Three Parts Dead
Every now and then I come across a book that feels like it was written just for me: Sunshine, Among Others, Mr. Fox. I love these books deeply, but I have a hard time recommending them to people. They're so specific to my interests and so dear to my heart that I worry what will happen if my friends don't end up loving them like I do.
Three Parts Dead is another book that feels like it was written just for me. But this one feels like it was written for all my friends, too. Instead of holding this one close to my heart, I'm shoving it at all of my friends. Upon finishing it, I immediately gushed about it on a friend's Facebook page. I told another friend she had to read it immediately. I'm considering slipping it into my husband's suitcase for his upcoming business trip.
I want to talk about this book (this series). I want to get excited and point things out to my friends and see all the things I missed. This isn't a book that spoke directly to my soul. It's one that feels like a culmination of my many years of reading fantasy. I get the impression that Max Gladstone has read and loved all the same books I have, and has synthesized them into something new. It's exciting to see all these small references to things I love. It has me wondering how many I missed.
This book just works on so many levels. It takes place in a fantastic, fully-realized, rich, deep, amazing world. The story is about the aftermath when a god has died. When it's revealed that the god was likely murdered, a routine case of sorting through and transferring the god's contracts becomes much more urgent.
But there's so much more here. Justice is blind. Justice is blind because she is mad-made and man made her to be blind to suit his own purposes. Worship of gods is likened to addiction, and there's actually a lot of nuance in that metaphor. There's a vampire pirate who's 40 years old, and that's considered really old in this book. Where vampires are concerned, I'm used to old meaning centuries, but this one character (who's barely in the book at all, but I love him so much) opens up worlds of possibilities that I hope are dealt with in future books.
This book talks about consent in lots of different ways. It examines the ways you can and can't seek revenge and what the consequences might be and how you weigh them against all the other things you want out of life.
There's also an incredibly well-executed mystery. I figured it out (well, most of it) about three quarters of the way through the book, and it shattered me. I had to stop reading and work through all the implications (which are of course later spelled out, but I loved that this world was so well-defined that I was able to get there on my own).
And then there are these little moments. Almost throw-away moments. Morticia and Gomez Addams dancing in a club. A reference to rooks that immediately took me back to Gaiman's Sandman and illuminated just how audacious the villain was. (He doesn't respect the Mysteries. Of course he doesn't.)
I'm so glad I stumbled across this series. I'm both excited and sad that each book focuses on an entirely different cast of characters. I want to find out what happens to Tara and Abelard (and Cat and Raz). But I also want more, and I think these characters will at least have cameos in future books. I'm excited to see which background characters from this one that I ought to have been paying more attention to.
And now I just need to convince everyone I know to read this, so they can get excited with me.
Three Parts Dead is another book that feels like it was written just for me. But this one feels like it was written for all my friends, too. Instead of holding this one close to my heart, I'm shoving it at all of my friends. Upon finishing it, I immediately gushed about it on a friend's Facebook page. I told another friend she had to read it immediately. I'm considering slipping it into my husband's suitcase for his upcoming business trip.
I want to talk about this book (this series). I want to get excited and point things out to my friends and see all the things I missed. This isn't a book that spoke directly to my soul. It's one that feels like a culmination of my many years of reading fantasy. I get the impression that Max Gladstone has read and loved all the same books I have, and has synthesized them into something new. It's exciting to see all these small references to things I love. It has me wondering how many I missed.
This book just works on so many levels. It takes place in a fantastic, fully-realized, rich, deep, amazing world. The story is about the aftermath when a god has died. When it's revealed that the god was likely murdered, a routine case of sorting through and transferring the god's contracts becomes much more urgent.
But there's so much more here. Justice is blind. Justice is blind because she is mad-made and man made her to be blind to suit his own purposes. Worship of gods is likened to addiction, and there's actually a lot of nuance in that metaphor. There's a vampire pirate who's 40 years old, and that's considered really old in this book. Where vampires are concerned, I'm used to old meaning centuries, but this one character (who's barely in the book at all, but I love him so much) opens up worlds of possibilities that I hope are dealt with in future books.
This book talks about consent in lots of different ways. It examines the ways you can and can't seek revenge and what the consequences might be and how you weigh them against all the other things you want out of life.
There's also an incredibly well-executed mystery. I figured it out (well, most of it) about three quarters of the way through the book, and it shattered me. I had to stop reading and work through all the implications (which are of course later spelled out, but I loved that this world was so well-defined that I was able to get there on my own).
And then there are these little moments. Almost throw-away moments. Morticia and Gomez Addams dancing in a club. A reference to rooks that immediately took me back to Gaiman's Sandman and illuminated just how audacious the villain was. (He doesn't respect the Mysteries. Of course he doesn't.)
I'm so glad I stumbled across this series. I'm both excited and sad that each book focuses on an entirely different cast of characters. I want to find out what happens to Tara and Abelard (and Cat and Raz). But I also want more, and I think these characters will at least have cameos in future books. I'm excited to see which background characters from this one that I ought to have been paying more attention to.
And now I just need to convince everyone I know to read this, so they can get excited with me.
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