Published: Sep. 17, 2010
Words: 110,307 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781907809026

Short description

As the best getaway man in K'Barth The Pan of Hamgee knows most people are out to get him. When he unwittingly sets himself on a collision course with Lord Vernon, K’Barth’s despot ruler, The Pan must make choices and stand up for his beliefs – beliefs he never knew he had until they were challenged. But, faced with a stark moral dilemma will his new found integrity stick? Can he stop running?

Extended description

The Pan of Hamgee isn’t paranoid. There must be some people in K’Barth who aren’t out to get him; it’s just that, right now, he’s not sure where they are. His family are dead, his existence is treason and he does the only thing he can to survive – getaway driving.

As if being on the run isn’t bad enough, when he finds a magic thimble and decides to keep it, he unwittingly sets himself on a collision course with Lord Vernon, K’Barth’s despot ruler.

Unwillingly, The Pan is forced to make choices and stand up for his beliefs – beliefs he never knew he had until they were challenged. But, faced with a stark moral dilemma will his new found integrity stick? Can he stop running? (Read more) The Pan of Hamgee isn’t paranoid. There must be some people in K’Barth who aren’t out to get him; it’s just that, right now, he’s not sure where they are. His family are dead, his existence is treason and he does the only thing he can to survive – getaway driving.

As if being on the run isn’t bad enough, when he finds a magic thimble and decides to keep it, he unwittingly sets himself on a collision course with Lord Vernon, K’Barth’s despot ruler.

Unwillingly, The Pan is forced to make choices and stand up for his beliefs – beliefs he never knew he had until they were challenged. But, faced with a stark moral dilemma will his new found integrity stick? Can he stop running?

Here’s what other readers have said...

“Recommended, especially to fans of fantasy, but also to those who might usually avoid it” The Book Nut's Blog - Between the Pages

“I found I was turning pages as fast as I could... there wasn't a single character that didn't engage me in some way” – Motherlode - Gracekrispy review blog

“Once I got used to the tone and style of the dialogue, I really began to appreciate The Pan's self-depreciating humour and sharp wit, and how his cowardly nature allows him to look at events with a more detached view, enabling him to make rational, intelligent observations.

“Filled with a host of brilliant characters from various wonderfully weird races, none of the different personalities introduced fail to fascinate.” - The Book Bag

As well as the free sample, here, you can also download a free companion short from this site about the main character in Few Are Chosen, it's called Unlucky Dip.

The PDF version is missing because this format is free. Visit the Hamgee University Press website for details.
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Tags

coming of age, comedy, british author, novel, humorous fantasy, robbers, fantasty, british comedy, whimsy, rite of passage, british humour, cops and robbers, rights of passage

Available ebook reading formats

Single purchase gains access to all formats. How to download ebooks to e-reading devices and apps.

Format	Full Book	Sample First 30%
Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser)	Buy	View sample
PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing)	Buy	No sample available
Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps)	Buy	Download sample
Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)	Buy	Download sample
RTF (readable on most word processors)	Buy	No sample available
LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub)	Buy	Download sample
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)	Buy	Download sample
Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting)	Buy	No sample available
Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page)	Buy	No sample available

Reviews

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Review by: Kate Policani on April 03, 2013 :
The Pan of Hamgee ekes out his existence in a world parallel to our own. Working as a third-tier criminal is the only ambition he can attain, because his continued existence is illegal. Capture by the despotic Grongolian rulers means execution for The Pan. Does the dictator, Lord Vernon, have it in for him personally? The dotty and fanatical Resistance is probably an equally bad (or maybe even worse) option for The Pan.
When The Pan discovers a magic thimble, he hasn’t a clue that it will be the key to his world's liberation. He didn't want to be a hero, dangit! He was happy with his accidental promotion to getaway driver. It fit perfectly with his natural yellow streak and talent for saving his own skin. He didn't want to save the world. But to his chagrin he finds that somewhere in deep inside, he has a conscience, and the blasted thing won't let him ignore the cause of Underground or the mysterious girl he sees through the magic thimble.
I found myself smiling like a goof through most of the book. MT's delightful humor and silly names were like a sprinkling of chocolate chips on top of a delicious cupcake. The book's ending had me laughing and annoying my husband by reading him snippets.
MT weaves an endearing tale of cowardice paired with surprising bravery. The true growth and maturing of a dopey young man tugged my heartstrings and tickled my funny bone. Little about this story is typical. I loved the delightful dialects and fantastic, complex political and racial balance. The swearing in the book is priceless, not displaying a lack of imagination, but adding a creative exclamation fitting for the setting. Arnold's Y Fronts!
I couldn't wait to read the next page of this book, and am delighted to recommend it for Awesome Indies! This book is a gem and an absolute must-read.
(reviewed the day of purchase)

Review by: Kate Policani on April 03, 2013 :
The Pan of Hamgee ekes out his existence in a world parallel to our own. Working as a third-tier criminal is the only ambition he can attain, because his continued existence is illegal. Capture by the despotic Grongolian rulers means execution for The Pan. Does the dictator, Lord Vernon, have it in for him personally? The dotty and fanatical Resistance is probably an equally bad (or maybe even worse) option for The Pan.
When The Pan discovers a magic thimble, he hasn’t a clue that it will be the key to his world's liberation. He didn't want to be a hero, dangit! He was happy with his accidental promotion to getaway driver. It fit perfectly with his natural yellow streak and talent for saving his own skin. He didn't want to save the world. But to his chagrin he finds that somewhere in deep inside, he has a conscience, and the blasted thing won't let him ignore the cause of Underground or the mysterious girl he sees through the magic thimble.
I found myself smiling like a goof through most of the book. MT's delightful humor and silly names were like a sprinkling of chocolate chips on top of a delicious cupcake. The book's ending had me laughing and annoying my husband by reading him snippets.
MT weaves an endearing tale of cowardice paired with surprising bravery. The true growth and maturing of a dopey young man tugged my heartstrings and tickled my funny bone. Little about this story is typical. I loved the delightful dialects and fantastic, complex political and racial balance. The swearing in the book is priceless, not displaying a lack of imagination, but adding a creative exclamation fitting for the setting. Arnold's Y Fronts!
I couldn't wait to read the next page of this book, and am delighted to recommend it for Awesome Indies! This book is a gem and an absolute must-read.
(reviewed the day of purchase)

Review by: Aly on June 02, 2012 : (no rating)
This book literally has a fiery start He really has no luck, burning the entire block ;) . The Pan of Hamgee is a fun, quirky character with confidence issues. However, having a low self-esteem didn't make him a wimpy character- It actually made him braver in the funniest ways. He also happens to be a fugitive on the run with extreme paranoia problems add a criminal mastermind and crazy power hungry lord to that and you've got a great story.
There wasn't a single unlikable character in this book, I even liked the monsters! Well...maybe not Big Merv Before he changed that is
I love fantasy books, so this was perfect for me mostly because of the weird world that was K'Barth. There were a couple words that I stumbled across but they solved themselves and all was well.
Warning: The book leaves you hanging and slightly insane for the next one. Thank god its not over:
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: Heather Boustead on April 24, 2012 :
Few Are Chosen
By M T McGuire
K’Barthan Trilogy Book One

The Pan of Hamgee is accident prone to say the least and when he accidently burns down a mob boss’ flat he soon wiggles his out of a cement box into being the greatest getaway driver K’Barth has ever seen, because if there is one thing The Pan knows how to do it is run away. This is only the beginning for the Pan though he soon becomes wanted not only by Lord Vernon the ruler of K’Barth but also wanted by the head of the resistance which seem just as bad as the current rulers, and for some reason an Old Man seems to bring him even more trouble as the man searches for the person who is destined to rule over the land.

This book is witty and fast paced, The Pan often finds himself saying the most inappropriate things at the most inopportune times leaving you silently chuckling to yourself at the audacity of the guy. M T McGuire has also seemed to imagine some of the most interesting characters for instance the three foot tall creatures with cat’s facial feature and only one leg, which becomes very angry if you mention their height. This book is certainly entertaining and imaginative I can’t wait to read book two The Wrong Stuff.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: GraceKrispy on Dec. 23, 2010 :
On K'Barth, the Nimmists are long gone- or long in hiding- and the Chosen One has yet to be found...or so it's thought. Lord Vernon is making plans to take charge of this world, and he will use any tools at his disposal to make sure his plan goes off without a hitch. The Pan is a blacklisted criminal who has managed to stay alive in spite of his lack of courage, or maybe because of it. He lives by his wits, and has survived far longer than expected, against all odds. When he gets trapped into using his skills for a mastermind criminal, his life takes some unexpected turns. He soon becomes a creature of intense interest from all sides of this movement, and he reluctantly becomes part of some of the most daring and adventuresome events of his age.

This is the kind of book I really shouldn't have liked- it's filled with odd new beings and some new terminology with magic thrown in; just the kind of fantasy that I normally pass by. I like the magical and otherworldly aspects, I just don't usually like various types of creatures together (even that bar scene in Star Wars bugged me as a kid). It just isn't my "thing." Well, perhaps I'm wrong, and this is my "thing," because I found I was turning pages as fast as I could. There were some lulls here and there, but for the most part, the plot moves along nicely, even though you're not sure exactly where it's headed.

The Pan is engaging and likable, surprisingly so. He's sympathetic and plucky all at once. Big Merv undergoes a nice transition in character, and his changes are realistic and fit well with the plot. The characterization in this book is, overall, nicely done and there wasn't a single character that didn't engage me in some way. The plot was intriguing; although a bit slow at times, it really picked up at the end. In fact, I was totally immersed in the action towards the end and was quite surprised to see the story suddenly end. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as it made me want to read the next book. If this weren't meant to be a trilogy, I'd feel left cold by the ending. This story did exactly what a first book in a series should do- answered some questions, and left others unanswered (hopefully to be major plot points of the next book).

MT McGuire has a very quirky writing style, and uses some interesting phrasing in this book. This style would have been frustrating in a different type of book. Rather than detract from this book, however, it seemed to fit this strange new world with its strange occupants. There were some typos, most notably with punctuation marks, but not so many as to totally distract from the engaging storyline. I wish I could have seen a bit more into the other world briefly introduced, and its connection to this world, but I suspect we'll learn much more in the next installment.

Overall, a surprisingly good read, and a fun escape!

@ MotherLode blog
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: Francis Porretto on Sep. 25, 2010 :
Miss McGuire has written an exceptional story, suitable for both the young and the old. The plotting is first-rate, the characterization pinpoint-accurate, and, if I have some quibbles over the style, I'll overlook them in favor of the other excellences of this worthy book.

The Pan is one of the most interesting characters I've encountered in speculative fiction in recent years. His antagonist, Lord Vernon, and his principal ally, Big Merv, are equally well delineated. The backdrop of Ning Dang Po, K'Barth's capital city, is sufficiently well colored in to be vivid while leaving ample room for the reader's visual imagination to roam.

Though Miss McGuire says she intends this for a younger audience, I aver that it can be enjoyed by anyone, of any age, who appreciates a madcap, highly inventive romp replete with reasons for the reader to ponder the natures of heroism and cowardice, the essential bindings that hold a civilization together, and the irreplaceable importance of loyalty, both to persons and to ideas. Highly recommended -- but keep your British-slang-and-idiom dictionary near to hand!
(reviewed within a week of purchase)

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