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Eddie LaCrosse #3
Dark Jenny
Alex Bledsoe’s novels featuring detective Eddie LaCrosse have drawn rave reviews for their ingenious blend of classic fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction. Now with Dark Jenny, Bledsoe returns with an all-new tale of intrigue and murder. . . .
For twenty-five gold pieces a day, plus expenses, Eddie LaCrosse will take on most any case. But the unexpected delivery of a coffin in the dead of winter forces LaCrosse to look back at a bygone chapter in his past—and the premeditated murder of a dream.
Ruled by the noble King Marcus Drake, the island kingdom of Grand Braun is an oasis of peace and justice in an imperfect world. At least until the beautiful Queen Jennifer is accused of adultery and murder. In the wrong castle at the wrong time, Eddie finds himself drafted at sword’s point to solve the mystery. With time running out, and powerful nobles all too eager to pin the murder on Eddie himself, he must untangle a tangled web of palace intrigues, buried secrets, and bewitching women—before the entire kingdom erupts into civil war.
Murder, mystery, and magic—just another day on the job for Eddie LaCrosse.
For twenty-five gold pieces a day, plus expenses, Eddie LaCrosse will take on most any case. But the unexpected delivery of a coffin in the dead of winter forces LaCrosse to look back at a bygone chapter in his past—and the premeditated murder of a dream.
Ruled by the noble King Marcus Drake, the island kingdom of Grand Braun is an oasis of peace and justice in an imperfect world. At least until the beautiful Queen Jennifer is accused of adultery and murder. In the wrong castle at the wrong time, Eddie finds himself drafted at sword’s point to solve the mystery. With time running out, and powerful nobles all too eager to pin the murder on Eddie himself, he must untangle a tangled web of palace intrigues, buried secrets, and bewitching women—before the entire kingdom erupts into civil war.
Murder, mystery, and magic—just another day on the job for Eddie LaCrosse.
348 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2011
18 people are currently reading
565 people want to read
About the author
Alex Bledsoe
67 books794 followersI grew up in west Tennessee an hour north of Graceland (home of Elvis) and twenty minutes from Nutbush (home of Tina Turner). I've been a reporter, editor, photographer and door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. I now live in a big yellow house in Wisconsin, write before six in the morning and try to teach my two kids to act like they've been to town before.
I write the Tufa novels (The Hum and the Shiver, Wisp of a Thing, Long Black Curl and Chapel of Ease), as well as the Eddie LaCrosse series (The Sword-Edged Blonde, Burn Me Deadly, Dark Jenny, Wake of the Bloody Angel and He Drank, and Saw the Spider). the Firefly Witch ebook chapbooks, and two "vampsloitation" novels set in 1975 Memphis (Blood Groove and The Girls with Games of Blood).
I write the Tufa novels (The Hum and the Shiver, Wisp of a Thing, Long Black Curl and Chapel of Ease), as well as the Eddie LaCrosse series (The Sword-Edged Blonde, Burn Me Deadly, Dark Jenny, Wake of the Bloody Angel and He Drank, and Saw the Spider). the Firefly Witch ebook chapbooks, and two "vampsloitation" novels set in 1975 Memphis (Blood Groove and The Girls with Games of Blood).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 160 reviews
February 25, 2012
sigh…and another relationship that started off with such hopeful and limitless promise…
...hits a sadness-filled rough patch complete with disillusionment and severe chafing from which it may not recover
I have liked everything that Alex Bledsoe has written...until now. When The Sword-Edged Blonde came out, I thought I had discovered a great new series that bucked convention by combining the hardboiled detective genre and a standard “human-centric” medieval world with a light dusting of fantasy elements. Eddie LaCrosse is a sword-jockey (i.e., a mercenary) with a dark past and a skill at parsing clues, perceiving patterns and punching pinheads. La Crosse is an engaging character and, except for a few fun fantasy pieces for spice, the book read like a good, solid hardboiler.
It was fresh and off the beaten path and I liked it…a lot.
Then, Burn Me Deadly came along and it was more of the same, but in a good way. Another fast, fun read with a complex mystery to solve and a few well-timed surprises that added depth to the setting and gave us additional clues about Eddie’s past.
Again, a solid, attention-holding read that appealed to me because it was different from everything else I was reading.
Thus, it was with a sense of excitement that I began this story…and it proceeded to sodomize my expectations and left me feeling deflated, defeated and despondent. And a little dirty.
It’s not that this book is horrendous or that the writing quality takes a nosedive. The writing is fine. It was just mind-numbingly boring and didn’t add anything to the magic of the first two installments. It was another mysterious recruitment of Eddie into a matter that quickly leads to him being accused of murder and having to sort through a tangled pile of palace intrigue to figure out the who, how and why.
Oh, and an Arthurian legend riff that I did not find enjoyable.
Nothing about this one held my interest...at all. There didn’t seem to be any largesse of tension or drama to keep me excited about turning the pages. I was waiting for it to end by the halfway point and was happy that it was over at the end.
I didn’t hate it and I still think Alex Bledsoe is a talented story-teller. It was just a huge disappointment that makes me skeptical about continuing this series. I think the plot description for the next installment will have to be seriously stellar with promises of earth-shattering revelations for me to bite.
2.0 stars.
...hits a sadness-filled rough patch complete with disillusionment and severe chafing from which it may not recover
I have liked everything that Alex Bledsoe has written...until now. When The Sword-Edged Blonde came out, I thought I had discovered a great new series that bucked convention by combining the hardboiled detective genre and a standard “human-centric” medieval world with a light dusting of fantasy elements. Eddie LaCrosse is a sword-jockey (i.e., a mercenary) with a dark past and a skill at parsing clues, perceiving patterns and punching pinheads. La Crosse is an engaging character and, except for a few fun fantasy pieces for spice, the book read like a good, solid hardboiler.
It was fresh and off the beaten path and I liked it…a lot.
Then, Burn Me Deadly came along and it was more of the same, but in a good way. Another fast, fun read with a complex mystery to solve and a few well-timed surprises that added depth to the setting and gave us additional clues about Eddie’s past.
Again, a solid, attention-holding read that appealed to me because it was different from everything else I was reading.
Thus, it was with a sense of excitement that I began this story…and it proceeded to sodomize my expectations and left me feeling deflated, defeated and despondent. And a little dirty.
It’s not that this book is horrendous or that the writing quality takes a nosedive. The writing is fine. It was just mind-numbingly boring and didn’t add anything to the magic of the first two installments. It was another mysterious recruitment of Eddie into a matter that quickly leads to him being accused of murder and having to sort through a tangled pile of palace intrigue to figure out the who, how and why.
Oh, and an Arthurian legend riff that I did not find enjoyable.
Nothing about this one held my interest...at all. There didn’t seem to be any largesse of tension or drama to keep me excited about turning the pages. I was waiting for it to end by the halfway point and was happy that it was over at the end.
I didn’t hate it and I still think Alex Bledsoe is a talented story-teller. It was just a huge disappointment that makes me skeptical about continuing this series. I think the plot description for the next installment will have to be seriously stellar with promises of earth-shattering revelations for me to bite.
2.0 stars.
April 20, 2012
The third book in the Eddie LaCrosse series is a prequel of sorts with Eddie telling the story of events set before the first two books. This book brought the series back to the detective style of the first book and was better for it. Eddie once again on a proper, paid job to discover the truth through his unique methods.
It brought the mystery and intrigue back the previous book was missing. Here Eddie working his way around the land in his youth is in an unfortunate place at an unfortunate time and his only way out is to solve the murder and the conspiracy surrounding it.
Sharp, witty, mysterious and surprising this book hit all the right points. Not quite a 5-star book but a very strong 4. I've really enjoyed this series and will have to try Alex Bledsoe's other books while waiting for the next Eddie LaCrosse adventure.
It brought the mystery and intrigue back the previous book was missing. Here Eddie working his way around the land in his youth is in an unfortunate place at an unfortunate time and his only way out is to solve the murder and the conspiracy surrounding it.
Sharp, witty, mysterious and surprising this book hit all the right points. Not quite a 5-star book but a very strong 4. I've really enjoyed this series and will have to try Alex Bledsoe's other books while waiting for the next Eddie LaCrosse adventure.
April 27, 2011
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
"I remembered the way her hair smelled as she wrenched my fingers back into place."
While drinking a beer with his girlfriend on a snowy day in Angelina’s Tavern, middle-aged sword-jockey Eddie LaCrosse gets a strange delivery: a coffin. This unusual event sparks some interest in Angelina’s lethargic patrons, and soon they’re all gathered around while Eddie regales them with the story of how he came to be the recipient of such an odd gift and, more importantly, who’s in it.
If you haven’t read one of Alex Bledsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse Mysteries yet, go ahead and try this one — you don’t need to have read The Sword-Edged Blonde or Burn Me Deadly to enjoy Dark Jenny (though I should say that I liked the plots of the first two novels better). Dark Jenny can stand alone because the story Eddie tells happened before the events in The Sword-Edged Blonde. This is a Bledsoe-style version of the King Arthur legend. What is “Bledsoe-style”, you wonder? His fans know what I’m talking about, but since Dark Jenny is a fine place for newbies to start, let me prepare you:
Eddie’s world is completely fictional and, technologically, it’s medieval — they ride horses and carry swords. However, the names are jarringly modern and, in this novel, groan-worthy (Marcus Drake = Arthur Pendragon, Jennifer = Guinevere, Elliot Spears = Lancelot). The language is modern (“yeah”, “whatever”) and (this is the really weird part) there are allusions to our modern culture. So, for example, Eddie uses terms like “shock and awe” and, when he’s about to explain the solution to the mystery to all the suspects at the end of Dark Jenny, he says “I suppose you wonder why I’ve asked you all here.” Some of these will make your eyes roll, but others are rather amusing. My favorite one in Dark Jenny is when Eddie is traveling to Cameron Kern’s (= Merlin) house and he keeps seeing barns with “See the Crystal Cave” painted on the roof. (For those of you who’ve never driven through Tennessee, where Alex Bledsoe lives, do a Google Image search for “See Rock City”.)
The strengths of the Eddie LaCrosse Mysteries are Bledsoe’s excellent pacing and story-telling abilities and the character of Eddie. Eddie is an awesome hero. He’s tall, strong, and brave, yet he’s smart, mature, and sensitive. He can be brutal, and sometimes he goes too far — even to the point of killing someone with his bare hands — but his brutality is evoked by wickedness in others. He’s most likely to snap when he witnesses someone being cruel to a weaker person. It’s impossible not to like Eddie LaCrosse.
Dark Jenny is available in print from Tor and on audio from Blackstone Audio. Even though Tor sent me a copy of Dark Jenny weeks before its release and I was anxious to read it, I waited for the audio version because I love to hear Stefan Rudnicki read the Eddie LaCrosse Mysteries (which are written in the first person voice). Stefan Rudnicki is Eddie LaCrosse for me!
"I remembered the way her hair smelled as she wrenched my fingers back into place."
While drinking a beer with his girlfriend on a snowy day in Angelina’s Tavern, middle-aged sword-jockey Eddie LaCrosse gets a strange delivery: a coffin. This unusual event sparks some interest in Angelina’s lethargic patrons, and soon they’re all gathered around while Eddie regales them with the story of how he came to be the recipient of such an odd gift and, more importantly, who’s in it.
If you haven’t read one of Alex Bledsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse Mysteries yet, go ahead and try this one — you don’t need to have read The Sword-Edged Blonde or Burn Me Deadly to enjoy Dark Jenny (though I should say that I liked the plots of the first two novels better). Dark Jenny can stand alone because the story Eddie tells happened before the events in The Sword-Edged Blonde. This is a Bledsoe-style version of the King Arthur legend. What is “Bledsoe-style”, you wonder? His fans know what I’m talking about, but since Dark Jenny is a fine place for newbies to start, let me prepare you:
Eddie’s world is completely fictional and, technologically, it’s medieval — they ride horses and carry swords. However, the names are jarringly modern and, in this novel, groan-worthy (Marcus Drake = Arthur Pendragon, Jennifer = Guinevere, Elliot Spears = Lancelot). The language is modern (“yeah”, “whatever”) and (this is the really weird part) there are allusions to our modern culture. So, for example, Eddie uses terms like “shock and awe” and, when he’s about to explain the solution to the mystery to all the suspects at the end of Dark Jenny, he says “I suppose you wonder why I’ve asked you all here.” Some of these will make your eyes roll, but others are rather amusing. My favorite one in Dark Jenny is when Eddie is traveling to Cameron Kern’s (= Merlin) house and he keeps seeing barns with “See the Crystal Cave” painted on the roof. (For those of you who’ve never driven through Tennessee, where Alex Bledsoe lives, do a Google Image search for “See Rock City”.)
The strengths of the Eddie LaCrosse Mysteries are Bledsoe’s excellent pacing and story-telling abilities and the character of Eddie. Eddie is an awesome hero. He’s tall, strong, and brave, yet he’s smart, mature, and sensitive. He can be brutal, and sometimes he goes too far — even to the point of killing someone with his bare hands — but his brutality is evoked by wickedness in others. He’s most likely to snap when he witnesses someone being cruel to a weaker person. It’s impossible not to like Eddie LaCrosse.
Dark Jenny is available in print from Tor and on audio from Blackstone Audio. Even though Tor sent me a copy of Dark Jenny weeks before its release and I was anxious to read it, I waited for the audio version because I love to hear Stefan Rudnicki read the Eddie LaCrosse Mysteries (which are written in the first person voice). Stefan Rudnicki is Eddie LaCrosse for me!
May 6, 2023
Audiobook through Hoopla. More of Eddie's backstory returns to haunt him.
April 22, 2015
You know, when I started the book, I was wondering if the medieval sword-and-sorcery crossed with hard-boiled noir was going to wear thin. I have enjoyed the first two books in the series a lot, but has I seen all I was going to see? Would sword jockey Eddie LaCrosse start to become less engaging, the deliberately anachronistic names and patterns of speech annoying?
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
May 19, 2018
Interesting, and series appropriate, redux of the Arthurian legend. Not Bledsoe's best, but competent.
And of course Stefan Rudnicki's narration is excellent, as always.
And of course Stefan Rudnicki's narration is excellent, as always.
November 17, 2020
Notes:
Currently on Audible Plus (Whole Series)
#3 may be my fav out of the three I've listened to. Excellent adventure story with interesting characters.
Currently on Audible Plus (Whole Series)
#3 may be my fav out of the three I've listened to. Excellent adventure story with interesting characters.
August 18, 2012
In this entry in the series, Eddie receives a mysterious package from a mysterious messenger one dark and stormy night. Since it's the middle of a long winter storm and he takes delivery at the inn where his office is, all the patrons (as well as Liz and the enigmatic Angelina) pressure him to tell them what's in the box. That sets up the framework for a story set several years in Eddie's past when he was first making it as a sword jockey.
The result of this framework is to strip much of the weight of the past two books from this one so that Eddie is free to explore the trouble in an island kingdom that has experienced 20 years of relative peace. We're given enough up front to know that the island kingdom is now a pit of betrayal and constant war, so we know that failure of one kind or another is more or less inescapable.
This book is also a more self-conscious mirror of myths/legends of our own world. The current king pulled a sword from an ancient oak back in his youth accompanied by a wise and mysterious advisor so you know this is going to parallel the Arthurian legends more or less. Bledsoe puts his own twist on things, as usual, so knowing that it shadows Arthur doesn't really reveal much about the actual story, even if familiarity with the source material does pull the teeth of some of the more dramatic reveals. As you might expect from reading the earlier books, you also know going in that the shiny good guys are going to have tragic flaws and the dastardly bad guys are going to show the occasional virtue (except when they don't).
Bledsoe managed to avoid the worst pitfalls in this type of novel. The frame story of telling the inn patrons mostly worked, particularly the interactions with Liz as an uncertain conscience/confidant. And he managed an original enough take on the Arthurian tale with a wonderful twist on the whole Lancelot/Guinevere nonsense. Still, this felt like a much weaker entry in the LaCrosse canon and, while pleasant, it ended with a much softer impact than I've come to expect and enjoy with his books—much as it had a lesser impact on Eddie himself.
The result of this framework is to strip much of the weight of the past two books from this one so that Eddie is free to explore the trouble in an island kingdom that has experienced 20 years of relative peace. We're given enough up front to know that the island kingdom is now a pit of betrayal and constant war, so we know that failure of one kind or another is more or less inescapable.
This book is also a more self-conscious mirror of myths/legends of our own world. The current king pulled a sword from an ancient oak back in his youth accompanied by a wise and mysterious advisor so you know this is going to parallel the Arthurian legends more or less. Bledsoe puts his own twist on things, as usual, so knowing that it shadows Arthur doesn't really reveal much about the actual story, even if familiarity with the source material does pull the teeth of some of the more dramatic reveals. As you might expect from reading the earlier books, you also know going in that the shiny good guys are going to have tragic flaws and the dastardly bad guys are going to show the occasional virtue (except when they don't).
Bledsoe managed to avoid the worst pitfalls in this type of novel. The frame story of telling the inn patrons mostly worked, particularly the interactions with Liz as an uncertain conscience/confidant. And he managed an original enough take on the Arthurian tale with a wonderful twist on the whole Lancelot/Guinevere nonsense. Still, this felt like a much weaker entry in the LaCrosse canon and, while pleasant, it ended with a much softer impact than I've come to expect and enjoy with his books—much as it had a lesser impact on Eddie himself.
July 25, 2011
Dark Jenny by Alex Bledsoe is the third book in his epic fantasy series about sword jockey Eddie LaCrosse.
In this one, Eddie recalls an adventure he had several years ago. Eddie is at court spying on a cheating husband when a Knight of the Double Tarn is murdered by eating a poisoned apple right in front of him. What follows from there is a spin on Arthurian legend, when Queen Jennifer is accused of murdering the knight, and her husband, King Marcus Drake, asks Eddie to prove her innocence and find the real killer. Eddie doesn't have much of a choice, since it's either find the killer or take the fall for the murder, so he sets out to get to the bottom of things. Only, there's more than one mystery to solve here -- and a lot of secrets that Jennifer, Marcus, and the rest of the Knights don't want to be discovered ...
I really like this series, which is a great blend of epic fantasy and detective noir fiction, and Bledsoe once again spins a smart tale that's full of twists and turns. Eddie is a great character, and I always enjoy reading his world-weary voice and seeing the scrapes that he gets himself into and out of.
However, this book didn't work for me as well as the others in the series have, especially the first book, The Sword-Edged Blonde, which is really great. I think part of it has to do with the fact that the book is so heavily focused on Arthurian legend, which isn't my favorite legend to read about. It's just never appealed to me all that much. Also, I felt like I could see a lot of the twists and secrets coming because it was Arthurian legend. I think that undercut some of the big reveals at the end. Plus, the fact that Eddie is telling this story and looking back on things also undermined the immediacy and the tension of the story for me a bit.
Overall, though, this is a cool book, especially if you like epic fantasy with a twist.
In this one, Eddie recalls an adventure he had several years ago. Eddie is at court spying on a cheating husband when a Knight of the Double Tarn is murdered by eating a poisoned apple right in front of him. What follows from there is a spin on Arthurian legend, when Queen Jennifer is accused of murdering the knight, and her husband, King Marcus Drake, asks Eddie to prove her innocence and find the real killer. Eddie doesn't have much of a choice, since it's either find the killer or take the fall for the murder, so he sets out to get to the bottom of things. Only, there's more than one mystery to solve here -- and a lot of secrets that Jennifer, Marcus, and the rest of the Knights don't want to be discovered ...
I really like this series, which is a great blend of epic fantasy and detective noir fiction, and Bledsoe once again spins a smart tale that's full of twists and turns. Eddie is a great character, and I always enjoy reading his world-weary voice and seeing the scrapes that he gets himself into and out of.
However, this book didn't work for me as well as the others in the series have, especially the first book, The Sword-Edged Blonde, which is really great. I think part of it has to do with the fact that the book is so heavily focused on Arthurian legend, which isn't my favorite legend to read about. It's just never appealed to me all that much. Also, I felt like I could see a lot of the twists and secrets coming because it was Arthurian legend. I think that undercut some of the big reveals at the end. Plus, the fact that Eddie is telling this story and looking back on things also undermined the immediacy and the tension of the story for me a bit.
Overall, though, this is a cool book, especially if you like epic fantasy with a twist.
March 24, 2014
If you've read my reviews of the prior books in this series you know that while it takes place in a fairly traditional fantasy world (magic[argued about], fantasy creatures etc.) it is very much an Urban Fantasy. Taking place largely in an urban setting our hero Eddie is a PI of the fantasy universe. of course in this world he's called a "sword jockey".
Mr. Bledsoe has shown us his sense of humor before in many ways but here he gets what I think may be a sort of sly jab at the fantasy genre without actually being negative. He in no way cuts the genre down but does hit on one of the sacred cows of said genres as a sort of...template.
What is he using as a template? Ahhh...that would be telling, the overarching mother of all spoilers.
But don't worry you'll catch it pretty quickly.
With a good story told having humor but still pathos (and yes I used those very words about another book I reviewed today....it's true in both cases) you'll get to laugh and cry both for one investment of money and time.
Can't beat that.
These books are very very close on rating. While I can't rate them among my favorites still I think I need to(and did) rate this on all the way to 5 stars. maybe it's not the top of my 5 star list but it is an excellent read and I want to recognize that.
What'ja got here is a 100% prime grade A sirloin burger with an extra large order of fries junk food read.
Enjoy.
Mr. Bledsoe has shown us his sense of humor before in many ways but here he gets what I think may be a sort of sly jab at the fantasy genre without actually being negative. He in no way cuts the genre down but does hit on one of the sacred cows of said genres as a sort of...template.
What is he using as a template? Ahhh...that would be telling, the overarching mother of all spoilers.
But don't worry you'll catch it pretty quickly.
With a good story told having humor but still pathos (and yes I used those very words about another book I reviewed today....it's true in both cases) you'll get to laugh and cry both for one investment of money and time.
Can't beat that.
These books are very very close on rating. While I can't rate them among my favorites still I think I need to(and did) rate this on all the way to 5 stars. maybe it's not the top of my 5 star list but it is an excellent read and I want to recognize that.
What'ja got here is a 100% prime grade A sirloin burger with an extra large order of fries junk food read.
Enjoy.
February 4, 2014
What fun. Bledsoe is really hitting his stride, and here Eddie LaCross tells a story of one of his earlier adventures to Liz and his friends in the tavern. Eddie went to the fabled island kingdom of Grand Bruan to investigate a simple adultery case, and became accused of murder.
It is clear from the start that we have an analogue of the story of King Arthur; the brave, charismatic King Marc has united a warring aristocracy and brought unprecedented peace and prosperity to his land, with a coterie of valiant knights. But his wife, Queen Jenny, is unpopular, and hiding secrets. And why is the King estranged from his former mentor? Why does his best friend stay away from court?
The reader's knowledge of the King Arthur story helps the reader guess some twists of plot, but is misleading in others.
It is clear from the start that we have an analogue of the story of King Arthur; the brave, charismatic King Marc has united a warring aristocracy and brought unprecedented peace and prosperity to his land, with a coterie of valiant knights. But his wife, Queen Jenny, is unpopular, and hiding secrets. And why is the King estranged from his former mentor? Why does his best friend stay away from court?
The reader's knowledge of the King Arthur story helps the reader guess some twists of plot, but is misleading in others.
March 6, 2015
I like all Bledsoe's books, including this one in the Eddie Lacrosse series. Lacrosse is a "sword jockey"- earning his living with his sword, while always getting involved in a mystery/murder/puzzle which he feels he has to solve. In this installment, he relates a tale of being called to a country which for the past 20 years had been unified under a charismatic, powerful king (reminiscent of King Arthur- this king pulled his famed sword out of a tree)(also there are rumors about his wife and his most famous knight). Lacrosse's simple task becomes complicated by a sudden death for which he becomes a suspect. Bledsoe's writing is enjoyable, his characters interesting and the mystery complicated enough to keep me reading.
August 27, 2020
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT DARK JENNY THE FIRST TIME I READ IT?
I have only the vaguest of memory of what actually happened in the first Eddie LaCrosse novel (The Sword-Edged Blonde), and only somewhat better recall about the second (Burn Me Deadly). That's a reflection on the amount of stuff I've read in that time, and is in no way a reflection on Bledsoe. I do have a very clear recollection about what both books told me about Alex Bledsoe's talent and that I enjoyed them a lot. I'm equally certain that Dark Jenny won't suffer from that same fading from memory/excuse to reread them. This one is gonna stay with me for a while.
Essentially, this book is a variation of an Arthurian story—ideal king, queen rumored to be less than ideal, noble knight corps with a few rotten apples thrown in, a wizard figure, wicked half-sister, and a whole lotta intrigue—with a few unique twists of Bledsoe's own thrown in for good measure. Not a sour note to be found here—some notes that were hard to listen to, sure, but...okay, there's a metaphor that went awry. I was trying to say that yes, there were things that were less pleasant than others—this book goes to some dark, nasty places--but it all worked well.
We get this Arthurian tale via an extended flashback—in the middle of a nasty winter storm, with nothing else to occupy the attention of his neighbors, Eddie receives an interesting package. One so interesting, there has to be a great tale that goes along with it—which he ends up telling to the crowd at his favorite tavern (with only the tiniest of breaks to remind us that this is all in Eddie's past). By making this all an extended flashback, Bledsoe is able to give us a slightly different version of Eddie—one on the way to being the guy we've seen in the last two books. It also gives him the excuse to have a great femme fatale to grab Eddie's attention without having to write around his lovely lady.
A great, riveting fantasy noir. Can't wait for the next one already. A decent jumping on point for those new to the series, and a great third installment for those who've been around for awhile.
THOUGHTS THIS TIME THROUGH
In the nine years or so since I read Dark Jenny I held on to a vague recollection of the plot, I remembered it was a clever twist on an Authurian Legend, and that it knocked me for a loop. But that's really all I remembered.
So when I started it on my Eddie LaCrosse re-listen, I was excited. And spent a lot of time pretty disappointed. I couldn't see why it knocked me for a loop.
It was a very clever way to tell an Authurian story while critiquing the Authorian stories. Bledsoe got the best of both worlds there, he got the utopia, the glory, the all the trappings. And he got to show the inherent problems with them, how short lived the utopia was (and if that's the case, just how "eu" was the topia?)
And it was a fun story about a younger Eddie LaCrosse, sword jockey at large. I wasn't blown away, but I was having a good time.
And then I got to the part that I must've been thinking about when I wrote my original post about it years ago. It's not long after we learn why the book is called Dark Jenny, if you're curious. And then I remembered exactly what I felt in 2011 and why the impression lingered even if the details had faded.
WHAT ABOUT DARK JENNY AS AN AUDIOBOOK?
Once again, Stefan Rudnicki, isn't who I'd have guessed was a good fit for LaCrosse. But I'd have been wrong, he's a great voice for this series and I can't imagine anyone else doing it now. I can't put my finger on why, but I think this novel works better in print than in audio (which is not a reflection on Rudnicki, it's something about the story)—but I have no complaints about this as an audiobook.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT DARK jENNY?
I guess I kind of gave it away earlier. At this point in the series, Bledsoe has locked it in. He knows who Eddie is and how to tell his stories. There's the right mix of fantasy elements (including the Arthurian material) and hard-boiled PI elements; humor and grit; violence and sympathy.
I don't know if this is that much better than it's predecessors—but it is somewhat, at least. And it resonates on an emotional level for me far more than they did. I'm completely sold on it.
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WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT DARK JENNY THE FIRST TIME I READ IT?
I have only the vaguest of memory of what actually happened in the first Eddie LaCrosse novel (The Sword-Edged Blonde), and only somewhat better recall about the second (Burn Me Deadly). That's a reflection on the amount of stuff I've read in that time, and is in no way a reflection on Bledsoe. I do have a very clear recollection about what both books told me about Alex Bledsoe's talent and that I enjoyed them a lot. I'm equally certain that Dark Jenny won't suffer from that same fading from memory/excuse to reread them. This one is gonna stay with me for a while.
Essentially, this book is a variation of an Arthurian story—ideal king, queen rumored to be less than ideal, noble knight corps with a few rotten apples thrown in, a wizard figure, wicked half-sister, and a whole lotta intrigue—with a few unique twists of Bledsoe's own thrown in for good measure. Not a sour note to be found here—some notes that were hard to listen to, sure, but...okay, there's a metaphor that went awry. I was trying to say that yes, there were things that were less pleasant than others—this book goes to some dark, nasty places--but it all worked well.
We get this Arthurian tale via an extended flashback—in the middle of a nasty winter storm, with nothing else to occupy the attention of his neighbors, Eddie receives an interesting package. One so interesting, there has to be a great tale that goes along with it—which he ends up telling to the crowd at his favorite tavern (with only the tiniest of breaks to remind us that this is all in Eddie's past). By making this all an extended flashback, Bledsoe is able to give us a slightly different version of Eddie—one on the way to being the guy we've seen in the last two books. It also gives him the excuse to have a great femme fatale to grab Eddie's attention without having to write around his lovely lady.
A great, riveting fantasy noir. Can't wait for the next one already. A decent jumping on point for those new to the series, and a great third installment for those who've been around for awhile.
THOUGHTS THIS TIME THROUGH
In the nine years or so since I read Dark Jenny I held on to a vague recollection of the plot, I remembered it was a clever twist on an Authurian Legend, and that it knocked me for a loop. But that's really all I remembered.
So when I started it on my Eddie LaCrosse re-listen, I was excited. And spent a lot of time pretty disappointed. I couldn't see why it knocked me for a loop.
It was a very clever way to tell an Authurian story while critiquing the Authorian stories. Bledsoe got the best of both worlds there, he got the utopia, the glory, the all the trappings. And he got to show the inherent problems with them, how short lived the utopia was (and if that's the case, just how "eu" was the topia?)
And it was a fun story about a younger Eddie LaCrosse, sword jockey at large. I wasn't blown away, but I was having a good time.
And then I got to the part that I must've been thinking about when I wrote my original post about it years ago. It's not long after we learn why the book is called Dark Jenny, if you're curious. And then I remembered exactly what I felt in 2011 and why the impression lingered even if the details had faded.
WHAT ABOUT DARK JENNY AS AN AUDIOBOOK?
Once again, Stefan Rudnicki, isn't who I'd have guessed was a good fit for LaCrosse. But I'd have been wrong, he's a great voice for this series and I can't imagine anyone else doing it now. I can't put my finger on why, but I think this novel works better in print than in audio (which is not a reflection on Rudnicki, it's something about the story)—but I have no complaints about this as an audiobook.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT DARK jENNY?
I guess I kind of gave it away earlier. At this point in the series, Bledsoe has locked it in. He knows who Eddie is and how to tell his stories. There's the right mix of fantasy elements (including the Arthurian material) and hard-boiled PI elements; humor and grit; violence and sympathy.
I don't know if this is that much better than it's predecessors—but it is somewhat, at least. And it resonates on an emotional level for me far more than they did. I'm completely sold on it.
March 27, 2011
Every once in a while I go out to the mailbox and discover a book in the mail that I wasn't expecting. A lot of those books end up sitting on my review shelf, but some of those books intrigue me enough to dig my eyes into them. Such books tend to be quite good. Dark Jenny is one of those books.
Dark Jenny follows Eddie LaCrosse, a witty sword for hire who'll solve any case for a reasonable price. But Eddie also has a history that most people don't know about, and it involves the fall of
the kingdom of Grand Bruan, a feudal utopia with an Arthurian legend at its core. When a mysterious coffin is left in the snow outside his place of business -- i.e., a tavern -- Eddie begins to weave a tale about murder, dark family secrets, unscrupulous and vengeful characters, and a version of Grand Bruan's fall that nobody has ever heard before.
Dark Jenny is a lot like the movie Clue on a twisted date with The Princess Bride. Bledsoe's novel is one part dark comedy and one part social critique. As a dark comedy, it benefits from having a strong protagonist and a solid cast of secondary characters. Eddie is sarcastic, witty, and clever, but he is also a farcry from the antiheroes of many popular fantasy series, despite his attempts to avoid involvement in anything other than his business. The result was a character I enjoyed reading about and a character whose motivations I could understand, even if I might have disagreed with him. This feeling is helped by the fact that Dark Jenny is a first person narrative, the result of which is a thorough understanding of Eddie's thought processes and a lack self-referentiality -- that is that the novel doesn't suffer from requiring some familiarity with Bledsoe's other works, however minute.
Instead, the novel is made internally consistent by a character who feels fully-developed from the outset (the novel opens in a tavern and does a fantastic job of creating a sense of familiarity through Eddie's interactions with the various minor characters around him) and whose development is then displayed full-force by a flashback narrative (one which shows that development morally through his interactions with the people of Grand Bruan, in which his aggressive nature is challenged by -- and challenges -- people above his stature; we then get to see how his personality functions and why he is who he is). Eddie's voice is perhaps the strongest aspect of the novel next to the genre critiques, without which I think Bledsoe's tale would falter.
The core of Dark Jenny is an Arthurian legend twisted on its head, in part because the kingdom has descended into barbarism, which the opening of the novel indicates, but also because Bledsoe doesn't avoid breaking down the utopianism of feudal myths (often through humor) in order to show the dark inner workings of societies which are served by those myths. To put it another way: Bledsoe's novel, despite presenting itself as a fun, but dark comedy, is one which critically engages with the mythologies societies give to their citizens, showing the tenuous balance between maintaining order and manipulating one's subjects. (Bledsoe is engaging with the fundamental unknowability of utopia, which Fredric Jameson discusses throughout his writing, but specifically in Archaeologies of the Future). Bledsoe relays these critiques largely through humor, which is refreshing when one considers how many fantasy novels deconstruct the feudal utopia through elaborate political or metaphysical pessimisms.
Dark Jenny does have some issues, though, some of which will be the result of the reader's taste. While the novel contains within it a heavy social critique, its outer skin -- that of its comedic nature -- sometimes falls short from a language perspective. Eddie frequently uses euphemisms which are far too modern for the world he is playing with. Though Dark Jenny is set in a secondary world, I felt myself being drawn away from the story when phrases like "she's a knockout" appeared in the text. Many readers may not be bothered by such things, but I find that the language can only be modernized so much before the story's medieval settings starts to feel strained against an encroaching modernity.
There are also issues related to the Bledsoe's use of sexual relationships. I never got the sense that certain characters were reasonably attracted to one another (though there is a twist which explains why some characters are that way). In Eddie's case, there is a love interest, but it felt somewhat strained to me. I tend to prefer romantic relationships which develop realistically. Eddie's "charm," while usually evident in other avenues (such as his interactions with Kay), wasn't given enough space in the romantic subplot. There needed to be more interaction, because without it, I got the sense that the relationship did not contain the depth that Eddie frequently announced in the text (the relationship seemed to be about sex rather than some kind of attraction beyond the physical; the novel suggested that the relationship wasn't just physical).
The novel's structure is also interesting to note. I feel that some readers will have issues with Dark Jenny's jumps between the world's present and its distant past (at about the same frequency as The Princess Bride), but I found the structure enjoyable and fascinating. This means that the novel doesn't present itself in a straight way. Some details are revealed from the start, while others are left to be discovered -- by the Eddie's past self and by the reader. The structure works well with the mystery plot that begins the novel's present and past, and will certainly please fans of other genres than fantasy (mystery fans might find Dark Jenny enjoyable).
Overall, however, I greatly enjoyed the book. It's a dark comedy/fantasy romp with a strong lead character, plenty of mystery and twists, and a solid plot. I've been inundated with too many epic fantasy stories; receiving this book in the mail was a welcome shift from what I usually read in the genre. You should definitely give it a whirl.
Dark Jenny follows Eddie LaCrosse, a witty sword for hire who'll solve any case for a reasonable price. But Eddie also has a history that most people don't know about, and it involves the fall of
the kingdom of Grand Bruan, a feudal utopia with an Arthurian legend at its core. When a mysterious coffin is left in the snow outside his place of business -- i.e., a tavern -- Eddie begins to weave a tale about murder, dark family secrets, unscrupulous and vengeful characters, and a version of Grand Bruan's fall that nobody has ever heard before.
Dark Jenny is a lot like the movie Clue on a twisted date with The Princess Bride. Bledsoe's novel is one part dark comedy and one part social critique. As a dark comedy, it benefits from having a strong protagonist and a solid cast of secondary characters. Eddie is sarcastic, witty, and clever, but he is also a farcry from the antiheroes of many popular fantasy series, despite his attempts to avoid involvement in anything other than his business. The result was a character I enjoyed reading about and a character whose motivations I could understand, even if I might have disagreed with him. This feeling is helped by the fact that Dark Jenny is a first person narrative, the result of which is a thorough understanding of Eddie's thought processes and a lack self-referentiality -- that is that the novel doesn't suffer from requiring some familiarity with Bledsoe's other works, however minute.
Instead, the novel is made internally consistent by a character who feels fully-developed from the outset (the novel opens in a tavern and does a fantastic job of creating a sense of familiarity through Eddie's interactions with the various minor characters around him) and whose development is then displayed full-force by a flashback narrative (one which shows that development morally through his interactions with the people of Grand Bruan, in which his aggressive nature is challenged by -- and challenges -- people above his stature; we then get to see how his personality functions and why he is who he is). Eddie's voice is perhaps the strongest aspect of the novel next to the genre critiques, without which I think Bledsoe's tale would falter.
The core of Dark Jenny is an Arthurian legend twisted on its head, in part because the kingdom has descended into barbarism, which the opening of the novel indicates, but also because Bledsoe doesn't avoid breaking down the utopianism of feudal myths (often through humor) in order to show the dark inner workings of societies which are served by those myths. To put it another way: Bledsoe's novel, despite presenting itself as a fun, but dark comedy, is one which critically engages with the mythologies societies give to their citizens, showing the tenuous balance between maintaining order and manipulating one's subjects. (Bledsoe is engaging with the fundamental unknowability of utopia, which Fredric Jameson discusses throughout his writing, but specifically in Archaeologies of the Future). Bledsoe relays these critiques largely through humor, which is refreshing when one considers how many fantasy novels deconstruct the feudal utopia through elaborate political or metaphysical pessimisms.
Dark Jenny does have some issues, though, some of which will be the result of the reader's taste. While the novel contains within it a heavy social critique, its outer skin -- that of its comedic nature -- sometimes falls short from a language perspective. Eddie frequently uses euphemisms which are far too modern for the world he is playing with. Though Dark Jenny is set in a secondary world, I felt myself being drawn away from the story when phrases like "she's a knockout" appeared in the text. Many readers may not be bothered by such things, but I find that the language can only be modernized so much before the story's medieval settings starts to feel strained against an encroaching modernity.
There are also issues related to the Bledsoe's use of sexual relationships. I never got the sense that certain characters were reasonably attracted to one another (though there is a twist which explains why some characters are that way). In Eddie's case, there is a love interest, but it felt somewhat strained to me. I tend to prefer romantic relationships which develop realistically. Eddie's "charm," while usually evident in other avenues (such as his interactions with Kay), wasn't given enough space in the romantic subplot. There needed to be more interaction, because without it, I got the sense that the relationship did not contain the depth that Eddie frequently announced in the text (the relationship seemed to be about sex rather than some kind of attraction beyond the physical; the novel suggested that the relationship wasn't just physical).
The novel's structure is also interesting to note. I feel that some readers will have issues with Dark Jenny's jumps between the world's present and its distant past (at about the same frequency as The Princess Bride), but I found the structure enjoyable and fascinating. This means that the novel doesn't present itself in a straight way. Some details are revealed from the start, while others are left to be discovered -- by the Eddie's past self and by the reader. The structure works well with the mystery plot that begins the novel's present and past, and will certainly please fans of other genres than fantasy (mystery fans might find Dark Jenny enjoyable).
Overall, however, I greatly enjoyed the book. It's a dark comedy/fantasy romp with a strong lead character, plenty of mystery and twists, and a solid plot. I've been inundated with too many epic fantasy stories; receiving this book in the mail was a welcome shift from what I usually read in the genre. You should definitely give it a whirl.
December 2, 2020
A great retelling of an old favourite. Bledsoe is great at wrapping up different genres and old stories to make them feel new and different.
November 11, 2011
http://www.rantingdragon.com/dark-jen...
Dark Jenny is the third novel in the Eddie LaCrosse series by Alex Bledsoe. The series is a blend of fantasy and hard-boiled detective/noir genres, and both suffer a bit in the mix. Having not read the previous novels, I tried to give my disappointments with Dark Jenny a grain of salt. However, I believe that each novel in a series should be able to stand on its own at least as far as character, plot, and setting are concerned—especially in a series such as this, where each story is the main character solving a different mystery with no other overall plot to connect the novels. Dark Jenny was an average read and didn’t fall into the bad end of the spectrum, but was nowhere near the supremely good end, either. The novel was boring for me and easy to put down. I probably never would have finished it if I wasn’t reviewing it.
I guess you could call me a detective…
Eddie LaCrosse is a sword jockey—a sort of blade for hire who provides services for clients. The novel begins ten years in the future as a coffin arrives for LaCrosse while he is sitting in a tavern. He volunteers to tell the tale of the coffin to the other bar patrons as it relates to an old case. I suppose I should give LaCrosse a bit of leeway as it didn’t sound to me as if a sword jockey was really in the business of solving big mysteries. Usually they just investigated cheating husbands, as LaCrosse was doing just before the first murder and central mystery to the story occurred. However, if I’m going to read a detective novel, even one meshed with fantasy, I want a good mystery and this, alas, was not.
LaCrosse himself says towards the end that he should have understood much sooner. Given all the clues we learned as he did, I have to agree. Some things LaCrosse did made me want to bang my head on the nearest hard object. For example, he doesn’t tell the Lord—who he had traveled a long distance to see—that he had seen a great load of dust on his way, which signified a large army was headed towards the King—along the path the Lord would soon be traveling. His skills just weren’t up to par, even on such a so-so mystery, which makes it all worse. You want the detective to be smarter than you when you’re reading a detective story. I was looking for Sherlock in fantasy and ended up with Joe Schmo.
Where are we again?
Another, admittedly minor, annoyance was the use of names in the book. Gary, Ted, Liz, Angelina, and Bob… I’m no expert in medieval or renaissance names, but I do notice when names throw me out of a novel. These all seemed way too modern and not fantastical enough. Additionally, I felt like the author was trying too hard taking conventions that occur in detective noir and translate them to a fantasy setting. I felt like he sat down and brainstormed a bunch of ideas to blend the two genres and then used them without spending the time to really make them gel. For example, LaCrosses’ office conveniently has a large free-standing cupboard where he keeps his old case files on vellum sheets. Sounds suspiciously like a file cabinet to me. To others the blend of fantasy and noir may have worked, but for me it was definitely more of a hindrance. There was too much modern-day and not enough fantasy for me.
King Art… Marcus Drake and Co.
The case that LaCrosse relates is basically a parody of the classic King Arthur story. Bledsoe throws in some twists in an attempt to make the mystery somewhat fresh as we all know how Arthur’s story turns out. In fact, we all know how Marcus’ story turns out as well. The interest from the bar patrons in LaCrosse’s tale is not simply because of the casket but because of the legend of the country of Grand Bruan (sound familiar?) which has been famously embroiled in bloody civil war for the preceding ten years. They want to know from a reputable source what really happened the day that King Marcus died. I’ve never been much of an Arthurian literature fan, so I haven’t read the myriad books which retell his story, such as The Once and Future King by T.H. White or the Avalon series by Mercedes Lackey. I’m not sure if part of my disinterest in the novel was because of this, so I really can’t say whether Arthurian fans would enjoy the book.
Why should you read this book?
If you’re a fan of detectives or noir fiction and are interested in the blend of noir and fantasy, you might enjoy the series as well as this book. But if you prefer your fantasy a bit more fantastical, I would opt for another novel that might be more suited to your tastes. It’s like one of those summer reads, light and airy and quick but just kind of okay.
Dark Jenny is the third novel in the Eddie LaCrosse series by Alex Bledsoe. The series is a blend of fantasy and hard-boiled detective/noir genres, and both suffer a bit in the mix. Having not read the previous novels, I tried to give my disappointments with Dark Jenny a grain of salt. However, I believe that each novel in a series should be able to stand on its own at least as far as character, plot, and setting are concerned—especially in a series such as this, where each story is the main character solving a different mystery with no other overall plot to connect the novels. Dark Jenny was an average read and didn’t fall into the bad end of the spectrum, but was nowhere near the supremely good end, either. The novel was boring for me and easy to put down. I probably never would have finished it if I wasn’t reviewing it.
I guess you could call me a detective…
Eddie LaCrosse is a sword jockey—a sort of blade for hire who provides services for clients. The novel begins ten years in the future as a coffin arrives for LaCrosse while he is sitting in a tavern. He volunteers to tell the tale of the coffin to the other bar patrons as it relates to an old case. I suppose I should give LaCrosse a bit of leeway as it didn’t sound to me as if a sword jockey was really in the business of solving big mysteries. Usually they just investigated cheating husbands, as LaCrosse was doing just before the first murder and central mystery to the story occurred. However, if I’m going to read a detective novel, even one meshed with fantasy, I want a good mystery and this, alas, was not.
LaCrosse himself says towards the end that he should have understood much sooner. Given all the clues we learned as he did, I have to agree. Some things LaCrosse did made me want to bang my head on the nearest hard object. For example, he doesn’t tell the Lord—who he had traveled a long distance to see—that he had seen a great load of dust on his way, which signified a large army was headed towards the King—along the path the Lord would soon be traveling. His skills just weren’t up to par, even on such a so-so mystery, which makes it all worse. You want the detective to be smarter than you when you’re reading a detective story. I was looking for Sherlock in fantasy and ended up with Joe Schmo.
Where are we again?
Another, admittedly minor, annoyance was the use of names in the book. Gary, Ted, Liz, Angelina, and Bob… I’m no expert in medieval or renaissance names, but I do notice when names throw me out of a novel. These all seemed way too modern and not fantastical enough. Additionally, I felt like the author was trying too hard taking conventions that occur in detective noir and translate them to a fantasy setting. I felt like he sat down and brainstormed a bunch of ideas to blend the two genres and then used them without spending the time to really make them gel. For example, LaCrosses’ office conveniently has a large free-standing cupboard where he keeps his old case files on vellum sheets. Sounds suspiciously like a file cabinet to me. To others the blend of fantasy and noir may have worked, but for me it was definitely more of a hindrance. There was too much modern-day and not enough fantasy for me.
King Art… Marcus Drake and Co.
The case that LaCrosse relates is basically a parody of the classic King Arthur story. Bledsoe throws in some twists in an attempt to make the mystery somewhat fresh as we all know how Arthur’s story turns out. In fact, we all know how Marcus’ story turns out as well. The interest from the bar patrons in LaCrosse’s tale is not simply because of the casket but because of the legend of the country of Grand Bruan (sound familiar?) which has been famously embroiled in bloody civil war for the preceding ten years. They want to know from a reputable source what really happened the day that King Marcus died. I’ve never been much of an Arthurian literature fan, so I haven’t read the myriad books which retell his story, such as The Once and Future King by T.H. White or the Avalon series by Mercedes Lackey. I’m not sure if part of my disinterest in the novel was because of this, so I really can’t say whether Arthurian fans would enjoy the book.
Why should you read this book?
If you’re a fan of detectives or noir fiction and are interested in the blend of noir and fantasy, you might enjoy the series as well as this book. But if you prefer your fantasy a bit more fantastical, I would opt for another novel that might be more suited to your tastes. It’s like one of those summer reads, light and airy and quick but just kind of okay.
August 1, 2011
I'd read and liked The Sword-Edged Blonde several years ago, but had no idea that everyone's favorite sword-toting gumshoe Eddie LaCrosse was threatening to turn into a franchise operation. Yet here we are... Dark Jenny is actually the third Eddie LaCrosse novel (somehow I missed the one in between entirely—it's called Burn Me Deadly, which I figure is a Spillane homage of some sort).
Like a bicyclist who's been too long away from two wheels, Dark Jenny's a bit wobbly starting out, but once the setup (a not-very-necessary framing story) is out of the way, it soon straightens out and gets rolling. This time out, LaCrosse is on the trail of the adulterous Lord Astamore, a minor noble in the aristocracy of the recently-unified island nation of Grand Bruan. LaCrosse is quickly diverted and under suspicion himself when a Knight of the Double Tarn gets poisoned by an apple obviously intended for someone else, and Eddie is the first one to reach the victim.
Grand Bruan bears a suspiciously close resemblance to another nation whose initials are G.B.—Grand Bruan too has been unified under the aegis of a great warrior king who pulled his all-powerful sword Belacrux from a tree (not a stone? Nope, not this time...). Marc Drake, the king in question, has his circle of good and noble knights; in this case, they're the Knights of the Double Tarn. Drake has his wizard in exile, Cameron Kern. He has his beautiful wife Jennifer, and his greatest knight Elliot Spears. Nothing untoward has ever been proven to exist between Spears and Queen Jennifer, but the dark rumors, gossip and court intrigue have been quite enough to send Spears into virtual exile anyway, and the poisoned apple implicates (or seems intended to implicate) Queen Jennifer in the plot to kill Sir Thomas Gillian to boot.
I don't blame you if this sounds all too familiar. Bledsoe's mixture of Arthurian court intrigue, sword-and-sorcery (more swords than sorcery) and hard-boiled detective fiction works for me, but I do think that he relies a bit too much on the combination seeming fresh even when the individual ingredients are rather stale. The mixture also lead to some significant inconsistencies in tone, at least in this installment... inconsistencies which character names like "Dave Agravaine" (seriously?) do little to dispel.
Maybe it's due to the archetypes Bledsoe has chosen, but I was disconcerted by the way casual humor gave way to graphic bloodshed and a substantially darker tone as the story progressed—and I don't remember that from The Sword-Edged Blonde, either. There's also a certain amount of what seems like gratuitous sexism to me... Bledsoe makes a point of showing Eddie pretty much every major female character naked at least once, even the Queen of Grand Bruan, whereas the male characters do not receive nearly so much description.
Still, though, Eddie LaCrosse remains a likeable guy, and the world he inhabits is just different enough to keep you on your toes. The body count is fairly high, and includes people you'd rather not have lost... but there's enough action to paper over most of the inconsistencies, and all is eventually explained. All in all, Dark Jenny is... okay.
Like a bicyclist who's been too long away from two wheels, Dark Jenny's a bit wobbly starting out, but once the setup (a not-very-necessary framing story) is out of the way, it soon straightens out and gets rolling. This time out, LaCrosse is on the trail of the adulterous Lord Astamore, a minor noble in the aristocracy of the recently-unified island nation of Grand Bruan. LaCrosse is quickly diverted and under suspicion himself when a Knight of the Double Tarn gets poisoned by an apple obviously intended for someone else, and Eddie is the first one to reach the victim.
Grand Bruan bears a suspiciously close resemblance to another nation whose initials are G.B.—Grand Bruan too has been unified under the aegis of a great warrior king who pulled his all-powerful sword Belacrux from a tree (not a stone? Nope, not this time...). Marc Drake, the king in question, has his circle of good and noble knights; in this case, they're the Knights of the Double Tarn. Drake has his wizard in exile, Cameron Kern. He has his beautiful wife Jennifer, and his greatest knight Elliot Spears. Nothing untoward has ever been proven to exist between Spears and Queen Jennifer, but the dark rumors, gossip and court intrigue have been quite enough to send Spears into virtual exile anyway, and the poisoned apple implicates (or seems intended to implicate) Queen Jennifer in the plot to kill Sir Thomas Gillian to boot.
I don't blame you if this sounds all too familiar. Bledsoe's mixture of Arthurian court intrigue, sword-and-sorcery (more swords than sorcery) and hard-boiled detective fiction works for me, but I do think that he relies a bit too much on the combination seeming fresh even when the individual ingredients are rather stale. The mixture also lead to some significant inconsistencies in tone, at least in this installment... inconsistencies which character names like "Dave Agravaine" (seriously?) do little to dispel.
Maybe it's due to the archetypes Bledsoe has chosen, but I was disconcerted by the way casual humor gave way to graphic bloodshed and a substantially darker tone as the story progressed—and I don't remember that from The Sword-Edged Blonde, either. There's also a certain amount of what seems like gratuitous sexism to me... Bledsoe makes a point of showing Eddie pretty much every major female character naked at least once, even the Queen of Grand Bruan, whereas the male characters do not receive nearly so much description.
Still, though, Eddie LaCrosse remains a likeable guy, and the world he inhabits is just different enough to keep you on your toes. The body count is fairly high, and includes people you'd rather not have lost... but there's enough action to paper over most of the inconsistencies, and all is eventually explained. All in all, Dark Jenny is... okay.
June 7, 2016
I'm torn about what to say about this novel. On one hand, it was an easy read and kept me turning pages. On the other, I spent the whole book thinking, "Well, this is dumb."
Imagine the story of King Arthur with all the names changed to boring modern equivalents. Merlin is now Cameron, Morgan le Fay is now Megan, and Mordred is just plain old Ted. Now imagine a part of their tale being framed as a murder mystery--and yes, I know, that sounds like it could be cool--except the mystery is being investigated by the book's protagonist.
And the protagonist is a sell-sword who talks like a noir-inspired urban fantasy detective instead of anything that meshes well with the legend of King Arthur. For example, he says "Wow," and calls women "baby" when he feels like being patronizing.
The characters are mostly cartoonish, with Merlin-equivalent being a drug-smoking hippie and Morgan-equivalent being a vaudeville-like fiend. The place where that cartoonishness really irritated me, however, is in the book's consistent low-grade sexism. There are a lot of women in the novel, and they do have agency, but they're consistently portrayed as good-looking, yet fickle and mostly-inscrutable irritations. You can practically hear the author rolling his eyes and smirkingly saying, "Women. Amirite, fellas?"
And you know that thing where the male author has his male protagonist get some action from the best-looking female character, regardless of whether it makes any sense to the plot? Yeah, that happened, with a female character who is described as being an intensely shy and very loving wife getting kissed against her will by the protagonist and then kinda-sorta getting into it.
Even more gross, later the author decides to have this same character get blind drunk and then get roped into a threesome with Merlin-equivalent and his teenage girlfriend. Hi, that would be RAPE, author. Thanks for making goofy-good-guy, the Merlin-clone, into a date-raping creeper. Sheesh.
But getting back to what struck me as dumb about the book, in the latter half of the story, part of what was keeping me turning pages was also the author yanking my chain in an irritating manner. The protagonist would make it clear he already knew the solution to the mystery--but he conveniently wouldn't tell anyone yet. This happened repeatedly over the final fifty pages or so.
Obviously, I'm not going to read more by this author, but I almost think I should recommend this book to people who like this sort of thing. If you enjoy old school fantasy--a bit zany, and very white and male-centric in that way that stuff in the 70s and 80s was--then this might be a pretty enjoyable book for you. The pacing is good, and it's a nice bit of dumb fun, provided you don't find its quirks as annoying as I did.
Imagine the story of King Arthur with all the names changed to boring modern equivalents. Merlin is now Cameron, Morgan le Fay is now Megan, and Mordred is just plain old Ted. Now imagine a part of their tale being framed as a murder mystery--and yes, I know, that sounds like it could be cool--except the mystery is being investigated by the book's protagonist.
And the protagonist is a sell-sword who talks like a noir-inspired urban fantasy detective instead of anything that meshes well with the legend of King Arthur. For example, he says "Wow," and calls women "baby" when he feels like being patronizing.
The characters are mostly cartoonish, with Merlin-equivalent being a drug-smoking hippie and Morgan-equivalent being a vaudeville-like fiend. The place where that cartoonishness really irritated me, however, is in the book's consistent low-grade sexism. There are a lot of women in the novel, and they do have agency, but they're consistently portrayed as good-looking, yet fickle and mostly-inscrutable irritations. You can practically hear the author rolling his eyes and smirkingly saying, "Women. Amirite, fellas?"
And you know that thing where the male author has his male protagonist get some action from the best-looking female character, regardless of whether it makes any sense to the plot? Yeah, that happened, with a female character who is described as being an intensely shy and very loving wife getting kissed against her will by the protagonist and then kinda-sorta getting into it.
Even more gross, later the author decides to have this same character get blind drunk and then get roped into a threesome with Merlin-equivalent and his teenage girlfriend. Hi, that would be RAPE, author. Thanks for making goofy-good-guy, the Merlin-clone, into a date-raping creeper. Sheesh.
But getting back to what struck me as dumb about the book, in the latter half of the story, part of what was keeping me turning pages was also the author yanking my chain in an irritating manner. The protagonist would make it clear he already knew the solution to the mystery--but he conveniently wouldn't tell anyone yet. This happened repeatedly over the final fifty pages or so.
Obviously, I'm not going to read more by this author, but I almost think I should recommend this book to people who like this sort of thing. If you enjoy old school fantasy--a bit zany, and very white and male-centric in that way that stuff in the 70s and 80s was--then this might be a pretty enjoyable book for you. The pacing is good, and it's a nice bit of dumb fun, provided you don't find its quirks as annoying as I did.
September 27, 2012
I'm still not sure what I think about Bledsoe's use of Arthurian mythos here. It's a good retelling/interpretation of the stories, with some important twists that you really wish had been part of the original story. On the other hand, it's more or less the King Arthur story with everyone's names changed, in some cases through goofy anagramming, and much as I like the idea of Mordred's (Medraut's) first name being Ted, there's something about it that leaves me a little itchy. Intellectually, I have no problem with it, but I wish I knew why it bugs me.
Still, as Arthurian pastiche (sort of) it works really well. All the players are there, and there's plenty of misdirection as to who's really behind the framing of Queen Jenny. Though readers who know their Arthurian myth will realize who the Morgan Le Fay analogue is, Bledsoe confuses the issue enough that by the end I was suspecting everyone of being her. I didn't really care for the frame story, but it wasn't intrusive, so overall I liked the book a lot.
Still, as Arthurian pastiche (sort of) it works really well. All the players are there, and there's plenty of misdirection as to who's really behind the framing of Queen Jenny. Though readers who know their Arthurian myth will realize who the Morgan Le Fay analogue is, Bledsoe confuses the issue enough that by the end I was suspecting everyone of being her. I didn't really care for the frame story, but it wasn't intrusive, so overall I liked the book a lot.
February 10, 2013
Dark Jenny is appallingly bad!
It's difficult to work out when it's supposed to be happening. If Arthur/Camelot etc ever existed, the events happened in about the 5th century.
Mallory sets it all in the 12th.
Bledsoe seems to move between the 15th (the clothes) to the 20th (Iris Gladstone.) The American slang and the American "cussing" through out render any suspenstion of disbelief pretty well impossible.
But the names are the most cringe-worthy part of Dark Jenny.
Arthur Pendragon and Guinevere become Marcus Drake and Queen Jennifer. (I couldn't help but think of a busty 21st century blonde trophy wife.) Morgan Le Fay becomes Megan Drake (no, I wish I was kidding but I am not). London is Nodnol, Camelot is Motlace. Merlin is Cameron Kern (which conjured up an elderly actor in a 1960s Western soap, The Big Valley) and Kai, Arthur's foster brother becomes Sir Robert kay, a.k.a., "Bob". Unbelievable!
Was Bledsoe aiming at a parody of 40s Noir, or a parody of American Arthuriana? Whichever it was, he missed.
Avoid this book! You'll simply be wasting a sack of time, if you read it..
It's difficult to work out when it's supposed to be happening. If Arthur/Camelot etc ever existed, the events happened in about the 5th century.
Mallory sets it all in the 12th.
Bledsoe seems to move between the 15th (the clothes) to the 20th (Iris Gladstone.) The American slang and the American "cussing" through out render any suspenstion of disbelief pretty well impossible.
But the names are the most cringe-worthy part of Dark Jenny.
Arthur Pendragon and Guinevere become Marcus Drake and Queen Jennifer. (I couldn't help but think of a busty 21st century blonde trophy wife.) Morgan Le Fay becomes Megan Drake (no, I wish I was kidding but I am not). London is Nodnol, Camelot is Motlace. Merlin is Cameron Kern (which conjured up an elderly actor in a 1960s Western soap, The Big Valley) and Kai, Arthur's foster brother becomes Sir Robert kay, a.k.a., "Bob". Unbelievable!
Was Bledsoe aiming at a parody of 40s Noir, or a parody of American Arthuriana? Whichever it was, he missed.
Avoid this book! You'll simply be wasting a sack of time, if you read it..
December 14, 2017
Probably would have given it 4* if I would not have disagreed with most of the more critical reviews. :)
The third instalement is a re-telling of the Arthur legend. Those can be difficult to pull off, but Bledsoe packs it as a story Lacrosse tells on a winter night in the pub. This allowed him to bring up the ending right at the start "everybody knows what had happened in...". With that out of his way, he can and does play widely around with the legend to incorporate our medivial PI.
As typical for the series, there is a conscious, ironic effort to make medivial characters sound contemporary. You might remember his sword brand names ("Boneslasher 3.0") from the first two. In this one, he is playing around with the character names, giggle-weed use clearly remind us of pot, and other details.
The story is fast paced, fun to read and the ending a bit anti-climatic, like we are used to from the first two. Makes me definitely go for number 4!
The third instalement is a re-telling of the Arthur legend. Those can be difficult to pull off, but Bledsoe packs it as a story Lacrosse tells on a winter night in the pub. This allowed him to bring up the ending right at the start "everybody knows what had happened in...". With that out of his way, he can and does play widely around with the legend to incorporate our medivial PI.
As typical for the series, there is a conscious, ironic effort to make medivial characters sound contemporary. You might remember his sword brand names ("Boneslasher 3.0") from the first two. In this one, he is playing around with the character names, giggle-weed use clearly remind us of pot, and other details.
The story is fast paced, fun to read and the ending a bit anti-climatic, like we are used to from the first two. Makes me definitely go for number 4!
August 14, 2014
I went with three stars on the third Eddie Lacrosse book, maybe because I borrowed it right after Burn Me Deadly. This is fun concept, but I think it can get old quick, and listening to two of them in a row was probably too much at one time.
March 10, 2021
Basically a retelling of King Arthur.
Each of these books has been different in tone, which I like.
I've read a few other reviews, and I think it's funny how many people seem to miss the humor in all the 20th/21st century American names and other trappings. Also, the ones who are trying to place these stories in a specific century. This is fantasy, people! It's made up! Relax and enjoy.
Each of these books has been different in tone, which I like.
I've read a few other reviews, and I think it's funny how many people seem to miss the humor in all the 20th/21st century American names and other trappings. Also, the ones who are trying to place these stories in a specific century. This is fantasy, people! It's made up! Relax and enjoy.
April 20, 2011
The third Eddie LaCrosse novel.
I loved this one. Eddie is in top form. For the first time we get whole story set in Eddie's past.
Read my full review over at Edi's Book Lighthouse
I loved this one. Eddie is in top form. For the first time we get whole story set in Eddie's past.
Read my full review over at Edi's Book Lighthouse
June 21, 2015
Veľmi dobre vymyslený spôsob podania príbehu, takže +1* je za riešenie sujetu. A okrem toho aj veľmi pekná práca s motívmi vo vnútri príbehu a najmä kreatívna interpretácia artušovských legiend. Číta sa jedným dychom.
April 23, 2015
Another solid effort from Alex Bledsoe, if one that lacks the unpredictability of the first two in the Eddie LaCrosse series.
Review to come later today!
Review to come later today!
September 12, 2013
really super good. going to read the first two now. <3
June 27, 2020
Dark Jenny is book 3 of the five books that contain author Alex Bledsoe's Eddie Lacrosse. Eddie is an interesting character; he is a private investigator in a fantasy land. So Dark Jenny has "film noir" elements as well as Lord of the Rings elements. The books are not continuous; each book has a stand-alone plot.
One negative of Dark Jenny is its narrative style. I don't like stories which begin with someone in the present who relates his tale to a group of people, and the main narrative actually happened in the past. I like the story I'm reading to be unfolding "in the present". It's more exciting, in my opinion. Anyway, Eddie is in a tavern when someone comes in and says there is a delivery for him. Eddie goes outside and sees that the delivery is a coffin. Eddie goes back inside, orders drinks for everyone, then proceeds to tell the story of Dark Jenny.
Eddie is hired by a woman to spy on her husband, Lord Astamore. She has doubts about Astamore's fidelity. The lord is at a party at the palace of King Marcus in the land of Grand Bruan. Eddie follows Astamore to a room and finds him having sex with a woman who is not his wife. Suddenly a young knight is murdered- poisoned. Eddie kneels down next to the knight to try to save him, but is too late. Astamore seizes the opportunity to prevent our hero from reporting back to his wife by accusing Eddie of the murder. Eddie is shackled and imprisoned.
Eventually Eddie earns the trust of the king and he believes him innocent. The knights have decided that Queen Jennifer is the culprit. According to Grand Bruan's law, her guilt or innocence is determined by a duel between the chosen knight of the prosecuting party and a champion chosen by the queen. King Marcus sends Eddie to ask Elliot Spears, the greatest warrior in the land, to serve as the queen's champion. Elliot lives on the other side of the island.
I won't say what happens. Dark Jenny is a fun read. If you have enjoyed other Eddie Lacrosse books you will enjoy this one. The narrative style I mentioned may have tipped it back from four stars to three in my estimation.
One negative of Dark Jenny is its narrative style. I don't like stories which begin with someone in the present who relates his tale to a group of people, and the main narrative actually happened in the past. I like the story I'm reading to be unfolding "in the present". It's more exciting, in my opinion. Anyway, Eddie is in a tavern when someone comes in and says there is a delivery for him. Eddie goes outside and sees that the delivery is a coffin. Eddie goes back inside, orders drinks for everyone, then proceeds to tell the story of Dark Jenny.
Eddie is hired by a woman to spy on her husband, Lord Astamore. She has doubts about Astamore's fidelity. The lord is at a party at the palace of King Marcus in the land of Grand Bruan. Eddie follows Astamore to a room and finds him having sex with a woman who is not his wife. Suddenly a young knight is murdered- poisoned. Eddie kneels down next to the knight to try to save him, but is too late. Astamore seizes the opportunity to prevent our hero from reporting back to his wife by accusing Eddie of the murder. Eddie is shackled and imprisoned.
Eventually Eddie earns the trust of the king and he believes him innocent. The knights have decided that Queen Jennifer is the culprit. According to Grand Bruan's law, her guilt or innocence is determined by a duel between the chosen knight of the prosecuting party and a champion chosen by the queen. King Marcus sends Eddie to ask Elliot Spears, the greatest warrior in the land, to serve as the queen's champion. Elliot lives on the other side of the island.
I won't say what happens. Dark Jenny is a fun read. If you have enjoyed other Eddie Lacrosse books you will enjoy this one. The narrative style I mentioned may have tipped it back from four stars to three in my estimation.
March 25, 2021
Fantasy or alternate Renaissance tale, whatever you want to call this series, it's a superb set of tales told. It's one of my favorites and I am glad I have them on audio and told to me by Stefan Rudnicki. I like his voice and the way he voices characters, especially women. Not overly done, just softer and I can tell who is speaking each time. This is important to me. I will stop listening to a book if the narrator is crappe for whatever reason and it usually has to do with how the narrator portrays the opposite sex. The older I get the more particular I am. I know I am in good listening hands with Stefan Rudnicki.
All that said, this is a superb story. Each one in the series I've read so far are great, but this one is superb. The intrigue was more intricate. Arthurian legend-flavored and I am slightly addicted to Arthurian legend. I have shelves of books with various takes on it. I will get this in handheld so I can add it those shelves. I sat in the car in the driveway or parking lot just a little longer, drove around the block a couple of times just to see what was going to happen next. It doesn't diminish the story, it deliciously enhances it.
The reader/listener gets more Eddie LaCrosse backstory, another peek into what makes him tick.
The things done in the name of love, in the name of country or the law of the land. Court intrigues, politics and Eddie's distaste for them. I do love how blunt he can be. And how saddened he can get by the human condition.
I can absolutely recommend this book, series and author.
All that said, this is a superb story. Each one in the series I've read so far are great, but this one is superb. The intrigue was more intricate. Arthurian legend-flavored and I am slightly addicted to Arthurian legend. I have shelves of books with various takes on it. I will get this in handheld so I can add it those shelves. I sat in the car in the driveway or parking lot just a little longer, drove around the block a couple of times just to see what was going to happen next. It doesn't diminish the story, it deliciously enhances it.
The reader/listener gets more Eddie LaCrosse backstory, another peek into what makes him tick.
The things done in the name of love, in the name of country or the law of the land. Court intrigues, politics and Eddie's distaste for them. I do love how blunt he can be. And how saddened he can get by the human condition.
I can absolutely recommend this book, series and author.
February 25, 2021
In this adventure, Eddie recounts a case he worked on years earlier, for a legendary king. The story was interesting and kept me guessing for a while with some red herrings. You can kind of tell where it's going to go since it's based on a certain mythology but that added some fun too while I spotted those influences and homages. Like The Sword-Edged Blonde, the story also had some of that melancholy feeling that the original mythology evokes.
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