Half-Resurrection Blues
After I gave up on The Dresden Files, I was in the market for another urban fantasy series. These tend to be quick, fast-paced, and fun, which adds some nice seasoning to my regular line up of books. Sometimes you just want an adventure where you don't have to think too hard.
I'd been hearing a lot of good things about Daniel Jose Older lately. Between this series and his YA novel Shadowshaper (which I also still really want to read), he seemed like a pretty safe bet. It also helped that this series takes place in the same neighborhood where a friend of mine lives - I was even able to pinpoint his apartment on the map at the front of the book.
So it was a little disappointing that this book didn't quite live up to my expectations. There were certainly some highlights. The neighborhood feels very real and lived and it's mostly populated by non-white characters. I also liked that after the main character gets stabbed through the abdomen he spends two weeks in bed and all his leads dry up. It felt more realistic than the super-healing abilities you usually see in these books. Though who knows how long that will last as he inevitably becomes more powerful.
The downfall was the female characters. There weren't many and they weren't treated particularly well. But that might be more of a character thing, and I've heard that the next book is a lot better in this respect. Still, it's hard to get over the fact that after our dude kills a guy in the opening chapters and discovers that he has a sister, his first impulse is to seek out and try to bed said sister. Which he succeeds at and is then a little bewildered when she refuses to see him and ultimately skips town. I just wish he hadn't gotten her pregnant in the process.
All that said, I will probably pick up the second one. This one moved pretty quickly, and that's mostly what I want from a book like this. The next one is supposed to be better. It's just a shame that there are only two out so far. I'll have to find a series with more publishing history. Perhaps it's time to give Seanan McGuire another try, or even go back to Charlaine Harris' books.
I'd been hearing a lot of good things about Daniel Jose Older lately. Between this series and his YA novel Shadowshaper (which I also still really want to read), he seemed like a pretty safe bet. It also helped that this series takes place in the same neighborhood where a friend of mine lives - I was even able to pinpoint his apartment on the map at the front of the book.
So it was a little disappointing that this book didn't quite live up to my expectations. There were certainly some highlights. The neighborhood feels very real and lived and it's mostly populated by non-white characters. I also liked that after the main character gets stabbed through the abdomen he spends two weeks in bed and all his leads dry up. It felt more realistic than the super-healing abilities you usually see in these books. Though who knows how long that will last as he inevitably becomes more powerful.
The downfall was the female characters. There weren't many and they weren't treated particularly well. But that might be more of a character thing, and I've heard that the next book is a lot better in this respect. Still, it's hard to get over the fact that after our dude kills a guy in the opening chapters and discovers that he has a sister, his first impulse is to seek out and try to bed said sister. Which he succeeds at and is then a little bewildered when she refuses to see him and ultimately skips town. I just wish he hadn't gotten her pregnant in the process.
All that said, I will probably pick up the second one. This one moved pretty quickly, and that's mostly what I want from a book like this. The next one is supposed to be better. It's just a shame that there are only two out so far. I'll have to find a series with more publishing history. Perhaps it's time to give Seanan McGuire another try, or even go back to Charlaine Harris' books.
Comments
Post a Comment