LA Horror-Urban Fantasy-Noir-Anti Hero Stuff…
… is awesome. It started with Sandman Slim. And to be honest, I’d have thought it would have gotten old by now.
It has not. It has not because it is, at heart, a “sub-genre” (for lack of a better term) built around place. And place is a thing each individual experiences differently even if their experiences are a shared ones.
Places, especially “old” (relative term) ones, are alive. They breathe, they grow, they change, and, pardon my imagery, defecate. They wither and die. Someone comes along and builds on the bones.
Just as each individual notices different things about different people, so to do people hear, smell, touch, taste, and see different things about a city. Or, in the the case of this phenomenon, spelunk different hell-realms.
The magic system, as I mentioned last week, is awesome. And gross. And awesome. The protagonist is likable, perhaps a bit too much so… a thief isn’t that bad of a thing to be in the underworlds of LA urban fantasy, and he gives a bit too much of a shit about his friends in a way that allowed them to survive pretty much unscathed to be a true anti-hero. He does have a Hulk button though, and I’m looking forward to more of that. There is cryptozoology, a heist, and a magical weapon. Would you think of those as great tastes that taste great together? Because I didn’t but like bacon creme brûlée, they pretty much knocked the whole world-building thing out of the park. Kept the villain on the back burner until the end, a really difficult maneuver while also keeping the story tense, tight, and moving. The reveal was a tad bit anti-climactic for all the prep work, which was a minor bummer, but I’m willing to be patiently vigilant as I know there are two additional books forthcoming.
There were a few, “thanks, Captain Obvious moments,” and, as always, the tell-instead-of show of emotional range and experience was angry-making. I’m not sure why editors don’t catch this stuff but it drives me bat-shit and tells me nothing about the character as a person, or even as a trope. Describe the body-language for me; I can fill the holes in myself, honest, guys. It’s part of the fun. There are a couple of info dumps that were snores-ville and could have been expressed as part of the story or, at worst, as active flashbacks. The narrative voice is a tad inconsistent. Again, this is nothing to do with Van Eekhout; in my feeble mind, it’s an editor/publisher’s job to notice and assist the author in repairing. Most of them, apparently, don’t. I find it rude and somewhat offensive to my reading person.
In short: great world building, good character basics, some variation on tropes that can be expanded and used to great advantage. Enjoyable and I’ve already ordered book two.
Three fingers and a first knuckle on the hand of glory for California Bones and the missing fingers have everything to do with the literary post production.
You want a master to equal Kadrey, check out Stephen Blackmoore’s new Eric Carter novel, Broken Souls. Eric Carter is even more of an asshole — or at least, really wants to be — than in Dead Things and this time, he does a better job of it. As you would if you’d been conscripted in to marriage with Santa Muerte-as-avatar-of-Aztec-Death-Goddess (seriously, do you know what those guys used to do for fun?).
Still can’t hate the dude though because there’s a spark. A tiny, guttering spark of humanity he wants to shed but suddenly finds he’s afraid to lose. Carter would really like to be an asshole, would really like to live, and really really wants a celestial divorce, but there are a couple of other souls he still gives a shit about. That tiny spark, if he allows it to blossom, won’t save him; it will, in fact, likely get him killed. Horribly. Or worse.
There is no redemption for Eric Carter, good or bad, selfish or selfless.
There goes that trope in ‘splod-y bits of skull, viscera, and brain matter.
Gah! I can’t stop thinking about it, even three days after putting the book down. I can’t wait to find out what’s going to happen and what Eric is going to do and how he’s going to pull it out of his ass this time and is this finally the time he just burns it all down?
GAH!!!!
Mythology: check and fitting very nicely in with the current LA while also summoning its past. Magic: necromancy set to maximum horror. Magical weapon: an obsidian knife that allows the wielder to wear other people’s skin and ingest their memories. Mortal wounds, blood, gore, crazy Russians, ancient gods. Yes, yes, yes, yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes.
In case I haven’t made myself clear, yes.
I am often wary of sequels because, well, you know.
Blackmoore is only getting better.
If I had to pick a nit, the buildup is a little slow, but I’m really including only so I don’t come off as a slavering fangirl. Slow build ups don’t bother me: i watch British television.
Five out of five fingers and a thumb ring on the hand of glory for this one, kids. Plan on going dark because once you start, you will be physically and psychologically incapable of stopping until you’re done.
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