Hard Magic
I picked up book one of the Grimnoir Chronicles on recommendation of a fellow player/wiz on the MUCK. The blurb says it's a cross between The Maltese Falcon and Twilight. That gave me pause, though he said it's more like Dresden Files than Twilight. Personally, I'd say it's less Twilight or Dresden and more X-men, albeit set in the early 1900's. The supernatural stuff may be "magic," but the way people with powers tend to have only one and use it pretty instinctively makes it feel more like a mutant ability than any sort of scholarly art.
There's a good amount of alternate-history going on, with references to big name people and events from real history given a twist in some fashion. Powers were used in the Great War, but it looks like there probably won't be a World War 2, given a lack of Hitler and the development of Tesla's "Peace Ray." It's interesting to see, though not quite as radical as what's present in most Steampunk books I've seen.
The book itself is rather cinematic in a sense. The narrative follows a bunch of characters, some only for brief scenes, much like a movie (or TV show) might cut around. Reveals are parceled out just a little at a time. A character may be seen at one point, then later given a name, then later still be shown as significant to other characters in some way. To be fully honest, I think the structure of it all bugged me a little bit in a book in the same way that a movie cutting around for short scenes (*peers at Star Wars prequels*) sometimes does. But most of does come together with some importance by the end.
There isn't really much of a "detective" story going on here, in spite of the appearance given by the trappings of the book. Rather, there are two major factions fighting over control of a super weapon, and a lot of unclear allegiances with the individuals involved. But it's not a bad ride. Even without one set central character (I suppose Jake is the closest), it managed to be interesting enough not to lose me while bouncing around.
All in all, it's a pretty good period-with-super-powers book, and I may pick up the other (two?) books in the series at some point.
There's a good amount of alternate-history going on, with references to big name people and events from real history given a twist in some fashion. Powers were used in the Great War, but it looks like there probably won't be a World War 2, given a lack of Hitler and the development of Tesla's "Peace Ray." It's interesting to see, though not quite as radical as what's present in most Steampunk books I've seen.
The book itself is rather cinematic in a sense. The narrative follows a bunch of characters, some only for brief scenes, much like a movie (or TV show) might cut around. Reveals are parceled out just a little at a time. A character may be seen at one point, then later given a name, then later still be shown as significant to other characters in some way. To be fully honest, I think the structure of it all bugged me a little bit in a book in the same way that a movie cutting around for short scenes (*peers at Star Wars prequels*) sometimes does. But most of does come together with some importance by the end.
There isn't really much of a "detective" story going on here, in spite of the appearance given by the trappings of the book. Rather, there are two major factions fighting over control of a super weapon, and a lot of unclear allegiances with the individuals involved. But it's not a bad ride. Even without one set central character (I suppose Jake is the closest), it managed to be interesting enough not to lose me while bouncing around.
All in all, it's a pretty good period-with-super-powers book, and I may pick up the other (two?) books in the series at some point.
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