Deathwish--Rob Thurman

I liked this book a great deal, more than Jia over at Dear Author, whose reviews turned me onto the series. You can check out my previous review here. I've mentioned before that in a way this series is kinda over-the-top, but those of you who know me well know I'm always loving over-the-top. I just do. But I'm embarrassed by that and that's why it's taken me a while to write this review.

I've said it before, that revealing what your tastes are is an intimate act. More on that later.

But anyway. So our story picks up at the cliffhanger of Cal being stalked by his murderous kin, the Auphe, vigorous fighting occurs and game on! The Auphe have decided nows the time to get with their threatened torture of Cal via nearest and dearest. Oh wait, there's more--Promise has a new client for their agency, an "old friend" who is being stalked and wants to know why. He'd also like to get Promise back. And then the plot is shaken again with the arrival of Promise's daughter, Cherish, whose hobbies are theft and making enemies.

If it seems like this is too much plot for 336 pages, it's surprisingly not. It's a fast-paced book with a lot of fights and action, and again--heavy on the emotion, but not gratuitous or inauthentic emotion. There's the same dark sarcasm and ironic humor, but Thurman's not afraid to vary her approach to storytelling. This novel's view point is split between Cal (who narrated all the other novels) and his brother Niko. And yes, if you thought Niko was maybe even more damaged than Cal, you'd be right.

I don't think that it's a spoiler to say that by the end of this book, major recurring issues have been resolved. It's part of the reason I'm a little worried that this is the last story for these characters Thurman intends to write--she has a new series coming out in September that I will pick up, but I haven't heard if she'll be writing 2 books a year now and quitting her day job, or if publishers were interested in something new. If this is the last book, I'm satisfied. Even if I didn't agree with all the resolutions, it's nice to read a series where characters have emotional arcs and don't repeat the same blah blah blah for ten books (cough, Dresden Files, cough). As a fan and a reader, I'm grateful and satisfied--you don't often get that sort of development and resolution in a series.

If Thurman wants to continue this series, she doesn't need pick up her characters' activities right after this book. It might be quite interesting to see what happens 2 or 3 years out from these events. She has done a lot to build up the secondary characters and world in this series, including new allies and foes in this book, and it seems a shame not to fully exploit them. There's at least a novella in Delilah's Kin politics. Plus Rafferty and Catcher are still out in the world--what's up with them? And other readers often complain that Promise and George are idealized--Promise takes a major fall off her pedestal in this book, and I would like to see a story where the viewpoint switches between Cal and George, with more detail on the life of a struggling girl psychic who can't let herself know how it will all turn out for fear of destroying her sanity.

If you're looking for urban fantasy, this is one of my favorite series and I do vigorously recommend it.

Nightlife, Moonshine, Madhouse--Rob Thurman (Cal Leandros Novels)

I heard about these books from Jia's review of Madhouse over at Dear Author. Damn, I am thankful for the recommendation, even if these books provided too much of a distraction. How much of a distraction? Not only did I get the first two books from the library and DEVOUR them, I went out and bought the third and I am not allowed to go and buy books, especially if I am paying a full $7 for it. It was totally worth it. And fantasy is usually not my thing. Having spent too much time around the LARP crowd, I am so burnt out on the angsty, the monsters, vampires, werewolves, oh my! and retread stories about souls and demons and blah, blah, blah that 3 years later I will kick you in the shins if that sort of shit comes up.

Or maybe it's being older that you have no patience for such. It started to decline after I broke my arm, I know that. That's when everything changed.

But anyway--back to the awesome stories!

Cal Leandros and his older brother Niko are on the run. Truthfully, they've been on the run their whole lives--when your mom is a Gypsy con artist/whore, staying long in one place is not an option. However, for the past 4 years they've been on the run from creatures they call "Grendels," one of which is Cal's father. The last time they all met up, Cal vanished for 2 days and came back 2 years older, with no memory of where he'd been or what happened. Recent Grendel sightings have them looking to leave New York, despite the assurances of their psychic friend Georgina King that they should stay. Hunting for a car, they meet puck/used car salesman Robin Goodfellow, who identifies Cal as part Auphe (the basis for the elven myths, only not hot like Orlando Bloom and much more into killing things.) Nice. Rob's good sorts, which is helpful because the Auphe have a plan that they shortly put into action that leaves Cal not in control of himself. Oh dear.

Moonshine has the brothers living a semi-normal life: Cal is mostly recovered from the trauma of Nightlife, Niko's gone back to college and got a girlfriend, and the three of them have a supernatural fix-it/detective agency thing going, with Robin Goodfellow hanging around to help and amuse. Cal is also being pursued by George King, and doing his best to elude that relationship for fear of the Auphe and "You really want to find daycare for a flesh-eating baby? I think they charge extra when your kid goes cannibal during naptime." Things get rough when they agree to do a job for a werewolf, who decides to make sure he gets good results by kidnapping George to ensure compliance and sends Cal undercover. Yikes.

Madhouse has the brothers facing off against the famous "cannibal" Sawney Bean (he eats people, but he's a Red Cap, not a human. He's also the inspiration for the Reivers in Firefly.) And someone's making attempts on Goodfellow's life. Sawney Bean's got a special liking for Cal, whose mental health is strained, what with the events of the previous books, and this whole being connected to people thing is new and very stressful.

As you can see, there's a lot of fantasy cheese factor in these stories. Let me count the types:

Gypsies!
Hot brothers who spend all their spare cash on weaponry!
Hot angsty sarcastic men with ISSUES!
Vampires, werewolves and monsters, oh my!
The whoring, drinking, cheating, stealing puck with a mastery of the lewd remark!
Half human/half monster!

Sorry, I had to fan myself. Here's the deal--I know logically much of this seems over the top. But surprisingly, it really works for me. I spent some time analyzing why, and it's because Thurman does such a great job of balancing all aspects of her tale. Okay the plot of Moonshine wanders, but I didn't notice it until after. She's got tightly written fight scenes, plenty of action, and good pacing within the stories. Robin's a great source of humor, and so is Cal's sarcastic first person narration. And I appreciate that in her world the supernatural races are born and just exist, no angsty vamping or wolfing necessary.

And there's character grounding and development, which I'm always a sucker for. Niko's overachieving, supercontrolled, overprotective nature and Cal's crappy self-esteem and perpetual guilt owe as much to having a neglectful, alcoholic mom as to the events of the books. Cal is particular is an evolving character that Thurman's got on the Hero's Journey. He's very much the younger brother in the first book, but by Madhouse he's moving out of Niko's shadow and making independent choices that he knows might not be best, but what he he feels he has to do. He also feels greater connection and responsibility to the victims that he and Niko encounter, and tries to right things.

So if you like the sound of this, you might also like Bill Willingham's Fables for the novel character development and humor, Simon R. Green and Charles de Lint for urban fantasy settings. Heck, throw in Neil Gaiman too.

And you know what hit me around Madhouse? These books are a lot like Robert B. Parker's Spenser series. No, really. Lone wolf detective, deadly silent companion, idealized female love interest, sarcasm, and a little sap.