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perid0t 's review for:
Dead Man's Hand
by James J. Butcher
This turned out to be quite the interesting read.
The beginning introduces us to a character known as The Huntsman, and he seem to be the stereotypical male urban fantasy lead but on steroids. He's gruff, he's broken, he's feared and well known and the first scene of his involves a lot of empty bottles of whiskey.
I was rolling my eyes at this point, it was so overdone and so overly painted I wasn't sure I wanted to read more.
And then the Huntsman teams up with Grimsby, and Grimsby is everything the stereotype isn't. He's scared, and he's clumsy. He's working an demeaning job and he failed the tests that'd get him an Auditor job (Basically a magical cop?). He's even presented in a somewhat feminine vibe with him dressing up as a fairy all in pink and wings. (To the point where it could easily have turned into romance between Grimsby and the Huntsman if certain ex-girlfriends weren't mentioned. And wouldn't that be great?)
It was kind of refreshing having a male lead as inept as this in urban fantasy. It felt like the start of a story, instead of meeting someone who already HAD their story. I'm looking forward to seeing Grimsby grow, and become more skilled and confident in tackling bad guys.
My only real complaint, is that the ultimate bad guy of the show didn't make a lot of sense. Like, I just didn't feel like The Hand was an relic worth dying for. It didn't come across as that powerful. Unless there was more about it that wasn't said.
There were a lot of things that wasn't said in this book. Like who the Huntsman really was, or WHAT he was. He wasn't a witch, that's all we know. But he has some abilities, so he isn't human? Spells were also slung out by people saying their names like it was Harry Potter without really explaining much of anything how that all works. We also know there is human police and unorthodox police, but not much else on the world or how it all spins.
The creatures shown was interesting atleast. Another one of those breath of fresh air things. Werewolves were mentioned to exist, but they weren't part of the book. No, we had a grotesque creature wearing an onion as a face, and we had mechanical cats with skulls.
The beginning introduces us to a character known as The Huntsman, and he seem to be the stereotypical male urban fantasy lead but on steroids. He's gruff, he's broken, he's feared and well known and the first scene of his involves a lot of empty bottles of whiskey.
I was rolling my eyes at this point, it was so overdone and so overly painted I wasn't sure I wanted to read more.
And then the Huntsman teams up with Grimsby, and Grimsby is everything the stereotype isn't. He's scared, and he's clumsy. He's working an demeaning job and he failed the tests that'd get him an Auditor job (Basically a magical cop?). He's even presented in a somewhat feminine vibe with him dressing up as a fairy all in pink and wings. (To the point where it could easily have turned into romance between Grimsby and the Huntsman if certain ex-girlfriends weren't mentioned. And wouldn't that be great?)
It was kind of refreshing having a male lead as inept as this in urban fantasy. It felt like the start of a story, instead of meeting someone who already HAD their story. I'm looking forward to seeing Grimsby grow, and become more skilled and confident in tackling bad guys.
My only real complaint, is that the ultimate bad guy of the show didn't make a lot of sense. Like, I just didn't feel like The Hand was an relic worth dying for. It didn't come across as that powerful. Unless there was more about it that wasn't said.
There were a lot of things that wasn't said in this book. Like who the Huntsman really was, or WHAT he was. He wasn't a witch, that's all we know. But he has some abilities, so he isn't human? Spells were also slung out by people saying their names like it was Harry Potter without really explaining much of anything how that all works. We also know there is human police and unorthodox police, but not much else on the world or how it all spins.
The creatures shown was interesting atleast. Another one of those breath of fresh air things. Werewolves were mentioned to exist, but they weren't part of the book. No, we had a grotesque creature wearing an onion as a face, and we had mechanical cats with skulls.