Book Review: Queen of the Dark Things, by C. Robert Cargill
Colby Stevens is the wizard Harry Dresden wishes he was.
Harper Voyager, 2014, 448 pages
Screenwriter and noted film critic C. Robert Cargill continues the story begun in his acclaimed debut Dreams and Shadows in this bold and brilliantly crafted tale involving fairies and humans, magic and monsters - a vivid phantasmagoria that combines the imaginative wonders of Neil Gaiman, the visual inventiveness of Guillermo Del Toro, and the shocking miasma of William S. Burroughs.
Six months have passed since the wizard Colby lost his best friend to an army of fairies from the Limestone Kingdom, a realm of mystery and darkness beyond our own. But in vanquishing these creatures and banning them from Austin, Colby sacrificed the anonymity that protected him. Now, word of his deeds has spread, and powerful enemies from the past - including one Colby considered a friend - have resurfaced to exact their revenge.
As darkness gathers around the city, Colby sifts through his memories desperate to find answers that might save him. With time running out, and few of his old allies and enemies willing to help, he is forced to turn for aid to forces even darker than those he once battled.
Following such masters as Lev Grossman, Erin Morgenstern, Richard Kadrey, and Kim Harrison, C. Robert Cargill takes us deeper into an extraordinary universe of darkness and wonder, despair and hope to reveal the magic and monsters around us…and inside us.
In the 1990s, Steve Jackson Games published a fantasy roleplaying game called In Nomine. It was actually a licensed version of a French RPG, but SJG made it its own, a fablepunk RPG about angels and demons and rock and roll, which (as one of many misguided decisions) they decided to set largely in Austin, Texas, since SJG is located there. In Nomine was cool and charming for its time, but it was very much of its era.
Reading Dreams and Shadows and its sequel, Queen of the Dark Things, I feel like C. Robert Cargill must have played an In Nomine game or two.
These two books contain angels, demons, ghosts, monsters, ethereal spirits, faeries, wizards, djinn, genius loci like the flirty hot-girl living manifestation of the city of Austin, Texas, and all sorts of other supernatural creatures thrown into an urban fantasy blender, and while it's a big monster mash, it works way better than most such settings. I am especially looking at you, Harry Dresden.
Colby Stevens is a wizard. He's very, very powerful and kind of a dork, hapless with women, yet he goes toe-to-toe with immortal djinn, dukes of hell, and the Wild Hunt and he usually wins. Kind of.
Queen of the Dark Things is somewhat episodic, despite having a single story arc that runs throughout. I think this reflects Cargill's background as a screenwriter. It starts with a ghost story and an ancient curse in the 17th century. Then there are several encounters in Austin, some involving Colby and some not. Then we get flashbacks, which become increasingly important as we learn about the Queen of the Dark Things... who, it turns out, was once a little girl Colby met in Australia, back when he and his djinn buddy/patron Yasher were still traveling the world teaching Colby all the secrets of the supernatural world.
I think a comparison to Harry Dresden is apt. Colby Stevens is also a scruffy, angsty, dark-and-tortured bad-ass wizard who despite being clever and powerful enough to scare demon lords, is constantly being threatened by scrubs, and can't get laid to save his life. He has a bantering relationship with djinn, revenants, demons, faeries, his golden retriever formerly-a-redcap familiar, and of course Austin. Who despite being literally a city and thus practically a god, inexplicably has feelings for Colby.
Cargill is a better writer than Jim Butcher. They both do a lot of worldbuilding with a kitchen-sink approach to fantasy. Cargill is clearly a much slower writer than Butcher. (Supposedly there is a third book in this series, which supposedly was going to come out in 2016.... oh well.)
So this is a book for urban fantasy fans, for Harry Dresden fans, for In Nomine fans, who don't mind a book that's kind of a messy installment in an ongoing series and which might never have a sequel.
Also by C. Robert Cargill: My reviews of Day Zero, Sea of Rust, and Dreams and Shadows.
My complete list of book reviews.
Harper Voyager, 2014, 448 pages
Screenwriter and noted film critic C. Robert Cargill continues the story begun in his acclaimed debut Dreams and Shadows in this bold and brilliantly crafted tale involving fairies and humans, magic and monsters - a vivid phantasmagoria that combines the imaginative wonders of Neil Gaiman, the visual inventiveness of Guillermo Del Toro, and the shocking miasma of William S. Burroughs.
Six months have passed since the wizard Colby lost his best friend to an army of fairies from the Limestone Kingdom, a realm of mystery and darkness beyond our own. But in vanquishing these creatures and banning them from Austin, Colby sacrificed the anonymity that protected him. Now, word of his deeds has spread, and powerful enemies from the past - including one Colby considered a friend - have resurfaced to exact their revenge.
As darkness gathers around the city, Colby sifts through his memories desperate to find answers that might save him. With time running out, and few of his old allies and enemies willing to help, he is forced to turn for aid to forces even darker than those he once battled.
Following such masters as Lev Grossman, Erin Morgenstern, Richard Kadrey, and Kim Harrison, C. Robert Cargill takes us deeper into an extraordinary universe of darkness and wonder, despair and hope to reveal the magic and monsters around us…and inside us.
In the 1990s, Steve Jackson Games published a fantasy roleplaying game called In Nomine. It was actually a licensed version of a French RPG, but SJG made it its own, a fablepunk RPG about angels and demons and rock and roll, which (as one of many misguided decisions) they decided to set largely in Austin, Texas, since SJG is located there. In Nomine was cool and charming for its time, but it was very much of its era.
Reading Dreams and Shadows and its sequel, Queen of the Dark Things, I feel like C. Robert Cargill must have played an In Nomine game or two.
These two books contain angels, demons, ghosts, monsters, ethereal spirits, faeries, wizards, djinn, genius loci like the flirty hot-girl living manifestation of the city of Austin, Texas, and all sorts of other supernatural creatures thrown into an urban fantasy blender, and while it's a big monster mash, it works way better than most such settings. I am especially looking at you, Harry Dresden.
Colby Stevens is a wizard. He's very, very powerful and kind of a dork, hapless with women, yet he goes toe-to-toe with immortal djinn, dukes of hell, and the Wild Hunt and he usually wins. Kind of.
Queen of the Dark Things is somewhat episodic, despite having a single story arc that runs throughout. I think this reflects Cargill's background as a screenwriter. It starts with a ghost story and an ancient curse in the 17th century. Then there are several encounters in Austin, some involving Colby and some not. Then we get flashbacks, which become increasingly important as we learn about the Queen of the Dark Things... who, it turns out, was once a little girl Colby met in Australia, back when he and his djinn buddy/patron Yasher were still traveling the world teaching Colby all the secrets of the supernatural world.
I think a comparison to Harry Dresden is apt. Colby Stevens is also a scruffy, angsty, dark-and-tortured bad-ass wizard who despite being clever and powerful enough to scare demon lords, is constantly being threatened by scrubs, and can't get laid to save his life. He has a bantering relationship with djinn, revenants, demons, faeries, his golden retriever formerly-a-redcap familiar, and of course Austin. Who despite being literally a city and thus practically a god, inexplicably has feelings for Colby.
Cargill is a better writer than Jim Butcher. They both do a lot of worldbuilding with a kitchen-sink approach to fantasy. Cargill is clearly a much slower writer than Butcher. (Supposedly there is a third book in this series, which supposedly was going to come out in 2016.... oh well.)
So this is a book for urban fantasy fans, for Harry Dresden fans, for In Nomine fans, who don't mind a book that's kind of a messy installment in an ongoing series and which might never have a sequel.
Also by C. Robert Cargill: My reviews of Day Zero, Sea of Rust, and Dreams and Shadows.
My complete list of book reviews.