The Sword and Laser discussion

Reading this book, I got a distinct comics feel. Early on, I figured it was just me. The MC felt kinda like Storm's early life in Cairo. So, I've read a lot of comics, maybe I'm just overassuming.

But...(spoilers follow)(view spoiler)[ then we get a Catwoman to go along with the MC's Batman. The villain gets more and more dramatic. It's all reminiscent of the 1960s Batman TV show, well, except for the mass death at the start. That's more 1980s or later. Probably the Joker, he does that.

And even more so, the plot makes no sense given the disparate power levels of the people involved. Come to the end, the actual villain reveals she's been toying with the MC because she found it fun. Oh yes, killing scores of people and wrecking a city is hilarious! Once again, comics sensibility.

There's even Our Heroes In Peril towards the end with no escape in sight, like the old Bat-cliffhangers.

Kind of silly in spots but it fit together. To the Djin-cave! *musical cue* (hide spoiler)]

I didn’t get that same vibe, despite the huge number of comics I read. I do think each medium feeds off the other, and PDC is definitely a geek, so it’s entirely possible he’s been influenced by funny books. I can’t draw any direct parallels, though.

John (Taloni) wrote: "Reading this book, I got a distinct comics feel. Early on, I figured it was just me. The MC felt kinda like Storm's early life in Cairo. So, I've read a lot of comics, maybe I'm just overassuming.
..."

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and the entire time I was reading it I was trying to figure out what the vibe was and I think superhero comic is a great description for the feel of the book.

Along with the characters, the tone was one of my favorites things about the book.

To quote from your spoiler:
(view spoiler)[ John (Taloni) wrote: "the disparate power levels of the people involved" (hide spoiler)]

This is something that seems pretty common in comics and to some extent in fantasy as well, and I think is one of the weaker parts of the whole book. Mostly, the cool world and interesting investigator carried the day for me, but (view spoiler)[ I agree that the abilities of the heroes/villains seemed to bend towards the goal of getting us to the final boss-fight rather than have some logical basis. The stakes kept inflating until the Fatma was basically saving the world, which didn't feel necessary to me either. (hide spoiler)]

Perhaps it's unfair of me to lay the blame for that stuff on comics, but it's something that felt a little different between the novellas and the novel and left me liking them a bit better. I don't think a longer page-count necessarily means that the stakes have to be so high.

I think it was very important to read the Novella's first as they contribute a great deal...

It didn't have Comics feel to me. It feels very similar to The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry down to the sapphic romance and steam punk world..

Iain wrote: "I think it was very important to read the Novella's first as they contribute a great deal...

It didn't have Comics feel to me. It feels very similar to [book:The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry..."

I'll second the Ruthless Lady's Guide feel. The characters and mystery for both stories seem to be on the same level