If you are like: I wish I could find the Musketeers as
retold by Scott Lynch then I have this series for you.
Confession: it’s hard to make me laugh in books. You won’t usually find my laughing at the
spirited antics of some contemporary romance where the heroine has toilet paper
stuck to her shoe. I’m not into
that. I am, however, a sucker for
cerebral sarcasm and a winning, irreverent voice.
‘Goodnight Lord Tremondi,’ I said. ‘You weren’t an
especially good employer. You lied a lot and you never paid us when you
promised. But, I guess that’s all right, since we turned out to be pretty
useless bodyguards”
I WAS LAUGHING ON THE FIRST PAGE ! Falcio and his Greatcoat friends are
outcasts, outliers and completely obsolete but they need to save the day
anyways.
“My name is Falcio val Mond, First Cantor of the Great Coats
and this was only the first of a great many bad days to come!” de Castell tugs you into his web and
entangles you there.
Lest you think it is all fun and swashbuckling hijinks, it
is not. Indeed, there is a pensive and
sad undertone with a perfectly realized world developed with injustice, pain
and sorrow.
“It is an odd sort of bluish colour, and you would call it
bright at first, but then as you looked on it further, you’d find yourself
adding words like oily and runny-looking and finally sort of disturbing.”
de Castell has a way with words that is equally surprising
and winsome, cunning and smart. His
prose literally snaps up from the page and sparks you in the eye like the
moment you toss an extra log on a campfire and flits of ember flick a little
extra smoke.
There’s a great deal of screaming in this story. Best get
used to it now.
I think I was attacked once or twice, but I couldn’t afford
the delay so I killed them and moved on.
I received Knight's Shadow for review from the publisher
And, if you are like: I kinda want Sally Lockhart but I would
prefer a more interesting guy sidekick (maybe a gay Italian with a half-scarred
face) and more cross-dressing and opium addiction then you will love Kitty Peck.
I read The Music Hall Murders and the Child of Ill-Fortune back to back last
week. I had trouble putting them down. [note: these books are super inexpensive on kindle]
You guys all know I love Victoriana and surprising poems and
the dark, creaky shadow-drenched streets of London illuminated with surprising
prose. Kate Griffin pulled me in
immediately.
“She was dressed in a black embroidered gown that gaped wide
at the neck revealing a throat that was strung like a broken violin.”
Really vivid imagery, a perfect Cockney-vernacular which
sets brilliantly well in the first person narrative. Kitty is at times infuriating and vulnerable,
strong and sly. A different kind of
lady detective in stories that defy genre.
“Lady Ginger’s words were like something noxious coughed up
by a pampered cat. One minute it’s purring and curled up neat on your lap, next
it’s hawking out a half-digested rat head.”
“he coated my name with a greasy slick of insolence”
And as much as I love Kitty, I love Lucca! Smart, cultured Lucca who maintains pride and
vanity despite the treacherous accident that marred half of his beautiful
face. I love how a few Italian words and
phrases erupt now and then.
“I’d seen the truth of that picture, but Lucca, now , it was
like he could feel it all—every lash, every cut, every chain.”
It’s a very vivid and visceral and gritty world with dark
motivations and the basest of human depravity.
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