JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
A Spell for Eternity
√ free BOGGINS (Ch1,2,3)
√ free LIFESONG (Ch1,2,3)
√ free fantasy ARTICLES
√ NEWS about new titles
 |
|
| Monument
BY IAN GRAHAM A personal review by Greg Hamerton A great cover with dark, gold, and an intriguing jewel. That's why I picked it up. Reading the blurb, I see 'He (our hero) is fit only for an unmarked grave'. Excellent! Something fresh, not just an anti-hero who isn't the best, this guy is bad! I just want to hang out with this bad man and see what happens. Funny that. There are a clutch of endorsements (quotes) on the back, but the clincher for me was David Gemmell saying 'The most exciting debut fantasy novel you will read this year.' The main character is Ballas. Ballas? That's so brave it's cool, it's like saying 'this guy is a complete sh*t' and I can't figure out why, but the name is perfect. His intro and description is so funny and repulsive. He's bad. He's drunk. He does all the things we can't. He gets so beaten up, and yet it's strangely funny, because he deserves it. He's infested with lice. After a while you really want to know 'how can we forgive him?' What is his story, so that we can root for him? He's an underdog, and I naturally want the author to show me why he's actually good, just misunderstood. The opening chapter is great, with good double reversals ... he wins, he loses, he wins, he loses. It' s full of squalor, rot and filth. The plot goes charging ahead like a railway, simple but fast (if a bit thin). Everything was good until about a third of the way into the book, when the story failed, faded, and I became disillusioned. Ballas causes a lot of senseless destruction, and because he is ruthless, completely self-centred and dispassionate I never get involved in his life. He doesn't change, he goes through no development of character, and I tire of his wasteful murdering. It just becomes a succession of events. The book is like a bad action movie, with too many chase-and-fight scenes that are transparently drawn out. There are elements of the plot which lack credibility, like a powerful mage who lets our hero escape for no reason, and an enclosed, walled city full of Wardens wherein none of them really find a trio of distinguished criminals. The climax seems contrived. |
  |
| I
bought the
book because I wanted to find out why this sh*t of a person is redeemed
- although he tries a little at the end, it's not really heroic because
he has no other life, no choice, he can't turn away, he's dying, so he
might as well sacrifice himself. Good riddance. |
 ABOUT THE REVIEWERGreg Hamerton has been writing fantasy since 1999. His Lifesong cycle begins with THE RIDDLER'S GIFT. |