My Honest Review: The Legend of Charlie Fish

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A young witch, a kid-gunslinger, a carpenter, and an in-keeper come together to return a lost soul to his home in the sea. The Legend of Charlie Fish is about humanity in the face of adversity, great and small. 

 

Along with five out of five stars, this book by Josh Rountree has earned a dear spot in my heart and opened my eyes to a profound historical event in U.S. history.

How This Book Found Me

This book and I crossed paths at the Horror Writers Association StokerCon event I helped to host in May of 2024.

 

Fellow author Eric Guignard asked me if I would be interested in a book chain opportunity with a fun, weird-west style novel. I took one look at the book and said, “I’m in!” As the book came into my hands, Eric had me sign the sweet library-style card pasted into the inner cover to borrow the book from the universe.

 

Now that I am done reading the book, I find myself in need of a new author to pass this fun little book along to… 

My Honest Review

The Legend of Charlie Fish, a historical fantasy, is told from the perspectives of two main characters, Floyd Betts, a young carpenter trying to make his way in 1900 Galveston, and Nellie Abernathy, a young girl wise beyond her years thanks to the magic of her mama. With Nellie’s sharp-shooting little brother Hank, the three exemplify the beautiful found family theme as they rescue Charlie Fish, a humanoid fish man, from the clutches of two “scoundrels” on the eve of the most devastating natural disaster in our nation’s history. 

The Setting

The story is primarily set on the island of Galveston, Texas in the year 1900. The city is described as having all of the technological luxuries of the age, including electricity and an urban public transit trolley system.

 

I was so intrigued by the history Rountree highlights in this book, that I read a few articles about the storm and Galveston and I found this site by the Galveston Historical Society to be particularly interesting as it has loads of photos of Galveston before and after the storm. 

 

Until reading this book, I had no idea about the Great Galveston Hurricane, which is said to have stolen the lives of anywhere between six and ten thousand people, though the general consensus seems to sit around 8,000 souls.

 

As I finished reading this book, Hurricane Beryl was assailing the Gulf coast, running across Galveston. It was haunting to watch the news and waiting for updates from my family in East Texas with the details of the devastation from this book fresh in my mind.

 

My family did emerge safely from the hurricane, but this storm did not pass without devastation and tragedy. My heart and prayers go out to all who were affected by this recent storm.

The Writing

This book is only 177 pages and I wish there were another hundred! I took my time reading this story because I so deeply enjoyed the colorful characters, especially Nellie’s little brother Hank and Charlie, the cigarette-smoking fish man.

 

The descriptions and dialogue were a joy to read. While short, I did not find this book to be lacking in any way, I just wanted more. Rountree’s witty writing style brought relief to the more tense scenes as this book did cover a range of dark topics, from attempted child-murder to the destruction of Galveston.

 

I really appreciated the social justice themes throughout this story, particularly the idea of people making assumptions that beings who are different or don’t share the same language are lesser or subservient to them in some way.

 

Without getting too deep into spoilers, Nellie is able to communicate to others using a telepathic power which allows her to see and to share what others experience, including great happiness and great pain. She is essentially an empathy-making machine, which, as she discovers, can prove to help and to harm.

Who is this Book For?

Rountree’s book is a great summer or weekend read for fans of weird or historical fiction. This would be a great discussion piece for a family or a book club as there are many talking points and takeaways.

 

If you’re looking for quick discussion questions for your book club, group, or your classroom, here is my go-to list of recommend discussion questions which you may download for free.

 

Have you read The Legend of Charlie Fish? I would love to hear what you thought about it or what your favorite topics are for book discussions in the comment section below. 

 

Happy reading and cheers!

-Sarah

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