Spell of Intrigue

Dance of the Gods #2

by Mayer Alan Brenner

No one knows whether gods or mortals are behind the power games in Oolsmouth, but the strange doings place Maximillian the Vaguely Disreputable, the Great Karlini, the Creeping Sword, and their comrades into a world of trouble.

Genres: Fantasy, Ebooks, Science Fiction

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 6, 1990

Reviews

[Cat Noe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, politics. The prose felt much more cluttered than in the last book, and the resolution failed to satisfy. I still appreciate the odd turns of phrase, and what was there was interesting enough... yet it failed to really draw me in. The character interactions were too superficial, I think.

I am still planning to read the next one, but it may be some time from now.

[Ted Goldstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second installment of the Dance of the Gods series is indeed heavy on the intrigue, sometimes at the expense of keeping the storyline moving along, but the characters are still interesting and the intrigue keeps you guessing. Still a lot of twists and turns of gods, magic and science to unravel in the upcoming books.

[Aditya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt similar about this book as the previous - awkward phrasing for too many of the characters (a lot of "one had to," "one must"), not many of the characters were that likeable (especially Max), and confusing visual descriptions. However, there were parts where I found it hard to put down, and I think I'll continue reading the series.

[Dantegideon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but the slight shift in tone towards grittiness takes a dive into the pit in the next ones.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The unfortunate thing about books from pre-ebook times being made available as ebooks is that it's astonishingly rare for the publisher to proofread them properly to sort out all the errors made in scanning - even though, often, spell check would catch a good number of them. This one is an example of the problem, with lots of commas misread as periods, some odd spacing that often turns the quotation marks in the wrong direction, and several outright misreadings of individual words. See my notes and highlights.

It's a little too slow-paced at times, and the plot is convoluted (as the title suggests), which, along with the need for proofreading, kept it off my Best of the Year list. I did enjoy it, though, and I plan to read the sequel - which, like this, I bought on sale, as $7.99 is too much to pay for an old, not outstanding book that has been poorly proofed.

Repeats the error from the first book of using the word "omnipotence" where it means "omniscience".

[Jsnows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slower, with less action sequences than the first one but also with less over-descriptive page long sequences.

While reading, I kept thinking " Hmmm, the plot thickens" and I think that this book is, as the title implies, a lot more focused on intrigue than action. So it deepens the characters, explains some of the loose ends from the first book, gives new and different insights about the gods and what drives them and sets up what(ever) is to come in the third and maybe even the fourth books.

Maybe by itself, as a standalone piece, it's not that great but all in all I enjoyed it quite a bit as a follow-up to the first book and it whet my appetite for the following book (which I've already begun).

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While still very enjoyable and fast-paced, "Intrigue" didn't grab me as hard as Catastrophe's Spell. Much like Brust's Yendi, the complications and resolutions feel forced, causing the book to lose some of the appeal of its MacGyver-like spontaneity.

Still, sarcasm, sword fights, spell-casting, spies, and subversives make for a pretty good second book in the series.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the books are freely downloadable from http://www.mayerbrenner.com/

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one. Still swashbuckling, but the dialog somehow has shifted from witty to awkward. Also, the characters are wandering all over the place, meaning the plot threads don't intersect as much as they used to.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do love a book where the author doesn't take himself seriously. A character named "Sy Gazoont"? Very cute.

[Adam Meek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fantasy with a few SF elements, entertaining enough-- especially considering that it is a legal free download.

[Michael McDougall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, slightly tongue in cheek fantasy adventure.