Hug Chickenpenny

Of all of Zahler's brutal and unrelenting work I've made my way through so far (2 books, 3 movies, and a podcast), I was not expecting his YA novel to be the most brutal and unrelenting

Where to begin with this book? Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child is unlike anything that I've read before. It's a coming of age story, but with a fantasy bent that makes it completely unique. I can promise that whatever you think you're going to find in these pages you're, at most, only about half right. If you've seen Bone Tomahawk, you might have a general idea about the brilliant oddness that Zahler can create. Just go into this book with an open mind, and prepare yourself for an anomalous journey.

As a character, Hug Chickenpenny wins the award for the quickest I've ever grown attached to anyone. From the moment of Hug's unusual entry into the world, the reader is shown how much he has stacked against him. See, Hug isn't exactly a “normal” child. In the broadest sense of the word, he's quite different. Which of course then sets the stage for his rather rough, and equally intriguing, childhood. Hug's ability to see the good in people and situations, that I would be railing madly at, is really what endeared him to me. No matter how dark things became, Hug was always a ray of light and that is really the most beautiful part of this book.

In terms of plot, there's not a lot that I can say without spoiling things so I'll tread carefully. To say that Hug's story is interesting is actually somewhat of an understatement. Hug probably goes through more in the duration of this book than most of us do in a lifetime. Poor thing. I loved the characters that S. Craig Zahler brought into his path, and especially appreciated those who could see past Hug's outer “otherness”. However the book started to lose me somewhere around the mid-point, when it strayed too far into the fantasy aspect of everything. I liken it to following a steady trail of breadcrumbs into a forest, only to find halfway through that it had been entirely eaten by birds. I was left wandering towards the ending, which then came rushing up too quickly. I almost felt a bit cheated overall. Especially because, in the vein of Lemony Snickett, so many sad things had happened so close together at the end. I lacked closure, and that wasn't something I enjoyed.

So, for a wholly unique plot and a character that I fell head over heels for, this book gets a solid three star rating. It's definitely outside of most of what I've read, and I adored it for that. I do warn you though, this isn't the happiest of stories. Make sure you have some tissues specifically for the ending, friends. You're going to need them.