[Abyss]

Just looked back upthread and was struck by another Butcher similarity.... the Dresden books start okay enough, then circa book 3 start really nailing it. Same goes for Carey's Castor series. 1 and 2 are good enought, three is great and with 4 and 5 and he REALLY hits his stride.

I was struck again at how much i enjoyed these last two. I usually don't like the 'build to big finish' approach (SE excepted) but Carey keeps the tension on right through and there's a real sense that the good guys have one one chance to save the day.

I also realized that the whole question of Hell's Grand Design remains wide open, especially after TTW's revelation on the nature of demons.

- Abyss, also notes Pen was mildly less annoying...

[polishgenius]

Abyss, on 06 October 2009 - 02:06 PM, said:

I also realized that the whole question of Hell's Grand Design remains wide open, especially after TTW's revelation on the nature of demons.

Yeah. I dunno how the series is going to continue really - there was a definite ending involved here, but at the same time he's clearly left threads hanging for future books. Perhaps they wouldn't be about Castor, but I can't see that...

Spoiler

Asmodeus is an awesome villain. I read Thicker just before reading Butcher's Turn Coat and honestly, the effect of Shagnasty was considerably lessened by the similarities of the character, in terms of smirking bastardry, to Asmodeus.

Loved the last two. I think I just preferred Thicker, just because of the mastery he displays in keeping the atmosphere of dread bubbling over, but both are really really good.

[Abyss]

Yeah, the amazing thing about Asmodeus is he's not trying to destroy/rule/rape/eat the world, he's not this massive all encompassing mastermind with legions of minions (he had the Satanists but honestly those guys were ineffective dorks), he's not even a vengeance-driven murderer... all he wants is to get out of Raffi and go home. That he's perfectly happy to kill torture and then kill some more to do it is clear, (and he does! also back in book 2 or 3), but it's an interesting motivation to have for your primary antagonist.

The bit at the end of NOTB

Spoiler

where he tells Juliet and Castor what he's done to Pen and Sue is SO sick that the revelation about the truth of it is gut wrenching (in a good way). I think i reread just his line (paraphrased) 'yeah,. i got bored with hurting them so i made them hurt each other. It's amazing how civility goes out the window when life is at stake.'. I thought 'Azzy, you are SO DEAD' when Juliet went for him. So when she stabbed him with the photoglass i practically cheered and when he threw her through the wall i cringed... and then of course there was the thing with Castor's jaw, which was both sick and shocking - i like how we never know whether that was on purpose - ... but when it came full circle and we find out Az barely touched Pen and Sue, that was when i decided Carey is really, really good at working the reader.

That's the other thing that's interesting about Carey as urban fantasy - the biggest storyline he's done involved the congregation of one church in VC and the tenants of the crap apartments in TTW. He doesn't do 'save the world', - in books 1 and 3 he was just trying to save one ghost, but he really makes the reader buy into Castor's need to save.

It was a solid ending and Carey could easily leave the series right there. It even had a mostly happy ending right across the board, which is unusual. (I'm stretching to call sending the four little girl ghosts looking for coma-girl as 'happy', but there was something complete about that.).

But i suspect Carey has more in mind for Castor. Leaving Raffi in perpetual peril would get old, but now we have Trudie Pax (aside - that romance was no surprise at all. only shock was Castor not fncking it up before it even started), who is SO a target for all kinds of unpleasant things to put Castor thru the wringer. Plus all the hints about why the dead are rising in the first place, the zombies' comments, the Grand Design.

- Abyss, still in.

[polishgenius]

I found out today that the next book in my latest urban fantasy kick (Kate Griffin's Urban Magic series, in case anyone's interested- only one so far, A Madness of Angels, hints of Gaiman and Mieville in the writing, she's younger than me and has been writing kid's books since 14, this is her first adult series, expecting big things, etcs) has been pushed back till March from this week at a notice of... well, no days.


Anyway, on subject, yeah, the small scale of it is interesting. Like you say, it's a slow simmer rather than explosions and burning...

One thing that does make me think there'll be sequels is that even in the course of the last book he was still setting up hooks for the future (Juliet's whole thing, for example), which suggests he wasn't just dropping things in for the sake of it.

[Abyss]

[quote name='polishgenius' date='07 October 2009 - 12:37 PM' timestamp='1254933479' post='685862']
I found out today that the next book in my latest urban fantasy kick (Kate Griffin's Urban Magic series, in case anyone's interested- only one so far, A Madness of Angels, hints of Gaiman and Mieville in the writing, she's younger than me and has been writing kid's books since 14, this is her first adult series, expecting big things, etcs) has been pushed back till March from this week at a notice of... well, no days.[quote]

Did your copy of NOTB have the first chapter as a prmo in the back? Mine did. It was... okay in concept but painfully overlong in execution. And it fell back on the old 'angel on earth doesn't want to use its power til it's REALLY threatened then wipes out the bad guy' trope, which we've seen before.


[quote]...One thing that does make me think there'll be sequels is that even in the course of the last book he was still setting up hooks for the future (Juliet's whole thing, for example), which suggests he wasn't just dropping things in for the sake of it. [/quote]

Good point. There's also Castor's running arguement with the Anathemata and JJ's people that it doesn't have to be a war with the dead but if it is they've already lost. That argument is far from over.

I liked how despite his antipathy/hostility towards them, both factions keep trying to recruit Felix. It's another one of those moments when the protagonist is way better than he thinks he is and others recognize it but try to keep him down (see also Dresden, narturally).

It also goes a long way towards establishing that whatever is ultimately going down, Castor is going to be a player in it.

As a complete aside, i totally enjoyed the holy hand grenade - how he used it against the fear-demon and how he saved himself with it later.



- Abyss, bets it doesn't work against bunnies...

[polishgenius]

Abyss, on 07 October 2009 - 04:51 PM, said:

Did your copy of NOTB have the first chapter as a prmo in the back? Mine did. It was... okay in concept but painfully overlong in execution. And it fell back on the old 'angel on earth doesn't want to use its power til it's REALLY threatened then wipes out the bad guy' trope, which we've seen before.

I think so, but I'd already read the book by then so I didn't pay it much attention. I've seen that complaint about the first chapter before, though I barely noticed.
It does get better.




One thing I liked about Carey was his namechecking of places I know, which doesn't happen often in my area... St Albans which he visited in Thicker is where I went to school and the Hatfield Galleria I can see out my window.

That does raise one minor complaint about the series I had - the city has a nice dreary atmosphere in the books but it's not really London, it could be anywhere.

[QuickTidal]

Okay, I can't find a copy of The Devil You Know over here in Canada (At Chapters, Indigo or Wolds Biggest Bookstore) to save my effing life. NO ONE has it....they have all the others though......WTF! ARG!!!!

Abyss, where did you get yours?

QT~Wants to read this damn book!

[Abyss]

polishgenius, on 07 October 2009 - 06:04 PM, said:

...That does raise one minor complaint about the series I had - the city has a nice dreary atmosphere in the books but it's not really London, it could be anywhere.

I suspect that's deliberate. Tie a book too tightly to a well known city and you risk losing a portion of the readers who have never been there. Butcher does something similar with Chicago.

QuickTidal, on 10 October 2009 - 04:06 PM, said:

Okay, I can't find a copy of The Devil You Know over here in Canada (At Chapters, Indigo or Wolds Biggest Bookstore) to save my effing life. NO ONE has it....they have all the others though......WTF! ARG!!!!

Abyss, where did you get yours?

QT~Wants to read this damn book!

Can't help you QT - i got the first two at a Chapters a year or two ago. Why don't you just amazon them, or book depository and duck the shipping charge if you don't clear the minimum?

- Abyss, could say QT is suffering from blue books...

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 11 October 2009 - 02:16 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 07 October 2009 - 06:04 PM, said:

...That does raise one minor complaint about the series I had - the city has a nice dreary atmosphere in the books but it's not really London, it could be anywhere.

I suspect that's deliberate. Tie a book too tightly to a well known city and you risk losing a portion of the readers who have never been there. Butcher does something similar with Chicago.

QuickTidal, on 10 October 2009 - 04:06 PM, said:

Okay, I can't find a copy of The Devil You Know over here in Canada (At Chapters, Indigo or Wolds Biggest Bookstore) to save my effing life. NO ONE has it....they have all the others though......WTF! ARG!!!!

Abyss, where did you get yours?

QT~Wants to read this damn book!

Can't help you QT - i got the first two at a Chapters a year or two ago. Why don't you just amazon them, or book depository and duck the shipping charge if you don't clear the minimum?

- Abyss, could say QT is suffering from blue books...

Yeah, I've been tempted to amazon them, but my problem is an aesthetic one. The cover they want to send from amazon is the US cover....which won't match the UK covers of all the rest of the ones at Chapters. I know that's nit[picky...but hey....LOL. So in the end one of my only options is to order it from amazon.co.uk and pay shipping. That or check down at Bakkaphoenix down on Queen St, though I doubt they'll have it.

thanks anyways man.

[polishgenius]

bookdepository.co.uk it - being a uk site the covers should be ours (though for some books they sell both) and like Abyss says, no shipping anywhere.

Edit- Although a look says that the only version they have is still the old UK cover (the first two were originally released in a different cover, changed irritatingly for book 3), so the absence of the book in your shop could be pending release of a re-cover. Unless Abyss has it in the new look, in which case I'm stumped.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 11 October 2009 - 06:03 PM

[Abyss]

yeah, my 1-2 and 3-4-5 are in different cover styles, all from the uk if i'm not mistaken. To complicate that, i bought the first three in store @ Chapters and got the last two from book depository, yet 1 and 2 are different in style from 3 which matches 4-5. Go figure. But they're all mmpg of similar size and i'm hardly a version purist.


That said, a quick glance at amazon.ca shows three different versions and a new hc.


- Abyss, versional.

[polishgenius]

The first two are the blue-grey covers with vague representations of what's going on, and 3-5 are the cliche-ridden black and red/blue/yellow, right?

I was well annoyed they changed it. I can see why, because the new ones catch the eye more, but they're... well, dull.

[Abyss]

the publishers did this with Dresden too. i suppose cover art is an evolvling thing, hell, we've seen it with Malazan.



- Abyss, undercover.

[Abyss]

happy news: www.mikecarey.com and elsewhere says sixth/final Castor book coming, probably some time next year.

- Abyss, psyched.

[Pig Iron]

Anyone heard anything more about the sixth book? Brief search didnt give much about an ETA.

[RodeoRanch]

I just bought the first five books. It better not suck. Or I'll do nothing but be sad about it.

[HoosierDaddy]

I've read the first three and quite liked them. Haven't been able to get a hold of newer ones.

[Use Of Weapons]

The fourth (Thicker Than Water) and fifth (The Naming of the Beasts) don't have US releases as yet, only UK. You should be able to get them via Amazon.co.uk.

[Abyss]

Pig Iron, on 09 April 2011 - 05:57 PM, said:

Anyone heard anything more about the sixth book? Brief search didnt give much about an ETA.

Not even a title yet, dammit.

RodeoRanch, on 09 April 2011 - 08:33 PM, said:

I just bought the first five books. It better not suck. Or I'll do nothing but be sad about it.

Don't go in expecting Dresden. they are very supernatural noir detective and while the action is brilliant, the first three books don't have much of it. It's a slow burn to a big finish and given the chance, it works beautifully.

1 is good, 2 and 3 are better, 4 is staggeringly awesome and 5... well... 5 is basted in awesomesauce.

jitsukerr, on 11 April 2011 - 11:03 AM, said:

The fourth (Thicker Than Water) and fifth (The Naming of the Beasts) don't have US releases as yet, only UK. You should be able to get them via Amazon.co.uk.

or .ca. I've seen them on the shelves here in Canada.

[polishgenius]

Or bookdepository because free shipping.

Also I don't like Amazon. >_>