Helen & Troy's epic road quest / A. Lee Martinez. [af]

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Witness the epic battle of the cyclops!

Visit the endangered dragon preserve! Please, no slaying.

Solve the mystery of The Mystery Cottage, if you dare!

Buy some knick knacks from The Fates! They might come in handy later.

On a road trip across an enchanted America, Helen and Troy will discover all this and more. If the curse placed upon them by an ancient god doesn't kill them or the pack of reluctant orc assassins don't catch up to them, Helen and Troy might reach the end their journey in one piece, where they might just end up destroying the world. Or at least a state or two.

A minotaur girl, an all-American boy, a three-legged dog, and a classic car are on the road to adventure, where every exit leads to adventure. Whether they like it or not.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Helen's summer waitressing job at Magic Burger is cut short when her employer tries to sacrifice her to a lost god resembling a humanoid made of hamburger meat. When a handsome, multitalented coworker named Troy joins the fray, the god changes its plans and instead sends Helen and Troy on a quest to retrieve an unspecified number of artifacts for an unknown purpose. Although being a minotaur gives Helen some advantages in the modern world, she has little chance of winning Troy's affections. Accompanied by a three-legged dog and pursued by a motorcycle gang of orcs, Helen and Troy traverse a rarely traveled part of the American landscape, trusting destiny and the National Questing Bureau to guide their journey. VERDICT The author of Gil's All Fright Diner scores another winner with the zany adventures of a pair of intelligent, out-of-the-ordinary young adults in a world where humans and mythic creatures coexist. Martinez's full-blown comic talent places him in a category with Piers Anthony and Terry Pratchett as a master of comedic fantasy. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

The ever-mercurial Martinez (Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain) offers up a sweetly charming, gleefully entertaining tale of two teens traveling across the country, one mythic encounter at a time. Helen Nicolaides, a young woman suffering from minotaurism (hooves, tail, cow head, and all), and her coworker Troy Kawakami, who's almost distressingly normal, are cursed by the long-forgotten Lost God to collect certain items of power, or else. ("Because that's the way it is," the god explains when Helen protests that quests are "arbitrary" and "stupid.") With a little help from the National Questing Bureau, they set off, dealing with sleeping dragons, hungry witches, and a combative cyclops while a murderous pack of orc bikers follows in hot pursuit. Martinez is a master at making the fantastic so mundane it's fantastic again. While too many familiar mythical elements may occasionally encourage readers to skim, sympathetic characters and a fast-paced plot filled with magic and adventure build to a rousing success from an author who reinvents himself with every new release. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.