2011 Books 61-63
I'm a bit behind on book reviews. First, the two books I can't publish reviews of here because they'll be in the next issue of Icarus magazine:
Book 61: Remembrance of Things I Forgot by Bob Smith, isbn 9780299283407, 263 pages, Terrace, $26.95
Book 62: Submerging Inferno (Men of Myth, Book One) by Brandon Witt, isbn 9781456558925, 398 pages, CreateSpace, $15.00
And now commencing with the reviews I can post here:
Book 63: King Maker (The Knights of Breton Court I) by Maurice Broaddus, isbn 9780857660527, 412 pages, Angry Robot, $7.99
The Premise: (from the back cover): The Wire meets Excalibur in this stunning fantasy from the dark streets of inner city America. From the drug gangs of downtown Indianapolis, the one true king will arise. The King Arthur myth gets dramatically replayed through the destiny of street hustler King, as he tries to unite the crack dealers, gangbangers, and the very real monsters lurking amongst them, to do the right thing.
My Rating: 4 stars
My Thoughts: I'd admit I was skeptical. I don't mind folks taking risks with the classic "once and future king" aspect of the King Arthur mythos (one of my favorite books of all time is the graphic novel Camelot 3000), but I wasn't sure about melding it with inner city gang warfare. I'm glad I decided to read the book anyway.
What really works for me with this book is the narrative style. Even though it is set concretely in modern inner-city Indianapolis, Broaddus gives the proceedings an incredibly dreamlike, ethereal quality. Intentionally or not, there were times when I felt like time was either speeding up or slowing down for the characters -- at times there's a very real sense that no time has passed and yet large quantities of time have passed. This is truly urban fantasy in which the urban setting is a key character and yet the fantastic elements still feel fantastic. It helps that the book also feels just a bit claustrophobic -- almost like Breton Court and its surroundings have been plucked out of the normal world and exist in a kind of self-referential limbo/fantasy realm.
It also helps that after the Prelude (The Fall of Luther), the fantastic takes a back-seat for a little while so that Broaddus can immerse you in the characters, especially since there's a large cast to keep track of. While supernatural elements are mentioned (Green's seeming immortality, for example), they really are less important than getting to know the characters -- until about 2/3rds into the book, when the supernatural suddenly jumps up and grabs the characters and the reader by the ankles and there's no turning back.
Broaddus also does an excellent job of taking the familiar Arthurian names and tropes and twisting them to fit the setting. Some of the older names, like Rhiannon, fit. Guinevere wouldn't, so we get Lady G instead. Lott instead of Lancelot. And even though Merle appears to actually be Merlin himself, he changes his name to fit in better with the times. The relationships are also slightly skewed, and of course swords don't really cut it in the gangbanger world, so we get mystical guns instead. And it's all handled in a way that works and doesn't feel hokey.
I've got the second and third books in the Knights of Breton Court series on my TBR pile, and I hope to get to them ASAP. I'm definitely intrigued by the world Broaddus has created.
Book 61: Remembrance of Things I Forgot by Bob Smith, isbn 9780299283407, 263 pages, Terrace, $26.95
Book 62: Submerging Inferno (Men of Myth, Book One) by Brandon Witt, isbn 9781456558925, 398 pages, CreateSpace, $15.00
And now commencing with the reviews I can post here:
Book 63: King Maker (The Knights of Breton Court I) by Maurice Broaddus, isbn 9780857660527, 412 pages, Angry Robot, $7.99
The Premise: (from the back cover): The Wire meets Excalibur in this stunning fantasy from the dark streets of inner city America. From the drug gangs of downtown Indianapolis, the one true king will arise. The King Arthur myth gets dramatically replayed through the destiny of street hustler King, as he tries to unite the crack dealers, gangbangers, and the very real monsters lurking amongst them, to do the right thing.
My Rating: 4 stars
My Thoughts: I'd admit I was skeptical. I don't mind folks taking risks with the classic "once and future king" aspect of the King Arthur mythos (one of my favorite books of all time is the graphic novel Camelot 3000), but I wasn't sure about melding it with inner city gang warfare. I'm glad I decided to read the book anyway.
What really works for me with this book is the narrative style. Even though it is set concretely in modern inner-city Indianapolis, Broaddus gives the proceedings an incredibly dreamlike, ethereal quality. Intentionally or not, there were times when I felt like time was either speeding up or slowing down for the characters -- at times there's a very real sense that no time has passed and yet large quantities of time have passed. This is truly urban fantasy in which the urban setting is a key character and yet the fantastic elements still feel fantastic. It helps that the book also feels just a bit claustrophobic -- almost like Breton Court and its surroundings have been plucked out of the normal world and exist in a kind of self-referential limbo/fantasy realm.
It also helps that after the Prelude (The Fall of Luther), the fantastic takes a back-seat for a little while so that Broaddus can immerse you in the characters, especially since there's a large cast to keep track of. While supernatural elements are mentioned (Green's seeming immortality, for example), they really are less important than getting to know the characters -- until about 2/3rds into the book, when the supernatural suddenly jumps up and grabs the characters and the reader by the ankles and there's no turning back.
Broaddus also does an excellent job of taking the familiar Arthurian names and tropes and twisting them to fit the setting. Some of the older names, like Rhiannon, fit. Guinevere wouldn't, so we get Lady G instead. Lott instead of Lancelot. And even though Merle appears to actually be Merlin himself, he changes his name to fit in better with the times. The relationships are also slightly skewed, and of course swords don't really cut it in the gangbanger world, so we get mystical guns instead. And it's all handled in a way that works and doesn't feel hokey.
I've got the second and third books in the Knights of Breton Court series on my TBR pile, and I hope to get to them ASAP. I'm definitely intrigued by the world Broaddus has created.