jester fans （＾◇＾）
I just want to take another second to gush about Lure. I felt that he perfectly encapsulated a jester, and it was a thrill trying to guess what his reactions in any given scene would be. as someone who really likes clowns/jesters, this book was exactly what I was looking for, and I wish more books had a similar main character. Reimagining Lure's jester outfits was admittedly part of the fun for me as well (´∀｀; ) how can I resist a silly guy in sick outfits?
for the romance, his relationship with Morrick has great build up, an actually positive demonstration of rivals to lovers, where they have their hang-ups about each other but manage to talk it out repeatedly. it never has an undercurrent of abuse unlike some enemies to lovers nowadays! reading about them realizing their desire made me want to scream since it's so cute, and I'm a sucker for victorian-esque flirting - they are just so adorable together in the book's ending as well.
Balsam had a good arc as well, despite how easy it could have been for Amabilis to leave him out, but he had great character development. I enjoyed his storyline, even when I honestly wanted to get back to Lure's POV & Yves was a nice surprise even if I Totally called it ( *｀ω´)
there were a few grammatical errors, enough that I wanted to point it out - they don't get in the way of the story though, it was mainly just misspelling or forgetting a word.
☆ I recommend listening to the soundtrack for Final Fantasy X while reading, it fits the mood of a classic fantasy quest ☆
quick but loving summary: A Fool's Endeavor focuses on Lure and his party on a quest to save the young princess kidnapped by invading forces. being the only one willing to step up to the plate, Lure quickly gathers his fellow adventurers - (named for the sake of my review) Balsam, a medic apprentice, Morrick, an upright knight, and eventually Yves, a mysterious archer - to help on his journey.
starts strong, I adore Lure's intro since you get a good idea of his character right off the bat in his actions & thoughts, and the following fight with enemy soldiers is described very well - gets a little slow but tumbles again 65% in, loved the adventure and I actually got soo sentimental near the end (tbh like I always do) when I thought about letting go of the characters (；ω；) but surprise! this is actually a duology, so there's another book to enjoy for all us jester fans （＾◇＾）
I just want to take another second to gush about Lure. I felt that he perfectly encapsulated a jester, and it was a thrill trying to guess what his reactions in any given scene would be. as someone who really likes clowns/jesters, this book was exactly what I was looking for, and I wish more books had a similar main character. Reimagining Lure's jester outfits was admittedly part of the fun for me as well (´∀｀; ) how can I resist a silly guy in sick outfits?
for the romance, his relationship with Morrick has great build up, an actually positive demonstration of rivals to lovers, where they have their hang-ups about each other but manage to talk it out repeatedly. it never has an undercurrent of abuse unlike some enemies to lovers nowadays! reading about them realizing their desire made me want to scream since it's so cute, and I'm a sucker for victorian-esque flirting - they are just so adorable together in the book's ending as well.
Balsam had a good arc as well, despite how easy it could have been for Amabilis to leave him out, but he had great character development. I enjoyed his storyline, even when I honestly wanted to get back to Lure's POV & Yves was a nice surprise even if I Totally called it ( *｀ω´)
there were a few grammatical errors, enough that I wanted to point it out - they don't get in the way of the story though, it was mainly just misspelling or forgetting a word.
☆ I recommend listening to the soundtrack for Final Fantasy X while reading, it fits the mood of a classic fantasy quest ☆
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews