Showing posts with label vengeance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vengeance. Show all posts

Monday, June 29, 2009

Review: Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

A common comparison in reviews goes something like ‘fans of __ will love __’. Related and nearly as common is something like ‘fans of __’s earlier work will love this one’. I’ve seen the argument about the above being lazy and unhelpful reviewing, and I’ve seen numerous pleas for exactly that kind of comparison in reviews. Disregarding that particular discussion, the most appropriate one-line description of Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound) is ‘Joe Abercrombie serves up a heaping dish of more of the same with Best Served Cold’.

Monza Murcatto is the most ruthless and successful mercenary in Styria. Depending on what side of the river you stand on, she is either immensely popular or indescribably hated. Dwelling on the former, her employer, the Grand Duke Orso, has Monza and her brother killed in an impressive scene of back-stabbing betrayal. Only Monza manages to survive being beaten, cut, stabbed, and thrown from a mountain top. What remains is the classic vengeance story as she methodically seeks the death of the seven people in the room when her brother was killed with the help of a merry band of dangerous degenerates, both new and familiar.

For fans of Abercrombie’s previous work, The First Law Trilogy (
review), Best Served Cold is probably just what they are looking for. Abercrombie’s dark, biting humor imbues everything. Violence is bloody, language harsh, dialogue full of grunts, the sex is cleverly not-so gratuitous, the addictions and perversions shall not be spoken of, and everybody is an evil son-of-a-bitch.

Unlike The First Law Trilogy, Abercrombie doesn’t set out to be blatantly subversive with Best Served Cold. It really is a strait-forward vengeance plot, with surprisingly few twists along the way. With that said, Abercrombie just can’t help but be a little subversive. A scene that sticks with me is one where a female mercenary, female poisoner, and female torturer interrogate a female prisoner – you can feel the testosterone (err…estrogen?) of this not-so uncommon scene reinvented.

The main issue I have with Best Served Cold likely won’t bother most who read the book – Abercrombie doesn’t offer anything new. The First Law Trilogy was a refreshing offering in the often stale genre of epic fantasy. Hoping for an equally refreshing read in Best Served Cold, I found that any novelty remaining quickly wore off. The 640 pages drag on as vengeance is repeatedly sought and achieved – I frequently found myself unmotivated to continue reading. Readers of The First Law will quickly recognize near carbon-copies of characters: Monza is the strong, dangerous woman that Ferro never realized and Shivers nearly a mirror-image of introspective barbarian Logen Ninefingers.

As I hinted at above, Abercrombie’s characterization doesn’t feel so different from The First Law, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Best Served Cold is just as character-driven. At the forefront is the curious dichotomy between Monza and Shivers. Shivers is on a personal journey to become a better man. Monza is the cold-hearted bitch of a mercenary seeking vengeance. Through the book, these two evolve in an unhealthy co-dependency – and if they have sex, watch out! While not the central protagonist, the stage is consistently stolen by the loveable, drunken rogue of a mercenary, Nicomo Cosca, always landing on his feet with flask and sword in hand and caustically cheerful comments to make.

Best Served Cold is a stand-alone book in Abercrombie’s imagined world. However, readers of The First Law will likely appreciate certain plot points more and recognize several recurring characters as it becomes clear that all things in Abercrombie’s world come back to a central feud between powerful enemies, often manipulating events with proxies. While plot is self-contained, Best Served Cold isn’t quite as stand-alone as advertised.

The more-of-same approach of Best Served Cold entertains, yet becomes tedious at times and unfortunately left me wanting more of that special something that I’m convinced Abercrombie can give. 7.5/10

Related Posts:
Review of The Blade Itself, Review of Before They Are Hanged, Review of Last Argument of Kings, Review of The First Law Trilogy, Interview with Joe Abercrombie

Monday, May 18, 2009

Review: A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin

Magic – it lies at the heart of the fantasy genre, the very definition for many. Often magic can do anything and equally often it has limits, but one thing that magic nearly invariably fails to do is evolve. The inspiration for magic is typically rooted in myth and legend resulting in a concept that feels stuck in distant past. It’s rare that a book truly shows magic evolve with the experience of the human species – A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin is one such rarity (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound).

In Griffin’s London magic has urbanized. The mythical last train is powerful magic, the electricity flowing through wires is powerful magic, the graffiti scrawled across walls is powerful magic, the litter thoughtlessly discarded is powerful magic, even the disclaimer written on an Underground ticket is powerful magic. Bikers travel magical routes through time and space, bag ladies and beggars are magical gods, and the phone lines possessed by blue electric angels. Sorcerers rise above other magic users to be become a thing of magic itself – magic is life – and urban sorcerers are the city of their magic.

The sorcerer Matthew Swift died by the hands of a magical creature of shadow wearing the face of his former mentor and benefactor, Mr. Bakker. A Madness of Angels carries the subtitle of Or, the Resurrection of Matthew Swift, giving away what comes next. The book opens with the bewildered Matthew Swift’s resurrection, the reader feeling every bit of the confusion of Swift. Once bearings are gained, what remains is a story of vengeance. Swift focuses on killing the shadow creature he names Hunger even as he knows that in reality he must kill his former master, Mr. Bakker.

The brilliance of A Madness of Angels is magic – the urban magic of London. Urban Fantasy has evolved of late into a new feeling genre, and while Griffin’s magic evolves, A Madness of Angels is classic Urban Fantasy. The mood is reminiscent of Gaiman and Mièville with a magical feel closer to de Lint – and the result is splendid. The unique-feel of Griffin’s magical view of London permeates the book and is enough all on its own to make A Madness of Angels a great success – of course there is more.

Madness plays an important role throughout the story while somehow not taking it all over. Swift and Bakker become a yin and yang of madness – one a madness of multiplication and the other of division. Both suffer confusion along with moments of intense fear and great confidence. With the entire story told through Swift’s first person view point, it’s this madness that allows Griffin to carry a sense of mystery through the book, hiding information from the reader that Swift knows but won’t necessarily admit.

A Madness of Angels suffers from a few weaknesses that are largely overshadowed by the simple magic of her writing. Griffin is new to adult fiction and like Mièville’s early work, at times Griffin over-writes her vision of London and its magic, particularly early in the novel. In terms of characterization for all but Swift, Griffin lays a good foundation and seems to leave off the finishing touches that bring a character fully to life. It’s a wonderful journey that we see, and as often happens, the ending suffers in comparison. Griffin’s desire to hold back key information until the end does maintain a mystery, but it doesn’t quite make sense at the end – particularly with its abruptness. But, as I hinted above, the magic of Griffin’s London dominates, washing out the weaknesses, with a promise of Griffin’s future improvement as an author.

Kate Griffin has written books for younger audiences since her early teens, starting even younger than the infamous Christopher Paolini. Now in her early 20s, A Madness of Angel is her first effort aimed at the adult market – and it’s a great start. The dark, magical atmosphere of Griffin’s London saturates everything, making it wonder to read and A Madness of Angels a book that I enjoyed a lot. 7.5-8/10

Related Posts: Inteview with Kate Griffin, Review of The Midnight Mayor

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