Mike Carey's Vicious Circle is the second Felix Castor novel. I really enjoyed the first one; I felt like it was probably the most successful blend of hard-boiled detective story and fantasy novel that I've run across. Vicious Circle is the same, only more so. Carey intertwines the two genres so thoroughly that it's impossible to even say which one is primary. It's also a surprisingly down-beat novel, with Felix forced into betraying a friend, losing another friend, and ending up in a worse place than where he started.
I wish I had more to say about this novel, because it was such a fine book (if not particularly deep). Carey has a great ear for similes and metaphors, his plotting is deft, and his fantasy universe hangs together really well. It's always easier to complain than to think of nice things to say, I suppose.
I've decided to give Trollope's Barset Chronicles a shot, and I've been told that you really need to read them in order, so I started with The Warden, the story of the warden of a hospital who begins to doubt whether the money he's earning is properly his, or whether it belongs to inmates of the hospital. I enjoyed it, but it's a pretty slight story (by Dickensian standards it's almost a short story). I'm looking forward to the next book, which is considered one of Trollope's greater works.
No comments:
Post a Comment