Posts Tagged ‘vampires’

But I can’t help it. Let me rant some more – this guy is just plain weird! These days it’s so rare to find someone so eager to mess with what has been proven to be the most functional and safe way to write a fantasy novel. That is:
a: Hero is a farmboy.
b: Hero gets taught badass uber magic killing sword thingy by uber mage and uber swordsmen.
c: Hero sneaks to badguy’s lair.
d: *shrug*
e: Win! Get married to sexy princess.

The finale is worth waiting for, but I am a little disappointed by the blurring of the characters in this book. Where Isak was the obvious focus of the first novel, he pretty much gets backgrounded for most of the novel and his character is fast becoming a little too “Rand” for me (in a bad sense) – with all his friends being focussed on making sure he’s got a “heart” and can “smile sometimes.” The powerful figure of the first novel is forgotten as he seems to be more a man who can sometimes whip out the goods to get stuff done, but isn’t anywhere near as thrillingly unpredictable and freakishly psychopathic as the first book. He’s turned over a new leaf and is too fast becoming a nice guy you might want to sit around and have a beer with.

The plot is simple, and nothing overtly different. There’s a strapping young lad with uber powers. A hidden mysterious dude who’s watching him. A wise and just king (though possessing a bit of a homicidal streak just to give you pause for thought). A bad evil dude wandering around flexing his stuff and readying for a big showdown. Dark gods, daemons (with the “a”), elves (who read a lot like Feist’s Dragonlords), and some small collection of references to assorted mythological creatures in some form or another. The collection of heroic friends surrounding the hero, too, are nothing less than the usual assortment of heroic friends you could possibly relate quite easily to any number of fantasy novels you’ve read already. Ho-Hum, I hear you say – read that one before.

Plotwise, Dexter’s got himself a new baby and it’s forcing him to reevaluate his concept of what he is. He’s wondering if he can just give up his old ways and be a normal Dexter Dad. I wasn’t so disappointed by this thread because it wasn’t as limp as the previous book’s attempts to weaken the character. The few references to Dexter’s Dark Passenger are lovely, and I really wish Mister Lindsay would pump those up some more. I love the near-dialogue between Dexter and his Passenger.

Mister Acevedo’s style is easy to follow and light rather than grim. He fits in closer to the crime genre than the horror genre, and while it’s a big trend to mix the two these days – especially as our hero is yet another vampire – it’s done without the usual yawn-along romance twaddle the genre carries like a backpack full of dirty undies. Mister Acevedo’s chosen to follow a more crime-focussed plot and kept his action rolling along to keep readers like me tuned in without trying to be overly clever or treat me like the moron I know I am. He gives me a little more credit than your average writer of these kind of novels – something I find peculiar from a man whose books include the cheeky titles of The Nymphos of Rocky Flats and The Undead Kama Sutra.

Because, intriguingly, I feel Andy Remic’s target audience isn’t necessarily the hardcore fantasy reader, but possibly those who have just thought of moving on from R.A. Salvatore and into higher fantasy, but still want the action and basic flow. And the person writing that vitriolic nonsense seems, to me, to have a rather low level of creativity, flair, and intelligence so I would have thought Mister Remic’s books would have suited him or been too hard for him. It was, for me, a moment of weirdness as I read this book.

As an example of “contextual” he lists Laurell K. Hamilton as an example – something hardly very new or fresh or indeed aimed at a “larger audience.” While I’m certainly not a fan of Mrs Hamilton’s work, I would never say she was “aimed at a larger audience”. She’s been writing this way for a long time. It’s just that it’s come into vogue.

I think this is the first time the vampire resurrection hasn’t targeted goths, or some kind of subculture. It’s aimed squarely at teenage girls, who are swallowing it with a relish I find vaguely unsettling. Their eyes all have this hungry glow when they come in wanting one of these books.

I have to admit to being a little surprised by this novel. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got it. I think I was expecting something a little dry, a little tired, and maybe a trifle slow. You see, that’s how I see a lot of scifi from the past decade. Perhaps I’m being a bit judgemental there, but I admit to having avoided it more than I did in my teens or my twenties. It grew old.