[Usually I’m much quicker at reviewing things I’ve finished, but this one slipped through.]
The first book in Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles, a historical fiction series featuring protagonist Francis Crawford, Master of Lymond. Set in 16th century Scotland and England, the story follows Lymond, the younger son of a Scottish noble family, who was exiled after being accused of treason. He returns to the country of his birth as an outlaw, and becomes embroiled in a complicated mesh of political intrigue: The Scots and the English are at war over the future of their countries, and Lymond is caught in the middle. Dunnett’s writing is wordy and dense—none more so than Lymond himself. I originally picked up this book since it compared the main character to two of my favorite protagonists, Miles Vorkosigan and Lord Peter Wimsey, and while the similarities are there, this book plods a bit more than either of their adventures, not to mention the convoluted plot which had me constantly flipping back to the list of dramatis personae. I may go back to read the rest of the series at some point, but for now it’s on to other things.
The fourth and (to date) most recent book featuring private exorcist Felix Castor. This time Fix is in over his head when a spate of violence at a housing project leads him to something he’s never run into before. Before long, he’s embroiled with the police and his own personal demons, both literal and figurative. While I found the main plot of the book less entrancing than some of the previous installments, I did enjoy both the beginning of the book and the finale, which promises a blockbuster fifth book to come. I’ve enjoyed every book in this series a lot, and Carey’s writing style, a heady blend of noir, humor, and gore, has much to do with that. I look forward to further installments.
The third book in the Felix Castor series (following
The Devil You Know and
Vicious Circle),
Dead Men’s Boots picks up shortly after volume two, and there are a number of threads continued from the earlier books, such as the situation of Fix’s friend Rafi (possessed by the demon Asmodeus), although they take a backseat to the more pressing plot, which involves one of Fix’s dead colleagues (glimpsed briefly in an earlier book) and a murder following the pattern of a long dead American serial killer. Carey’s writing continues to be enjoyable and atmospheric, and I like this series, and its attendant world, more and more as I continue. I’m looking forward to reading volume four, which I also acquired in UK paperback,
Thicker Than Water.
