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Horn #2
Bleed
For ten years ex-cop Miriam Aster has been living with her one big mistake – agreeing to kill three men for the exiled Queen of Faerie. But when an old case comes back to haunt her it brings a spectre of the past with it, forcing Aster to ally herself with a stuntwoman and a magic cat in order to rescue a kidnapped TV star from the land of Faerie and stop the half-breed sorcerer who needs Aster’s blood.
Ten years ago Miriam Aster learnt a simple when a faerie asks you to kill someone, the worst thing you can say is sure. Today she’s about to learn that worse things can happen when the past refuses to stay behind you.
Ten years ago Miriam Aster learnt a simple when a faerie asks you to kill someone, the worst thing you can say is sure. Today she’s about to learn that worse things can happen when the past refuses to stay behind you.
136 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2010
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 14, 2022
I sang the praises of Horn, the first book of this series, for the way it smashed together two genres - faeries and hard boiled detective fiction - and made something new out of them. It's a damned difficult book to describe without making the listener twitch and back off slowly, because unicorns, gritty crime drama, rape and resurrected PIs who are former lovers of the faerie queen are hard to encapsulate while crying out "SERIOUSLY, THIS IS A MOST EXCELLENT BOOK!" But seriously, it is.
So along comes the sequel, Bleed. Clearly, Peter M Ball hasn't had this "difficult second novel" malarkey to deal with. Bleed is as bold, punchy, gritty and grotesque as Horn. While the subject matter is less shocking than in PI Miriam Aster's first outing, those elements of hard boiled faerie fiction remain, as unforgiving as the first time.
Former cop Aster doesn't have many friends, and even the ones she has don't seem to like her very much. She doesn't blame them. She has a messed up past, a problematic present and not much of a future. She spends her time, like any good detective of the genre, bitter and drunk. This time the damsel in distress is a former client, Safia, whose twin sister was kidnapped 7 years before. Aster walked away from that one, and the unfinished business has come back to haunt her. The story continues with all kinds of other unfinished business lurking dangerously in the shadows. There's brutality, vengeance, rage and the sleaziest badass talking cat you've ever seen.
In a discussion with a friend about Horn, I found it interesting that I identify Miriam Aster as not only the heroine of this story, but also a "damsel in distress" all on her own account. For someone so self destructive and often unpleasant, I have a definite sympathy with her inability to forgive herself for her past. She's not as irredeemable as she (or anyone else) thinks she is, and it's one of the many reasons I am so involved with her story.
Other reasons include Peter M Ball's excellent grasp of the genre in which he writes, his ability to walk the very fine line between pastiche and drama, and the cast of grubby, hard characters, both human and fey, that inhabit his world. He has delivered another fast-paced read, packed with action, character and pathos. I can't wait for Claw, the third in the series due out by mid-2011.
Go to Twelfth Planet Press: pick up Bleed, and Horn if you don't already have it. Then browse around and pick up some more of this small press's excellent range of challenging, intriguing and innovative titles!
So along comes the sequel, Bleed. Clearly, Peter M Ball hasn't had this "difficult second novel" malarkey to deal with. Bleed is as bold, punchy, gritty and grotesque as Horn. While the subject matter is less shocking than in PI Miriam Aster's first outing, those elements of hard boiled faerie fiction remain, as unforgiving as the first time.
Former cop Aster doesn't have many friends, and even the ones she has don't seem to like her very much. She doesn't blame them. She has a messed up past, a problematic present and not much of a future. She spends her time, like any good detective of the genre, bitter and drunk. This time the damsel in distress is a former client, Safia, whose twin sister was kidnapped 7 years before. Aster walked away from that one, and the unfinished business has come back to haunt her. The story continues with all kinds of other unfinished business lurking dangerously in the shadows. There's brutality, vengeance, rage and the sleaziest badass talking cat you've ever seen.
In a discussion with a friend about Horn, I found it interesting that I identify Miriam Aster as not only the heroine of this story, but also a "damsel in distress" all on her own account. For someone so self destructive and often unpleasant, I have a definite sympathy with her inability to forgive herself for her past. She's not as irredeemable as she (or anyone else) thinks she is, and it's one of the many reasons I am so involved with her story.
Other reasons include Peter M Ball's excellent grasp of the genre in which he writes, his ability to walk the very fine line between pastiche and drama, and the cast of grubby, hard characters, both human and fey, that inhabit his world. He has delivered another fast-paced read, packed with action, character and pathos. I can't wait for Claw, the third in the series due out by mid-2011.
Go to Twelfth Planet Press: pick up Bleed, and Horn if you don't already have it. Then browse around and pick up some more of this small press's excellent range of challenging, intriguing and innovative titles!
May 11, 2012
Bleed was a very worthy fantasy noir follow-up to Horn, Peter Ball's previous Miriam Aster novella, also published by Twelfth Planet. It's really well written and characterization and dialogue are both excellent, my only complaint would be that, in the end, it somehow seemed much ado about nothing plot-wise, Aster just being sent from place to place without any real reason, and the ending was a bit of an anticlimax. But the journey was enjoyable as hell, and I look forward to more Miriam in the future!
July 1, 2014
I liked this book - if anything a bit too short!
A couple of brief comments can be found on my June 2014 monthly roundup on my website.
A couple of brief comments can be found on my June 2014 monthly roundup on my website.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews