Book Review (Mark Del Franco)
I finished this one a couple of days ago, but bronchitis kept me from writing this up. Feeling better, so here it goes:
Author: Mark del Franco (www.markdelfranco.com/)
Title: Unshapely Things (30 January 2007)
Publisher: Ace, a division of Penguin Group
Synopsis: Connor Grey is a druid whose powers were mostly disabled in an accident. Now he works and lives in Boston, in the Weird, a neighborhood mostly populated by the fey (elves, fairies, flits, et cetera).
When several fairy prostitutes are murdered, the Guild that should handle crimes involving the fey doesn't think it's important enough. They foist the case off to the Boston P.D. who calls in Connor to consult.
Connor has to use his wits, his connections that are not as many as he'd like and the help of various contacts to solve this crime. He starts to realize that the murders may be part of a ritual whose conclusion may be cataclysmic on a world-wide scale. He races to figure it all out and capture the killer before it's too late.
The Good: It's contemporary urban fantasy with a male protagonist. That's a big plus because most urban fantasy feature female protagonists. I've read many of those and the change of POV is refreshing. I like the way that the fey intersects with human. It's not precisely dystopian, but it has more grit to it than many novels of this genre. I wouldn't have minded if it had gone even darker.
The Bad: It leans on many tropes of mysteries and film noir. While I do like those genres, I'm not much into them lately. I preferred when the novel concentrated on the character interactions and the magic. There were a couple of characters who were intriguing, but who only had brief appearances (like Murdock) who I wished were more developed, but perhaps in future volumes.
The Ugly: Nothing for this section.
Summary: A solid read with a sympathetic protagonist and interesting supporting characters. The solution of the mystery had more exposition than I liked, but it was necessary because all the names got a little muddled for me. I did enjoy the climactic battle and particularly liked the character Stinkwort. I do look forward to reading the next novel (still in the writing stages) and finding more about the Weird and its inhabitants.
Next: Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series
Author: Mark del Franco (www.markdelfranco.com/)
Title: Unshapely Things (30 January 2007)
Publisher: Ace, a division of Penguin Group
Synopsis: Connor Grey is a druid whose powers were mostly disabled in an accident. Now he works and lives in Boston, in the Weird, a neighborhood mostly populated by the fey (elves, fairies, flits, et cetera).
When several fairy prostitutes are murdered, the Guild that should handle crimes involving the fey doesn't think it's important enough. They foist the case off to the Boston P.D. who calls in Connor to consult.
Connor has to use his wits, his connections that are not as many as he'd like and the help of various contacts to solve this crime. He starts to realize that the murders may be part of a ritual whose conclusion may be cataclysmic on a world-wide scale. He races to figure it all out and capture the killer before it's too late.
The Good: It's contemporary urban fantasy with a male protagonist. That's a big plus because most urban fantasy feature female protagonists. I've read many of those and the change of POV is refreshing. I like the way that the fey intersects with human. It's not precisely dystopian, but it has more grit to it than many novels of this genre. I wouldn't have minded if it had gone even darker.
The Bad: It leans on many tropes of mysteries and film noir. While I do like those genres, I'm not much into them lately. I preferred when the novel concentrated on the character interactions and the magic. There were a couple of characters who were intriguing, but who only had brief appearances (like Murdock) who I wished were more developed, but perhaps in future volumes.
The Ugly: Nothing for this section.
Summary: A solid read with a sympathetic protagonist and interesting supporting characters. The solution of the mystery had more exposition than I liked, but it was necessary because all the names got a little muddled for me. I did enjoy the climactic battle and particularly liked the character Stinkwort. I do look forward to reading the next novel (still in the writing stages) and finding more about the Weird and its inhabitants.
Next: Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series