On a parallel Earth similar to ours, a barbarian king and an evil cheerleader switch bodies, threatening to destabilize the entire multiverse. That's just the tip of the adolescent iceberg—in the race against time to set things right, teen genius Peter and master strategist Eun face off against a world-devouring monster.
Tons of profanity. Idiot demon-jocks. Copious psychedelics. An airborne kiss at three hundred miles per hour, dangling from the back of a mushroom-shaped mecha.
This is the high school experience you've always wanted. But more importantly, it's the high school experience you so richly deserve.
When I first opened this bad boy, I was confused, I was intrigued, I was…a little turned on… and I just couldn’t put it down. Kor’Thank: Barbarian Valley Girl is full of wibbly wobbly timey wimey, multiverse of madness, time fuckery and I’M HERE FOR IT!
What happens when a warrior king and a high school cheerleader switch bodies a la Freaky Friday style? One will gain purpose and one will become a more lethal version of my personal high school hell. Add to that a giant monster, an insatiable thirst for control, world-warping psychedelics, and a minor bout of cannibalism and you have the perfect recipe for a sci-fi, horror novel.
What I liked about the book: 1. The characters are fantastic! There are really 4 key people:
Peter: - Genius orphan who has helped the government with many projects in exchange for them leaving him the hell alone - Into psychedelics as a form of warfare and war tactics and is attempting to start something call the Fuckrising, because what else would a teenaged boy who bathes in Axe body spray name his movement?!? - Wants revenge against the head cheerleader Holly Dent for…reasons - He’s friends with the POTUS and a goddamn chimpanzee who he practices Jujitsu with. But really, Kent Wayne had me at the monkey. I was invested at that point.
Eun: - Peter’s best friend-girl - She’s obviously the smartest one in the whole book even though Peter is a genius and Kora/Kor’Thank is a warrior king. She’s literally the only reason they’re alive and I’ll fight anyone who thinks differently.
Holly: - Stereotypical head cheerleader who only cares about herself - It was definitely fun to see what she could do with ample followers as the warrior king. Fun, but also terrifying. - She also names her raptor Gucci, because of course she did
Kor’Thank / Kora: - Indashi warrior king who kills orcs and rides a raptor into battle…like the dinosaur. Oh, apparently dude can do magic too, because why the hell not? - Fighting some inner demons (relatable), he decides to leave his group of warriors, effectively abdicating the throne and his title as King, so he can go deal with his demons. He’ll either come back a better ruler or he’ll let his demons make him a monster - I LOVED watching him figure out some of the earth lingo and how his speech was really deadpan gold!
2. I’m one of those people who has a hard time picturing books as they read them in more than vague colors and shapes (despite being a creative writer!). HOWEVER, I don’t know if it was my nerd brain taking over or if the writing was that fantastical, but I TOTALLY pictured this as a graphic novel as I read it, panel by panel. The plot, writing style, and themes would lend well to a graphic novel, and I would read the sh*t out of that.
I mean, why wouldn’t something written by Kent Wayne, a name I can only imagine is the amalgamation of the two last names of the biggest names in the DC Universe (Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne), be grounds for a great graphic novel?
3. As already established above,…in my bio,…from all of my family and friends,…and pretty much every bully in high school, I’m a huge f*cking nerd. Therefore, this was right up my alley! I gobbled up all the pop culture references like I’m goddamn Pac-man.
4. Short chapters and tons of silliness. What more can you ask for?
5. Tangent: “Everything was better when you did it to metal.” Literally cannot agree more with this statement.
What more I wanted from the book: 1. Ok, Kor’Thank (as Holly) and some rando are not the sex scene we asked for. Where the f*ck was the Peter/Eun sex scene? Or Peter/Holly (as Holly)? Or Holly (as Kor’Thank)/Yinhalka? I was patient and none of these happened!!
2. As much as I hated her, I really wanted more for Holly’s character development.
This weird little book is just what I needed after reading the fifteen fucking hundred pages long ‘A Suitable Boy’. Sorry for the ‘F’ bomb, but after reading Kent Wayne’s novel ‘Kor’ Thank: Barbarian Valley Girl’, I feel like it’s pretty fucking okay to drop some profanities now and then. Damn, I did it again.
Okay, I will start off the book review in earnest now. The author and I follow each other on WordPress and that’s how I learnt about ‘Kor’Thank’ and decided to get it on my kindle. He sort of warned me about how the book is “silly and vulgar”, but by then I was already laughing out loud at the pages and enjoying it.
The plot is pretty fucking crazy. A barbarian king called Kor’Thank from an alternate universe switches body with a vicious cheerleader Holly and things get chaotic. Contrary to my expectations, I actually liked reading Holly the cheerleader’s adventure as the king, more than Kor’s new life as a teen bitch on earth.
There are three protagonists as far as I am concerned –
1. Holly, who is pure evil. Evil enough to brain-damage the cheer-leading captain to become the Queen Bee herself. Imagine what such a girl would do when she ends up in the body of a King?! 2. Chongha Peter Lee, a supposed genius, who hates Holly and is planning to get back at her for something she did to his dog. (Trying to keep it spoiler free, so I am not going to say what she did to the dog) 3. Kor’Thank is the battle loving King of a people called the ‘Indashi’, who is nothing like Ms Holly. Peter Lee and his friend Eun become his guide to modern earth.
After Kor and Holly switch both bodies, the rest of the plot is spent on their novel experiences and their quest to get back to their own worlds. There is a nice unexpected little twist thrown in, which I am not going to reveal, but let’s just say that the twist makes it quite a fanatical tale for Holly the impostor King. There are a lot of battles and bloodshed during her reign. Peter Lee and Kor on the other side have a massive monster on their hands.
Here is the deal – I have never read anything like it! Never. Pretty sure there must be a lot of body swapping, multi-dimensional novels with a lot of profanity thrown in the mix, but for me, this was new territory. I couldn’t understand some bits, possibly because they were American pop-culture references that I couldn’t catch.
But I will be honest, the most fun I had was reading all the profane phrases the author concocts. Sample some of these – “Scram, cunt-sludge”; “Bring it on, dick-sniffers”; “Too late, Fuckgobble”. Well, there’s a lot more vulgarity in the book and it was such a riot to read! If you get offended by such language, the book is so not for you.
The author probably had a lot of fun writing this one, because it sure as hell comes across on the pages. There are some action sequences in the second-half that were written in a very arresting manner and were an absolute delight to imagine. The climax however was a little tame in comparison of the rest of the tale and could’ve been more dramatic.
If you want to read some crazy multi-dimensional material and don’t mind an overdose of psychedelics and teen demons, this is just the book you must pick. It’s a solid 4/5 for me. In the author’s words – It’s a High-School Absurdical.
This is not my normal type of read, but I thought I would give it a try. I actually enjoyed it and would be willing to try another one of Mr. Wayne's books.
Where do I begin with this? This is the craziest story I've ever read. It is buzzing with creative insanity. It is an frenzied, eclectic piece of mania on an epic scale, spanning parallel worlds, dimensions of warped thought and a large quantity of psychedelic drugs, terrifying monsters, robot soldiers and a land filled with raptor-riding barbarian hordes, complete with wizards and sorcery. Oh, and there's brutal fight scenes, flying cars and entities that span the multiverse. Yeah, it's pretty intense.
My only tiny issue is that it felt a little like there should have been something before the beginning of the story - that there was more to unwrap regarding the characters, pre-introduction. Beyond that, it was brilliant. 4/5
Okay, here's the deal (spoilers ahead). A fictional high school in the San Francisco Bay area is located next to a super-secret government research lab that has captured creatures from other worlds and has an inter-dimensional gateway.
A narcissistic, self-absorbed (didn't I just say that) Asian super nerd named Peter who is always being bullied by the school jocks and cheerleaders, has a serious love/hate relationship with Holly Dent, who has just become captain of the cheer-leading squad after cheating her butt off (which involves doing significant harm to her rival). He also has a female friend who seems to be the "only adult in the room" named Eun Yin, but she can't keep Peter from starting something he calls "the Fuckrising" to get revenge for his mistreatment.
Meanwhile in a parallel universe, the barbarian king Kor'Thank, who rides into battle on his personal steed, a velociraptor, goes off alone after a defeat in which he lost his favored mount.
Through some bizarre set of circumstances involving hallucinogenics, Holly and Kor'Thank switch bodies and universes. Amazingly, both Holly and Kor'Thank (who is called Kora while in Holly's body) don't seem to have much trouble adjusting to suddenly being different genders. In fact, in some pretty much X-rated portions of the book, Kora has sex (to put it mildly) with another teenage girl using various "devices" (keeping in mind that although Kora looks like a teenage girl, inside is an adult male barbarian).
In the other universe, where time passes faster, Holly in Kor's body, turns total despot (which is totally unlike the actual king) and realizes that the petty "Mean Girls" stuff she was pulling before pales compared to going to actual war and slaughtering all of the armies of the surrounding nations.
Back in "our" universe, Peter, Eun, and Kora, with a ton of supernatural help, invade the nearby headquarters of ANOS (yes, it's pronounced "anus") disguised as janitors, see a bunch of weird stuff, and while on psychedelics,try to open the gateway between universes to possibly switch Holly and Kor back to their correct bodies.
It doesn't work, something horrible is released, what amounts to a bizarre wizard tries to help, and all hell breaks loose.
Tons of insane high school hi-jinks occur if high school was in a universe where all of this could occur and the kids were either incel-like geniuses or homicidal cheerleaders.
Did I mention that you probably don't want actual high school age kids reading this because of the R and X-rated sequences?
I previously reviewed all four volumes of Kent Wayne's (pen name) Echo series (you can search my blog for "Echo" to find them or go to my Reviews page) about dystopian military action and trying to derive meaning from a life of violence (something Wayne says he was trying to do himself relative to his own military career). Kor'Thank was his way of decompressing and just playing with the ridiculousness of high school.
I enjoyed this ridiculous concept of a story. It was a fun romp through a mixture of scifi and fantasy. BLURB
On a parallel Earth similar to ours, a barbarian king and an evil cheerleader switch bodies, threatening to destabilize the entire multiverse. That's just the tip of the adolescent iceberg—in the race against time to set things right, teen genius Peter and master strategist Eun face off against a world-devouring monster.
Tons of profanity. Idiot demon-jocks. Copious psychedelics. An airborne kiss at three hundred miles per hour, dangling from the back of a mushroom-shaped mecha.
This is the high school experience you've always wanted. But more importantly, it's the high school experience you so richly deserve.
STORY
Bodies switched between a barbarian leader on a parallel world and a cheerleader on Earth. Two teens who have the knowledge to switch them back. And a demi-god who appears as various things from a dog to a bicycle to a supercar to a... The stability of the universe is at stake, and unless Peter and Eun can defeat an evil demi-god and an equally evil company, that's the end of everything. I don't want to say more, except that I loved the velociraptor steeds of the barbarians. (except for a couple of occasions when Mr Wayne mentions them rearing. Since velociraptors are two-legged creatures, I found that I could not conceive of this idea,)
CHARACTERS
The characters are fun and varied. Eun is the strategist behind the operation, and Peter the scientist. I loved Kor'Thank, the barbarian leader, who found himself in the body of a teenage girl. His reaction to this was interesting. As was the reaction of Holly, the girl cheerleader who ended up in Kor'Thank's body. But she became more nasty and evil. The characters did change throughout the story, adapting to their circumstances—Kor'Thank for the better, and Holly for the worse. I don't want to say more.
WRITING
The writing was good. Very few things that irritated me.
SUMMARY
I give the book 4*. If you've read anything else by Mr Wayne, you will find this very different. Although it is about teenagers, I would not recommend it for teens to read. There is much swearing and some sex. It is a fun read.
I purchased this on Kindle. It's a fine book; I sadly could not get into it. The cover reminds me of a comic book, something Jane Foster's run at being Thor. That is not an insult by the way--again, just not my interests...
A Two-for-One Sci-Fi Adventure of Epic Proportions! Kent Wayne’s Kor’Thank The Barbarian Valley Girl is a magical, mind-bending journey that’s equal parts hilarity, hope, and heart. This book dares you to get out of your own way, embrace courage, and dream bigger than ever before. With vividly written characters like Holly Dent, Peter Lee, and Eun, you’ll feel like you’ve traveled across dimensions (no shrooms required!) alongside a stellar cast on a heroic, life-changing adventure.
Wayne’s authenticity and imagination shine in every page, giving readers a dose of faith and transcendence without preaching or force. He masterfully combines bold storytelling with a message of hope that feels divinely inspired. Oh, and the pseudonym? Total genius. Five stars and two thumbs up—this is a must-read for anyone looking to laugh, dream, and rediscover their own inner hero. Bravo, Kent Wayne!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.