Castro, Adam-Troy: The Third Claw of God
The Third Claw of God (2009)
Written by: Adam-Troy Castro
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 384 (Mass Market Paperback)
When I read Emissaries of the Dead earlier this year, I immediately latched onto Amazon to discover the sequel would be published a month later. I was so happy to grab this up that I couldn't wait for my stores to get it; instead, I ordered it off of Amazon, where I paid the price for my impatience, as the copy I got was slightly bent and warped toward the top. No matter, the book went where all books go that I'm looking forward to: on the shelf.
That said, I've been on an SF kick, and the sequel to Emissaries of the Dead seemed like a good fit, especially as I've been paying attention to the use of first person in science fiction lately. Adam-Troy Castro knows how to do it, and he knows how to do it well.
The premise: in the second book of Castro's series, Andrea Cort has been summoned to the Bettelhine homeworld for reasons unknown. The AISource, her secret employers, won't tell her why other than to stress how important it is that she must go, so despite the fact she despises the family and what they stand for--providing civilizations with powerful weapons which are used to destroy neighbors--she goes, and finds herself in the middle of a gruesome murder mystery, where she might very well be the next target. Not only must she uncover the assassin before the assassin does her in, but she must learn the truth behind her mysterious summons, because that might destroy her more than an assassin's weapon ever could.
Review style: I really don't have a whole lot to say about this book, so this review is more of the stream-of-conscious variety so that I can stress the points that really matter. There's one major plot spoiler in this review, but that is marked off CLEARLY so that if you don't want to read it, you can skip over it without any damage.
First off, I must say, I really think this book could easily be read as a stand-alone. Make no mistake, events of the first book, Emissaries of the Dead, are referenced quite often, but Castro has an excellent way of weaving in necessary information without pandering to readers not in the know. So if you pick up this book and read it without knowing it's the second of a series, don't worry. You learn what you need to in this book, and Castro gives you plenty of reason to go back to the first to catch up on what you missed.
I will admit, I was a little thrown off by the structure of this particular book. While I've never played the game Clue nor seen the movie, I'm familiar with the stereotype of a rich setting, big gathering of important people and their servants, someone ending up dead and the killer must be discovered before it's too late. The structure of this book? Totally the stereotype, just with a science fiction setting and decorations. It kind of wore on me after a while, because I expected the interrogations would keep going until we interviewed most if not all of the characters aboard the space elevator, and also, I found Andrea's voice to be more distant than in the previous book. Here, she was the genius, obnoxious detective WHO KNOWS THINGS but won't tell anyone UNTIL THE BIG REVEAL AT THE END. The problem with this is again, we're in Andrea's head, not some sidekick's, so when Andrea is withholding information and revelations from the other characters, she's withholding it from the reader too. More frustrating was when she would instigate something to prove a theory she won't tell us about, and then one of her associates would get it, and I'd still be left scratching my head wondering what the hell everyone else understood that I didn't.
Then again, I could be reading too fast and I could've missed the clues. However, while I'm sure some readers saw the revelations coming a mile away, I admit I was surprised at how events played out. And I'll tell you why: after reading that horribly misleading prologue, I panicked. Not because I was afraid the prologue was right and Castro had just killed off his main character (come on, even I knew better), but my brain started jumping to conclusions as to how Andrea could survive the prologue, which made my brain think that Castro had pilfered MY brain in my sleep and discovered what was then unrealized plot ideas and then mined those ideas for his own use. Basically, the space opera I'm working on that I'm so excited about? I thought Castro had beat me to the punch. So to lessen the pain of that realization, I skipped to the end to see if it was as bad as I feared. It wasn't, not even by a longshot. However, I learned two things that distracted me from the murder investigation at large, so I ignored the clues looking for others that hinted at the ending I knew was coming.
There are some excellent details in this book. I loved the Khaajiir, his staff, and how he related to Andrea. I loved the weapons at use here: the Claw of God and the Fire Snake. Excellent devices, and I mean that in a world-building way. If such devices really existed, I think the world's population would have a panic attack. :) Also enjoyable was to see how Andrea, Oscin, and Skye have been functioning as a unit, and interesting, if not a wee bit confusing (confusing because Andrea, despite being inside her head, withholds thoughts and realizations from the reader), was the realization that there was a reason Andrea's been recognized as a war criminal all her life, and it wasn't what she thought.
If there's one major flaw in this book that isn't subjective (as I find the structure and the withholding to be subjective), it's the fact that this book needed a fresh set of copy-editing eyes before it hit the presses. There were so many instances I caught that should've been corrected, and one I even bookmarked because it bugged be so badly. Don't worry, this isn't a spoiler. On page 194, Castro has the excellent description of a servant's shrug: His shrug was a close cousin to an apology. I love that! The servant then speaks, and in the second to last sentence of the SAME PARAGRAPH, we get: He shrugged, a close cousin to an apology. OMG. SOMEONE SHOULD'VE CAUGHT THAT. It's such a unique description that in truth, it should probably only be used once per book, but if it's going to be twice, I want a 100 pages or so between them, not a brief speech. My SHU mentor would've slapped me over the knuckles with a ruler for an ugly repetition like that. :)
And now, skip to the MY RATING section at the bottom of the review if you want to avoid spoilers...
SPOILER ALERT!!!
Andrea Cort is a Bettelhine. This is the spoiler I got from reading the end, so I kept looking for clues during the course of the book. Those clues are there, but once it was revealed, I found myself a little bleh about this reveal. Maybe it's because it was that big of a reveal to me, but I started thinking about it objectively: Andrea's the long-lost "princess" of a powerful, rich family. This makes me feel meh, even though she puts herself into position to oppose them, even after learning how Jason and Jelaine wish to change the family name. I can't blame her for saying no, especially when she realizes how the Bettelhines are using a form of mind-control to achieve their aims, but on the other hand, I really wonder how this is going to play into the bigger picture, which the AISource wanting to die. Somehow, Andrea's decision to stay or leave the Bettelhines plays a major role in this, so I really hope we see how in the third book.
However, going back to the withholding information complaint, I was really annoyed at how Andrea describes her departure from the Bettelhines as "stormy" without going into details. COME ON! That's got to be a BIG THING! The reader deserved that scene, but instead, we rush to the end with her reunion with Oscin and Skye. I didn't mind the reunion, but that skip illustrated one of the things that bugged me through-out the book: when characters withhold information or simply skip over it, I'm more aware of the author pulling the strings, and I resent that. I didn't resent it enough here to really and fully bitch about it, but if it continues, you can bet it's going to sour my enjoyment of this series.
My Rating
Worth the Cash: I don't feel this second installment is as solid and as good as the first book, Emissaries of the Dead; however, it's still a solid, enjoyable read that has me looking forward to the third book in the series. The Third Claw of God is definitely told with a more traditional mystery flair, with Andrea Cort being the genius detective tasked to solve an assassination aboard a space elevator before the assassin targets her, and while I found the structure a little predictable, I enjoyed the revelations that came out of her investigation and I really enjoyed some of the little details of world-building, namely, the weapons used for assassination! I do think that this book could be read as a stand-alone without any trouble, though I will say that because I think Emissaries of the Dead is better, you should start with that one instead. But wherever you start, Andrea Cort is definitely a fascinating, well-rounded heroine who isn't always the most likable person in the universe, but you can't help but root for her anyway.
Cover Commentary: It's a little misleading, because obviously, the space elevator isn't THAT small or transparent (nor does such a scene happen in the book), but the art itself is lovely, and how could it not be, coming from the excellent Chris McGrath? Three cheers!
Next up: The Holy Machine by Chris Beckett
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