Scan barcode
aceinit's review against another edition
4.0
Three Parts Dead was a very pleasant surprise, so I shall attempt to hammer a few thoughts into something resembling a review.
Things this book has going for it:
Phenomenal world-building. Like, phenomenal. There are vampire pirates, mind-hijacking professors, and junkies who are always on the hunt for their next big fix (whether it come from the rapture of a vampire bite or being overtaken by the unseen hands that protect the city). There are shapeshifting gargoyles that may or may not have nefarious intentions.
Gladstone has created world where gods and mortals went to war against one another and the mortals (mostly) won. Where gods can be killed, then resurrected and rebuilt to fulfill a slightly twisted version of their original purpose. Where the power of gods and the strength of worship is measured both in divine glory and legally binding contracts. Where humans can aspire to godlike power and live indefinitely, and where the religious devout intermingle with those who believe we make (and can become) our own gods. I would’ve been perfectly happy to read the Complete and Unabridged History of the God Wars, if such a thing existed. I was that interested in the world that’s been created here.
At the heart of the world he has created, there is something you don’t see a lot in fantasy, urban or not: a woman of color as the central protagonist, and one who does not suffer from Strong Female Character Syndrome. Strong Female Character Syndrome, for those unfamiliar with my reviews, is when then female character in question spends so much time talking about how she is such a Strong Female or bemoaning that she will never be treated like “one of the guys” (claiming she is capable of doing everything they can but never actually presenting any evidence to back this up) that we never actually see her do anything interesting and, in fact, she spends more time falling into the arms of the nearest available man than actually charting her own course.
Tara Abernathy does not suffer from this. At all. She kicks ass on her own terms and never one bemoans her lack of a love life or how the menfolk just will not give her a fair chance to prove herself. Tara stands up and makes people pay attention to her, and she is a wonderfully refreshing combination of fun, intelligence, determination and success.
Things that detract from all the awesome things I just listed:
Viewpoint changes.
All the time.
All.
The.
Time.
In every chapter you are bouncing from character POV to character POV three or four times, sometimes more. During the buildup to the climax and the climax itself, the reader has the point of view of a ping-pong ball, things shift so quickly. The constant shifts are jarring, making character introductions abrupt and making me wonder if the author understands that it is perfectly okay to go more than five or six pages without some kind of mini-cliffhanger. Just when you get into one viewpoint and narrative flow, the story is interrupted and shifts to somewhere else. By the time you reorient and get back into the new character’s head an conflict, it shifts again.
Lack of vivid descriptions. Or, I guess, lack of descriptions that didn’t sound flat in comparison to the events being described. Example:
"A curtain of flame erupted from the staff’s tip, red and orange and yellow, and rose into the evening sky. It was the color of leaves in autumn, but it was not autumn leaves. It was hot like the sun, but it was not the sun. It was the fire of divinity."
I'm just not nearly as impressed as I should be, all things considered. The entire book feels like this, for me. The writing itself doesn’t quite live up to the potential of the story. It reads well, and flows smoothly, but it lacks the narrative oomph to make me rush out and tell my friends “you must read this book!”
Which makes me a little sad, because it is a good book; the kind of story that has epic trilogy potential. Unfortunately, the writing doesn’t quite get it there. Still, it IS a good book, and I am very much looking forward to the other two. Gladstone has some very interesting stories to tell, and is unafraid to use a diverse cast to tell them. I am excited to explore more of his world.
Things this book has going for it:
Phenomenal world-building. Like, phenomenal. There are vampire pirates, mind-hijacking professors, and junkies who are always on the hunt for their next big fix (whether it come from the rapture of a vampire bite or being overtaken by the unseen hands that protect the city). There are shapeshifting gargoyles that may or may not have nefarious intentions.
Gladstone has created world where gods and mortals went to war against one another and the mortals (mostly) won. Where gods can be killed, then resurrected and rebuilt to fulfill a slightly twisted version of their original purpose. Where the power of gods and the strength of worship is measured both in divine glory and legally binding contracts. Where humans can aspire to godlike power and live indefinitely, and where the religious devout intermingle with those who believe we make (and can become) our own gods. I would’ve been perfectly happy to read the Complete and Unabridged History of the God Wars, if such a thing existed. I was that interested in the world that’s been created here.
At the heart of the world he has created, there is something you don’t see a lot in fantasy, urban or not: a woman of color as the central protagonist, and one who does not suffer from Strong Female Character Syndrome. Strong Female Character Syndrome, for those unfamiliar with my reviews, is when then female character in question spends so much time talking about how she is such a Strong Female or bemoaning that she will never be treated like “one of the guys” (claiming she is capable of doing everything they can but never actually presenting any evidence to back this up) that we never actually see her do anything interesting and, in fact, she spends more time falling into the arms of the nearest available man than actually charting her own course.
Tara Abernathy does not suffer from this. At all. She kicks ass on her own terms and never one bemoans her lack of a love life or how the menfolk just will not give her a fair chance to prove herself. Tara stands up and makes people pay attention to her, and she is a wonderfully refreshing combination of fun, intelligence, determination and success.
Things that detract from all the awesome things I just listed:
Viewpoint changes.
All the time.
All.
The.
Time.
In every chapter you are bouncing from character POV to character POV three or four times, sometimes more. During the buildup to the climax and the climax itself, the reader has the point of view of a ping-pong ball, things shift so quickly. The constant shifts are jarring, making character introductions abrupt and making me wonder if the author understands that it is perfectly okay to go more than five or six pages without some kind of mini-cliffhanger. Just when you get into one viewpoint and narrative flow, the story is interrupted and shifts to somewhere else. By the time you reorient and get back into the new character’s head an conflict, it shifts again.
Lack of vivid descriptions. Or, I guess, lack of descriptions that didn’t sound flat in comparison to the events being described. Example:
"A curtain of flame erupted from the staff’s tip, red and orange and yellow, and rose into the evening sky. It was the color of leaves in autumn, but it was not autumn leaves. It was hot like the sun, but it was not the sun. It was the fire of divinity."
I'm just not nearly as impressed as I should be, all things considered. The entire book feels like this, for me. The writing itself doesn’t quite live up to the potential of the story. It reads well, and flows smoothly, but it lacks the narrative oomph to make me rush out and tell my friends “you must read this book!”
Which makes me a little sad, because it is a good book; the kind of story that has epic trilogy potential. Unfortunately, the writing doesn’t quite get it there. Still, it IS a good book, and I am very much looking forward to the other two. Gladstone has some very interesting stories to tell, and is unafraid to use a diverse cast to tell them. I am excited to explore more of his world.
blogthatbook's review against another edition
I was mis-sold this book, I thought I was buying into a steampunk story, but this is actually a full-on fantasy. And since I'm not much into Fantasy you can probably guess the outcome.
Needless to say, it simply wasn't my kind of thing. I just can't get excited about magic, levitation, reanimating the dead and all that stuff. Although the living gargoyle was pretty cool. I did give it my best, but I have to say I was bored, I even found it hard to actually remember what I'd just read from one paragraph to the next. So I had to call it quits and move on to something else.
But, there's more...
I'm actually disappointed I couldn't get along with this book because it is obviously really good stuff, it's just not the stuff I'm interested in. The world is really intriguing, great characters, compelling premise and strong prose. So if you are a fantasy lover I would be very surprised if you didn't enjoy this book.
Also, I haven't given this book a star rating because I don't think it would be a fair assessment.
Needless to say, it simply wasn't my kind of thing. I just can't get excited about magic, levitation, reanimating the dead and all that stuff. Although the living gargoyle was pretty cool. I did give it my best, but I have to say I was bored, I even found it hard to actually remember what I'd just read from one paragraph to the next. So I had to call it quits and move on to something else.
But, there's more...
I'm actually disappointed I couldn't get along with this book because it is obviously really good stuff, it's just not the stuff I'm interested in. The world is really intriguing, great characters, compelling premise and strong prose. So if you are a fantasy lover I would be very surprised if you didn't enjoy this book.
Also, I haven't given this book a star rating because I don't think it would be a fair assessment.
peterkeep's review against another edition
4.0
As other people have already said, Three Parts Dead is a WEIRD book. It was extremely original, and kind of caught me off guard. I had to change the way I've been reading to adapt to this kind of story - instead of reading and constantly thinking ahead about what events might lead to, or what certain characters will likely do next, I was forced to take a back seat and just enjoy the ride.
With a story this original, it was impossible to even try to think ahead as to what could be coming around the corner. Instead, I paid attention to the story Gladstone was telling and enjoyed myself a lot. It's a bit of murder-mystery mixed with a legal drama, all in the backdrop of the strangest urban fantasy world I've encountered. After 50 pages, I still didn't know a lot of what was going on in the "big picture," but I was enjoying everything presented in front of me.
Gladstone didn't over-explain anything - if anything, he left me constantly questioning what a reference was, how characters were connected, or what the implications of different actions were. In time, everything gets connected and cleared up really well. The story starts with a relatively small scope, following Tara as she figures out her life after her strange exit from school. As it continues, it zooms out to become an expansive thriller set in a robust world with a cast of characters good, evil, and somewhere in between.
One of my favorite parts of the book, though, was the social commentary. A lot of times, when authors want to make a political statement in their writing, they write about social issues - gender roles, social policies, civil rights issues, etc. Gladstone, again, is quite original in his narrative on global finance. It's a topic not touched on much, and the way he weaves his criticisms of modern financial systems into his story is really great. He isn't heavy-handed, and instead uses hiscriticisms observations (I shouldn't put words into his mouth) of modern financial systems as a really cool part of his worldbuilding.
I think out of all of the cool things in this book, there's a pretty easy theme: this book is just so unique. It was a nice refreshing detour from the same kinds of tropes and ideas that show up in fantasy.
With a story this original, it was impossible to even try to think ahead as to what could be coming around the corner. Instead, I paid attention to the story Gladstone was telling and enjoyed myself a lot. It's a bit of murder-mystery mixed with a legal drama, all in the backdrop of the strangest urban fantasy world I've encountered. After 50 pages, I still didn't know a lot of what was going on in the "big picture," but I was enjoying everything presented in front of me.
Gladstone didn't over-explain anything - if anything, he left me constantly questioning what a reference was, how characters were connected, or what the implications of different actions were. In time, everything gets connected and cleared up really well. The story starts with a relatively small scope, following Tara as she figures out her life after her strange exit from school. As it continues, it zooms out to become an expansive thriller set in a robust world with a cast of characters good, evil, and somewhere in between.
One of my favorite parts of the book, though, was the social commentary. A lot of times, when authors want to make a political statement in their writing, they write about social issues - gender roles, social policies, civil rights issues, etc. Gladstone, again, is quite original in his narrative on global finance. It's a topic not touched on much, and the way he weaves his criticisms of modern financial systems into his story is really great. He isn't heavy-handed, and instead uses his
I think out of all of the cool things in this book, there's a pretty easy theme: this book is just so unique. It was a nice refreshing detour from the same kinds of tropes and ideas that show up in fantasy.
steinbachw11's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
magikspells's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty good, but very complicated and confusing. To be honest, it was really hard to follow at some points. I understand that every author has their own take on fantasy and that he was creating this whole new world (haha Aladdin) where gods exist on earth and people use the craft. I suppose I just didn't get a good enough definition of the craft and how it worked. It seemed like people could just do whatever with it from stealing people's faces to flying. I just have trust issues with all encompassing power, it's a little boring after a while.
But it reminds me a lot of [b:The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms|6437061|The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy, #1)|N.K. Jemisin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1303143211s/6437061.jpg|6626657] with a little bit of [b:The Immortal Crown|16156357|The Immortal Crown (Age of X, #2)|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1382539176s/16156357.jpg|21995801]. Gods always make a mess of the world don't they?
But it reminds me a lot of [b:The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms|6437061|The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy, #1)|N.K. Jemisin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1303143211s/6437061.jpg|6626657] with a little bit of [b:The Immortal Crown|16156357|The Immortal Crown (Age of X, #2)|Richelle Mead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1382539176s/16156357.jpg|21995801]. Gods always make a mess of the world don't they?
claudiearseneault's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
team_worm's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
knittingreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
songwind's review against another edition
4.0
Three parts dead presents one of the more interesting cosmologies and settings I've run across in a while. A world where gods not only exist, but frequently war with mortal magic users.
Craft underlines many things in Gladstone's world, which evokes the world of superstition and folklore where any act might have significance.
Craft underlines many things in Gladstone's world, which evokes the world of superstition and folklore where any act might have significance.