One-Eyed Jack

Promethean Age #5

by Elizabeth Bear

The One-Eyed Jack and the Suicide King: personifications of the city of Las Vegas—its history, mystery, mystical power, and heart…

When the Suicide King vanishes—possibly killed—in the middle of a magic-rights turf war started by the avatars of Los Angeles, a notorious fictional assassin, and the mutilated ghost of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel–the King’s partner, the One-Eyed Jack–must seek the aid of a bizarre band of legendary and undead allies: the ghosts of Doc Holliday and John Henry the steel-driving man; the echoes of several imaginary super spies, decades displaced in time; and a vampire named Tribute, who bears a striking resemblance to a certain long-lost icon of popular music.

All stories are true, but some stories are truer than others

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Ebooks, Mythology, Historical Fiction

360 pages, Paperback

First published July 14, 2014

About the author

What Goodreads really needs is a "currently WRITING" option for its default bookshelves...

Reviews

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received to review via Netgalley

Originally, when I got this, I intended to read the other books that are loosely in the same series first. I didn’t in the end, and I think that might have impacted my understanding of all the terms and the worldbuilding. It didn’t help that I also don’t know The Man from U.N.C.L.E. or I, Spy fandoms, given that this is very meta-fictional and several of the main characters are essentially based on those works. And then there’s also my lack of knowledge of US history and places; this was the easiest to catch up with, since everyone knows something about Las Vegas, but still.

All the same, it was a lot of fun. Queer all over the place, but not in a way that felt inorganic — actually, I loved Jackie and Stewart, and if you’re telling me we weren’t meant to see wells and wells of subtext between Nikita and Sebastian, I’ll wonder if we read the same book. I loved all the unspoken stuff between them; the way they could communicate with just a look. And despite not catching on very well to the worldbuilding, I did enjoy the setting and the plot. It’s not really a spoiler to tell you that it includes such gems as vampire!Elvis.

Judging from Karen Memory, it’s fairly obvious that this was an earlier work of Bear’s, and her writing isn’t as good. But it’s still plenty of fun.

Originally posted here.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange little book. I think I use that phrase more when writing about Elizabeth Bear than any other author.

One-Eyed Jack and the Suicide King are genii loci, the legendary avatars of Las Vegas. The Las Vegas of 2002, that is, because the city's symbology shifts from decade to decade. (And 2002 is roughly when the book was written, says the author.)

We find Jack and the King setting up a ritual at Hoover Dam. It happens that Las Vegas is involved in a mystical war with (no points for guessing) Los Angeles, and an avatar of LA shows up at the Dam to stop them. At the same time, a couple of fictional secret agents find themselves under fire from *another* fictional secret agent. Their fictional 1964 (the eternal Cold War) leads them to the real-world 2002, at the same time as... I think I won't name the rest of the characters. A large part of the fun is seeing everybody walk on-stage.

I don't necessarily get a lot out of seeing characters walk on-stage. I am not a watcher of the TV shows in question. For reasons of intellectual property, their names are never used, which means long chapters of text about "the athlete" and "the Russian" and "the American" and so on. I had to look some of them up. (Spoiler: it suffices to google "tennis-playing spy".) Yes, the author makes a plot point of how media ghosts are esoterically nameless, but it still feels like playing with action figures.

So the book is fanfic, in fandoms not my own; this makes it a rough ride. It's perfectly *good* fanfic, and in fact it succeeds at showing me how these characters are delightful. It doesn't rest entirely on familiarity. And the central viewpoint is that of Jack, an original creation. But I'm missing some of the fun, regardless.

It's in the Promethean Age continuity. Like most of that series, it involves a lot of running around for mystical reasons which don't make much logical sense but have solid gut impact behind them. The magic is good stuff. Since it's also a spy story (and a vampire story, and a Western) there's a lot of chasing and gunfights and sneaking around in the desert. So, more accessible than some of the Promethean Age books.

I feel like I'm making random stabs at description without saying very much. I fear this is because I enjoyed the book without loving any part of it. I'll leave it at that. If any of the above sounds like your thing, go for it.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading Elizabeth Bear's One-Eyed Jack a little over a year ago, in the bathtub at Mohegan Sun.

It has taken me so long to finish the book not because it wasn't good, but because I have only read it in the bath — sometimes at casinos but also sometimes not, otherwise it would have taken me even longer, especially considering the last casino I stayed at only had a shower. My copy is now very water damaged.

Anyway. I had picked One-Eyed Jack for my casino bath reading because it's about the spirit of Las Vegas fighting to keep his city from being annexed by the spirit of Los Angeles, so it seemed topical.

There are actually two spirits (or genii) of Las Vegas: the One-Eyed Jack, who has one normal eye and one magical eye he keeps hidden under an eyepatch; and the Suicide King, otherwise known as Stewart, who seems to have a magical ability to kill himself and then resurrect again. Jackie and Stewart are boyfriends in addition to sharing the job of genius of Las Vegas. This seems like it would break a lot of workplace regulations but it looks like being a magical symbol isn’t a very well-regulated field considering all the other stuff that goes down in this book.

Jackie and Stewart eventually form a coalition with several interesting characters, including two ghosts of different John Henry's, some "media ghosts" of unnamed TV spies, and vampire Elvis (though this vampire Elvis is very different from the vampire Elvis of the Sookie Stackhouse books). The antagonists include Angel (the genius of Los Angeles, in the form of a young ingénue), a character known only as “the assassin,” a Promethean Mage, and the ghost of Bugsy Siegel.

I was a bit confused about who precisely all these people were, since I am not much up on my ‘60s TV spies — nor on my Las Vegas history, really, although I do at least know who Bugsy Siegel is. But once I got used to identifying the spies by their descriptors instead of names, it was all easy enough to follow.

The book takes place mostly in 2002, and as is usually the case, I still find it a bit jarring to realize how long ago the mid-2000s were and how much it really was a different era — it makes me feel old — but it’s impossible to miss because stuff in Vegas changes so fast that, even without ever having been there, I know a bunch of the properties mentioned in the book have since shut down and new ones opened; also, Jackie wears black leather cargo pants because he is terribly cool, and it’s become hard to remember that there was a time when cargo pants really were cool and not just a shorthand for sartorial laziness. Other bits of the book take place in 1964, because that’s when all the media ghosts come from. The time travel isn’t flashy; it just sort of happens—there’s enough ghosts in the story already that visiting the ghost of 1964 isn’t that big a deal.

Since this is a spy story I don’t want to talk too much about the plot but suffice to say that, in keeping with the general theme, it, like a game of poker, features long stretches of quietly waiting and thinking about things (I don’t believe poker is ever boring) interspersed with moments of high drama that vastly change the dynamics at the table. (Poor Angel spends the first three-quarters of the book chipping up relentlessly only to spew off her entire stack in one dumb play. Been there done that; it’s awful.) All the disparate threads and meticulously solved riddles finally come together near the end to put a fast-paced and deceptively simple end to the conspiracy.

One of the unifying principles of how magic works in this book is that it relies very heavily on symbolism and stories and beliefs, reminding me a lot of Discworld if the Discworld books were about twelve thousand percent more serious. Genre savviness is important for our heroes to figure out what is going on. Gaming-related symbolism abounds, which is fitting, because gaming-related symbolism abounds in English writing anyway, only this time it’s all looked at a lot more closely than usual.

Like the other Elizabeth Bear books I’ve read, this was pretty weird and I think I’d have to read it again to figure out some of the weird stuff I didn’t get the first time around, but I’m probably not going to because I have at least three unread Elizabeth Bear books on my shelf at the moment. I always like her stuff but it tends to end up taking me a lot longer to get through than I think it’s going to.

I recommend it to anyone who likes metafictional genre-savvy stuff. Pairs well with a Lush bath bomb, a nice hotel room, and an adult beverage.

Originally posted at Four spies and some poker terms walk into a bar.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided it was time for some escapism to deal with this cold that seems to have grown into a throat infection. Someone, somewhere on the internet that I can’t remember (goodreads? tumblr?) mentioned this book and it sounded like fun, so I did the risky thing of jumping into a series in the middle. Or at the end, in this case. It was a risk that paid off in spades, as I had a great time. ‘One-eyed Jack’ uses a similar conceit to Rivers of London and sequels: that places have adoptive spirits called genius loci. Also there are unquiet spirits, vampires, and, my favourite, media ghosts. The latter are essentially projections of TV and film characters that fans have brought into being with their devotion. This world-building is all perfectly easy to follow and the novel definitely works as a stand alone. The plot concerns a turf war between the genius loci of Las Vegas and Los Angeles, which plays out in exciting action set pieces mostly set in and around the Hoover Dam. The narrative maintained a strong sense of place throughout, as indeed it should, and overlaid supernatural details on reality very effectively.

The main joy of the book, though, was the characters and their various supernatural traits. This isn't the first novel I’ve read with a vampire Elvis in it, but it is by far my favourite vampire Elvis depiction. (I’ve also read at least one novel with zombie Elvis, now that I think about it.) I had great fun identifying the media ghosts, so won’t spoil that for you. Although there weren’t very many female characters, I liked those that were included and greatly appreciated that the male characters were mostly not straight. One-eyed Jack and the Suicide King are a couple throughout and the general lack of heteronormativity was extremely refreshing. If you too are suffering from a very painful sore throat, you could do a lot worse than take ibuprofen then explore magical Las Vegas with a bunch of dead people.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

CW: gore

Another Elizabeth Bear hallmark book: very well done and interesting LGBT characters, use of historical persons in the fictional narrative, a slightly unnecessarily complicated magic system, a really interesting premise, and way too much writing.

The disappointing thing about almost all of the books I've read by Bear so far is that she seems to get in her own way. There are some really interesting bones of a story here that I was very down for for the first 200 or so pages, but then she introduced way too many concepts in the last 100 pages and I really started to lose interest. If the story had been streamlined, I would have loved this book. As it was, though, enjoyable, if a bit long.

The American and the Russian, though? OTP of the year. Very cute, hardcore ship those boys.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would like to have given this a higher rating, but since I had a hard time following the plot (probably because the narrative seemed to assume I would know who characters like "the American" and "the Scholar" etc were). I did finish the book, but still wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

Oh, and how weird that the day after finishing it, there's a story on my local news about towns uncovered by recent drought, and one of them is Saint Thomas, where the climax of this book takes place.

[Mary Kay Kare · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute tour-de-force with ghosts, legends, and genii loci. Oh, and vampires. It's more than a little meta-fictional, but highly recommended. Especially if you remember some tv shows of the 1960s with affection.

[ambyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely, numinous magic, but the paper-thin characterization, however deliberate (and I suspect it was, as commentary on Vegas's shallowness), kept me from fully sinking into the story. If I knew Vegas--or the TV shows Bear is drawing on--better, it probably would have earned a fourth star.

[Belinda Lewis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into this, felt like a narrower and much less interesting American Gods.

A lot of the Las Vegas and other American references went over my head though, so possibly if you're from that part of the world its a better experience.

[Alecia · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF'd at 110 pages. The chapters are short and choppy, and the book seems to rely more on a grimy Las Vegas noir atmosphere than actual plot and dialogue. I only half knew what was happening and I 100% didn't care despite the inclusion of the ghost of John Henry, the steel driving man, whose myth taught me the meaning of beautiful tragedy when I was a child. Having read the other four Promethean Age books, this doesn't feel like it belongs in the same universe, much less the same series.

I love Elizabeth Bear but this just wasn't up to the standard of what I've come to expect from her. And I think the problem is that there are simply not enough women in this book. Every other work I've read by Bear contains multiple strong female characters, who run the gamut from good to evil. That was missing here and I felt it viscerally. Mild spoiler: the main female character here is a cardboard cutout Sexy Villain who doesn't do much but smirk and plot while the men look at her ass. Furthermore, the mythology Bear relies on in the previous books ("all the stories are true") just doesn't work as well in this setting. There are no myths about Las Vegas, or John F. Kennedy, or 1960s spies. Sure, there are stories and rumors and conspiracy theories. But there are no epics like the Odyssey, or Spenser's "Faerie Queene". There are no fairy tales about casinos and prostitutes. America does have a mythology, but something that tackles the Jim Crow south, or colonization and the Trail of Tears, or the Salem Witch Trials would have been much more fertile ground. Kudos to Bear for originality but there's just not enough substance for this to satisfy.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up One-Eyed Jack as a spur of the moment decision and I am glad I did. One-Eyed Jack is part of the Promethean Age series and, although I have not read any other books in this series or by Elizabeth Bear, I thoroughly enjoyed it. No knowing what the other books were like, I found that this one was quite easy to follow once I got my head around the magic system and it read like a standalone. There was a lot to love in the book – the characters, the quirks, the overarching story. Jack was a fun main character and I loved his relationship with Stewart, and the media spies were a lot of fun. It was a touch confusing in places, and I did find it difficult to keep track of who some of the side characters were, but overall it was an entertaining read and I’m excited to try some more of Elizabeth Bear’s books.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are two ways to catch my attention: create a remarkably well-crafted hook through a cunning literary device that makes me wonder what other clever little bits you have in store, or be so off-the-wall bonkers that I have to see just what sort of potentially drug-induced mayhem you fling at me next. One-Eyed Jack is unapologetically the latter (with a fair mix of absolutely brilliant literary stunt thrown in to make the plot tidy up in a relatively moderate length). Genius locii battle for the heart of Las Vegas with the ghosts of spy tv, John Henry the steel drivin' man, Doc Holliday, hidden magics from the Works Progress Administration, and a vampire Elvis all along for the ride.

Please ensure your shoulder harness is fully locked in the closest setting to your body possible and keep your head, hands, and feet inside the literary vehicle at all times for your safety.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack is the genius loci of Las Vegas, or at least that would be his title if we were using the terminology of a different urban fantasy series.. When some outsiders make a play for control of the city, trying to tap into (among other things) the arcane power of Hoover Dam, Jack teams up with media ghosts, a vampire who in life was a well known singer you've probably heard of, and the Suicide King to try and defend his city.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This made for an interesting book. It's not my favorite - hence the three stars instead of four or five - but it tied in a lot of my personal loves in fiction: urban fantasy, the mythology of American cities (in this case, Los Angeles and Las Vegas and the power of fiction and media.

In the case of One-Eyed Jack, cities are represented by Genius Loci - human personifications of the cities themselves, people who are consumed and then empowered by the cities. In Los Angeles, it's Angel, the would-be starlet who's drawn by the glitz and the glamour (spelling intentional) and is ultimately chewed up by it. In Las Vegas, it's One-Eyed Jack and the Suicide King - figures tangentially tied by history.

But while they're powerful figures themselves - their strength commiserate with the ascendency of their particular city - they're not the most interesting or even the most influential figures either in the book or in the world. There is much more between Heaven and Earth - or Los Angeles and Las Vegas - than is dreamt of, etc. No, there are the ghosts of legends - the manifestations of actual *legends* rather than the people who inspired them - and the Media Ghosts, the physical embodiment of popular fictional characters.

Oh and Elvis. He's a vampire. Because reasons.

The media ghosts are the most interesting because to a certain extent they aren't aware that they're fictional and bound by genre conventions. While some of those conventions are helpful - they can't be killed, except under specific circumstances - they're still limited by them. And of course, there's the fact that they don't actually exist in the real world.

In a lot of ways, Bear is playing around simultaneously with Kim Newman's Anno Dracula conventions where pop-culture figures are hinted and referenced with a wink and a nod and Tim Powers' blend of mundane mysticism where the title of Fisher King can be won or lost in games of poker. One thing that made this interesting was trying to scratch the itch of "where do I know this person from?" when it came to the media ghosts. I pride myself in my vast and seemingly random mental repository of pop culture trivia and there were characters I couldn't quite identify. At least until the afterward which explained it all.

To be perfectly honest, I think Tim Powers did it better, but this is an entirely enjoyable romp.And playing "spot the reference" was fun, especially considering how time has marched on. The media ghost of The Widow could very well be an entirely different character than the one who was intended thanks to certain high-profile movies...

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A contemporary fantasy set in Sin City with a turf war between avatars, deities, ghosts, and a twist on Elvis' appearance. It was a decent read, and I wanted to like it a lot more. I'll have to admit this is part of the Promethean Age series, and I haven't read the previous books, though it seems like it takes place in the same kind of world of deities and such, but it doesn't have the same characters, follow the events, or incorporate the same mythologies/narratives. I didn't have too much trouble following it and figuring out somewhat how the system of deities worked, though I have to wonder if the previous books would have explained things better.

Set in Las Vegas, there are two avatars, One Eyed Jack and the Suicide King, and they have been partners (and lovers) for decades. Las Vegas has history with Los Angeles and Hoover Dam, and the avatars of Los Angeles have allied themselves with other deities/forces/ghosts to take control of Las Vegas. When the Suicide King is kidnapped and possibly killed, One Eyed Jack allies himself with his own set of ghosts, including Doc Holliday, John Henry the steel-driving man, and several spies who only go by the titles, the Russian and the American (later joined by the Widow and the Englishman), and a vampire with an interesting past. The story is rather fragmented, jumping to short chapters in different characters' points of views (mainly Jack, the Russian and American, and the vampire, sometimes the villains) and different time periods sometimes, which means a bit of piecing together what is happening and how this system of avatars and ghosts work. The characters are also trying to figure each other out, if they should work together, what abilities they have and how to use them to their advantage.

The story, despite the fragmented storytelling, is still very readable with some good lines of dialogue and solid character interactions. I don't think I "got" the fantasy system here but understood enough of it. It was an interesting premise with the different types of ghosts coming from different stories/narratives that grow by popular belief and their place in culture. I enjoyed how it tied in with the history of Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam, though it seemed like there still could have been more of the sense of place captured. The plot and final showdown had some clever twists, though it did not seem like there was enough "oomph" and momentum. It's a minor quibble, but I was surprised at the sprinkling of typos in the book (like using "window" for the "Widow") that were not caught and corrected.

[A Reader's Heaven · Rating 2 out of 5]

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

The One-Eyed Jack and the Suicide King: personifications of the city of Las Vegas — its history, mystery, mystical power, and heart!
When the Suicide King vanishes — possibly killed — in the middle of a magic-rights turf war started by the avatars of Los Angeles, a notorious fictional assassin, and the mutilated ghost of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel — his partner, the One-Eyed Jack, must seek the aid of a bizarre band of legendary and undead allies: the ghosts of Doc Holliday and John Henry the steel-driving man; the echoes of several imaginary super spies, decades displaced in time; and a vampire named Tribute, who bears a striking resemblance to a certain long-lost icon of popular music.

Elizabeth Bear is one author who has eluded me over the years as someone to sit down with and read. She is very popular in the shop and when this book became available to preview via Net Galley, I took that as a sign.

I am very sorry to say that I couldn't finish this book. That does not happen very often but I tried three times to read this and could never get past the halfway point. I read one review that loosely compared this to Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" - I think that was a bit of a stretch.

The plot and characters seemed disjointed - like a lot of short vignettes joined together with filler to make a novel out of. My attention wavered quite often as I struggled to make sense of where each chapter was taking me.

I understand why people like her style - the prose is quite intelligent. Maybe just a little too clever for me, I am afraid.


Paul
ARH

[Abi Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

the book was stunning filled with legends, media ghosts, vampires and genii. This book is filled with the myth of America and shines. One Eyed Jack is the final book in the Promethian series - but we have a whole new set of characters from Jackie, the Jocker and Genii of Las Vagus, and his lover Stewart the suicide King and their to be Knights The Russian (based on Ilya Kuryakin) and his partner The American (Napoleon Solo) both are media ghosts trapped in their own story Man From UNCLE. It helped that the new film of this TV series came out so that I could really relate to the sexual tension that was flying off these two spies. their relationship really mirrors the love between Jackie and Stewart, which is drawn so well and sucks you in completely.I really struggles to put this book down it was absolutely superb and I want another one in the Promethean series!!
Stewart and Jackie also have elements of Will and Kit tp them for me they were what they could never be because (well you will have to read Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth the books just before this one).
I also loved how different One Eyed Jack's genre was to the other book in the same series. Bear's poetic lyrical prose gets me every time so I'm constantly writing down her lines as they are just so beautiful.
deffinitly deserrves 5 stars best book I have read in a LONG time!! If you like mythology, and you enjoy other works by Bear this one is a MUST.

[Chris Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

One-Eyed Jack is the latest installment of Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age novels. And is a fantastic new look at the world of hidden magicks and supernature in a contemporary setting.

As always, Bear's ability to convey a tome's worth of backstory in just a few pages of dialogue is amazing. No info-dumps here, please.

The utter scope of the novel is impressive as well. Touching on a variety of themes (folklore, living legends, vampires, hidden mages and a power conflict between LA and Las Vegas) this novel is a demanding read. The breadth of topics became a bit too much at times but was well worth it.

Love, obligations, history repeating itself like an unstoppable river are all elements of the work.

Dialogue is sharp and wicked. Conversations between multiple fictional characters (namely a number of super spies from television series in the 60's) were outstanding.

But this is not a book one can polish off in a single sitting; it is far too rich for that. A reader needs to savor and think about the contents and give the author her due.

[Mid Fimbulwinter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bear's love letter to Las Vegas, with spies and leather.

Never having been to Vegas, I didn't get as much out of this as I might have. Also, a major component of the book are the media ghosts, characters from 60s TV spy shows who've snuck into the book's reality. They're never given their source names, so it was mainly because I read Bear's blog that I recognized the characters from I Spy and Man From UNCLE. I *think* I know who the assassin was, but I was never certain. As a result, I wasn't bringing as much nuance with me to the work as one ought to.

It wasn't a bad book by any means, and I did enjoy the Steven Brust cameo, but it just didn't hit me as hard as most of Bear's work.

[Ms. Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book off of Goodreads First Reads. I have a lot of mixed thoughts about this book. I find it to be very well-written with a wide vocabulary of interestingly-used words, making this book a unique read that stands out on it's own. The author put a lot of twists and turns into the plot, and the characters were bold and decently described. Yet, my attention faltered greatly in every chapter of this book. It was hard to remained interested and his prolonging filler made it hard for me to keep up with where the story was (eventually) leading. Though this book was very decent and a strong read, it wasn't meant for me.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting experiment that didn't quite come off for me. Although part of the Promethean Age series, it is less closely tied to the earlier books, and very different to The Stratford Man duology. Many interesting concepts raised, but a knowledge of Las Vegas history/folklore and of three 1960s TV Spy series is helpful to appreciate all of the subtleties and links in the book. Googling is helpful to a point, particularly on playing cards, but I was still left with the feeling that I was missing some of the jokes. Not my favourite Bear book but the very readable prose still puts it ahead of many other authors.

[Pedro Marroquín · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pues no, no era para mi. Demasiadas referencias a series de televisión de espías de los 60, junto a un Elvis vampiro, estrellas de Las Vegas en los 50, y saltos temporales continuos entre 1964 y 2002, además de tener la impresión de haber leído la historia antes en un libro de Tim Powers, y no saber de que va el libro sobrepasada la marca de 2/3 ha hecho que pasase totalmente de la historia. Eso si, escrito muy bien. ¿Pero para qué sirve escribir muy bien si por el camino se te pierde el argumento o intentas embrollarlo todo para que el lector no se entere? Como ejercicio de estilo está bien, pero no para atrapar a un lector que solo quiere pasar el rato.

[E.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was so much fun--60s spies, Elvis, ghosts, gangsters, gunslingers and con artists, all fighting for control of Las Vegas. It lagged a bit in the middle, but then picked up and hurtled toward the ending. Even when you see the twists coming, they're still fun and satisfying because following these archetypal characters through the plot is like unwrapping a pile of presents. Also, Bear's prose is delightful and delicious.

You don't have to read any other books in the Promethean Age series to understand what's happening here; One-Eye Jack is a stand-alone story with buckets of charm.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually read urban fantasy, but the presence of ghostly 1960s TV spies was more than I could resist. I particularly liked the way the author avoided copyright issues by making the agents unnamed as part of the plot, which kept me interested and guessing all the way through. With a cast containing John Henry, Doc Halliday, and a bunch of others I won't name for reasons of spoilers, this was a bunch of fun.

[Shawn Manning · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I won this little dear via GoodReads. Now, having got that out of the way, let me say that I didn't realize this was part of a series. Fortunately, it doesn't matter if you haven't read any of the previous books. The reader will, however, need a firm knowledge of old 1960's spy shows. I feel that Tim Powers and Neil Gaiman have done this sort of thing better, but still a fair to middling read.

[Sumayyah]

Apparently, this book is part of a series. Had I known that, i would have started from the beginning. As it stands, this book was much too confusing for me to follow. The premise sounds good: the "anima" of great cities, personifications that walk and talk and interact with people, plus ghosts, a 30 year old mystery, and some good, old-fashioned lovin'. I just couldn't follow it. This book was not for me.

[Pauline Zed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Loved the magic and the setting and the characters, both real and legendary. And as a fan of the show, the Man from U.N.C.L.E. pastiche might have merely been a nice bonus, but the U.N.C.L.E. characters, as well as those from I Spy and The Avengers, are also a very necessary part of the story.

[Joe Crow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't realize until the afterword that this one's a few years old. Was wondering why it read like some of her earlier work, and then the afterword mentioned that it'd been written between '99 and '06. Which also explains why it's set in '02.

Anyway. Good stuff, kinda reminiscent of Tim Power's stuff at times.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spies and vampires and the spirits of cities, lost in Las Vegas, in the wreckage left by the Promethean Age books. Fun, although as always I feel like I'm missing half the information she's trying to convey. I only finally figured out the media ghosts when she thanked the fandoms in the afterwards; I hadn't watched some key classic spy TV shows, and had no idea who she was referencing.