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The Art of Arrow Cutting #2
Shadows Bite
Something is amiss in Los Angeles. A body vanishes from the morgue. The errant son of L.A.'s most notorious necromancer has unleashed demons that not even his father can control. Real vampires are suddenly appearing among the wannabes at the Crypt, a local goth café. And a yakuza boss has put out a contract on stuntman Charlie Takumo's friend Michelangelo "Mage" Magistrale, seeking vengeance--and a magical "key" that unlocks enormous power. The plight of Takumo and Mage deepens when they're caught up in a series of mysterious night time deaths that suddenly plagues the City of Angels. Caught in a deadly crossfire between assassins and terrors from ancient legend, they'll need all of Takumo's fighting skills--and Mage's magic--if they want to survive to see the dawn, because . . . Shadows Bite At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 15, 2008
Another great outing from Stephen Dedman.
Dedman surprises in this one, remaining true to myths (well researched, this guy, holy shit) but upending stereotypes (or skewering them).
The action is good, the characters well rendered (partially through a tendency to ramble and/or overqualify statements) and always interesting. No one is one dimensional, except for characters that are believably shallow. Great writing, great characterizations. Definitely one of my best finds since, um, Daniel Abraham.
Charlie is the prime mover in this one, although there's plenty of Mage. It makes me wonder if Kelly will get a book.
Dedman surprises in this one, remaining true to myths (well researched, this guy, holy shit) but upending stereotypes (or skewering them).
The action is good, the characters well rendered (partially through a tendency to ramble and/or overqualify statements) and always interesting. No one is one dimensional, except for characters that are believably shallow. Great writing, great characterizations. Definitely one of my best finds since, um, Daniel Abraham.
Charlie is the prime mover in this one, although there's plenty of Mage. It makes me wonder if Kelly will get a book.
August 5, 2008
Good. Unusual take on vampires, a much less organized society than in most books in this genre. Metaphysical abilities by Mage make things interesting, and all the characters seem very realistic and likable. Some of the fight scenes read a little stilted, though, making me think that the author should "show instead of tell" more in these situations.
March 8, 2012
This book is very readable and mostly flowing, thus being on the whole quite enjoyable.
Having said that, it suffers from several problems:
(i) Too many characters – it is not clear why the writer is introducing so many different characters, each described in such detail that the reader find it hard to choose their protagonist.
(ii) Character development – the writer almost doesn't discriminate between the characters with relation to the level of internal insight we get into their psyches. Though perhaps a good thing for a Dostoyevsky and providing some additional interest, it is not clear that this is a good strategy to employ in a plot-driven story. Another problem is that though most characters are developed much more than your standard SciFi story, there is a point where the writer seems not to be able to transcend, thus leaving the characters only "half-baked". There is also an issue with the consistency of characters' interrelations.
(iii) There are too many occurrences starting in parallel and in different periods which cannot be done justice when combined together in a story of that scope (unlike books like Hyperion or Cryptonomicon where it works splendidly). It seems the author has too many ideas and is overloading the story. This again has also to do with the excessive number of characters and the too many plot lines converging into a disappointing and unconvincing wrap-up at the end.
Having said that, it suffers from several problems:
(i) Too many characters – it is not clear why the writer is introducing so many different characters, each described in such detail that the reader find it hard to choose their protagonist.
(ii) Character development – the writer almost doesn't discriminate between the characters with relation to the level of internal insight we get into their psyches. Though perhaps a good thing for a Dostoyevsky and providing some additional interest, it is not clear that this is a good strategy to employ in a plot-driven story. Another problem is that though most characters are developed much more than your standard SciFi story, there is a point where the writer seems not to be able to transcend, thus leaving the characters only "half-baked". There is also an issue with the consistency of characters' interrelations.
(iii) There are too many occurrences starting in parallel and in different periods which cannot be done justice when combined together in a story of that scope (unlike books like Hyperion or Cryptonomicon where it works splendidly). It seems the author has too many ideas and is overloading the story. This again has also to do with the excessive number of characters and the too many plot lines converging into a disappointing and unconvincing wrap-up at the end.
November 9, 2010
Shadow’s bite is based around two main characters, Takumo and Mage. When the body of a young boy vanishes from the morgue, questions are being asked when he is seen by a young woman outside the window of her 5 story building. The son of L.A.'s most notorious necromancer created a vampire in the attempt to save the life of the woman he loved. Meanwhile, Stuntman Charlie Takumo fears for his friend Michelangelo "Mage" Magistrale, a powerful magician who has a contract taken out against him. Takumo and Mage are caught up in a series of mysterious deaths, while also trying to fight off deadly assassins and vampires.
This was interesting book to read as it had a different take on the vampire myth. The book involved necromancers and magicians with L.A’s glamorous movie business as a background. The story involved crime solving of a supernatural nature which was interesting. I liked that the story was very much based on human interactions with a magical influence. I liked the 2 main male characters, they were quirky and original. The story was a bit slow at times and I felt that the author didn’t explain certain concepts well enough for the reader to be truly involved in the world.
This was interesting book to read as it had a different take on the vampire myth. The book involved necromancers and magicians with L.A’s glamorous movie business as a background. The story involved crime solving of a supernatural nature which was interesting. I liked that the story was very much based on human interactions with a magical influence. I liked the 2 main male characters, they were quirky and original. The story was a bit slow at times and I felt that the author didn’t explain certain concepts well enough for the reader to be truly involved in the world.
August 6, 2016
Meh. It started out pretty good, but then started feeling like it was rushed - like the author just wanted to finish it and move on to something else.
library-check-soonish
June 11, 2015BOOK 2
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews