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alexanderpaez's review against another edition
4.0
Guau, menudo viaje. Otro del proyecto Celsius232 terminado. Espero colgar reseña en unos días.
mkpatter's review against another edition
3.0
Not as good as his sci-fi novels -- a lot of rape and pee for some reason? SHOULDN'T EVEN TALK BEEN UP ALL NIGHT READING IT ANYWAY.
dieslaughing's review against another edition
2.0
I was so looking forward to this book - politics and supernatural shenanigans in 15th century alt-history Venice? Sign me up! - but have finished feeling supremely frustrated. And why do I feel so frustrated? Because occasionally there are moments where I felt a fabulous book was lurking somewhere in here, whether it was a beautiful or clever turn of phrase, or a genuinely wrenching character moment, and then it would crumble away, again and again.
First: I have never read a novel that went to such great lengths to describe every woman's breasts, or made mention of them any time a woman (any woman!) appeared. I'm not sure if it was because this was the author's way of maintaining a sensual mood or what, but it bordered on ridiculous and was anything but sensual. Hey, I love breasts. Breasts are great, but when your female characters literally become walking breasts - it's a problem.
Second: I'm not easily confused but there were moments I would miss a switch in POV or lose track of who was actually speaking, and would have to go back and work it out. Grimwood also has a fondness for sentence fragments and, while I wholeheartedly support that stylistic choice (because it can be used to great effect), there were also several instances where the tense would change two or three times within a paragraph. Now, that's an editing issue, but combined with Grimwood's style, it hacked the prose to pieces. Sometimes, reading was an effort when it should not have been.
Third: The aspect of this novel I expected to be indifferent to - Tycho, the blood-drinking assassin in training - ended up being its saving grace. I was invested in following his complicated journey. I only wish so many of the events and characters surrounding him had made me give half a damn. The politics of the story are its weak point, and I think Giulietta's arc in the second half is just a shade of what it could have been.
But Tycho remained interesting, and I may have to read the sequel if only to discover more of his story - though it may continue to frustrate me. (However, a quick perusal of the next book's reviews seem to indicate the second book is much, much better than this one.)
First: I have never read a novel that went to such great lengths to describe every woman's breasts, or made mention of them any time a woman (any woman!) appeared. I'm not sure if it was because this was the author's way of maintaining a sensual mood or what, but it bordered on ridiculous and was anything but sensual. Hey, I love breasts. Breasts are great, but when your female characters literally become walking breasts - it's a problem.
Second: I'm not easily confused but there were moments I would miss a switch in POV or lose track of who was actually speaking, and would have to go back and work it out. Grimwood also has a fondness for sentence fragments and, while I wholeheartedly support that stylistic choice (because it can be used to great effect), there were also several instances where the tense would change two or three times within a paragraph. Now, that's an editing issue, but combined with Grimwood's style, it hacked the prose to pieces. Sometimes, reading was an effort when it should not have been.
Third: The aspect of this novel I expected to be indifferent to - Tycho, the blood-drinking assassin in training - ended up being its saving grace. I was invested in following his complicated journey. I only wish so many of the events and characters surrounding him had made me give half a damn. The politics of the story are its weak point, and I think Giulietta's arc in the second half is just a shade of what it could have been.
But Tycho remained interesting, and I may have to read the sequel if only to discover more of his story - though it may continue to frustrate me. (However, a quick perusal of the next book's reviews seem to indicate the second book is much, much better than this one.)
cupiscent's review
2.0
Meh.
Actually, this is an interesting book to try and talk about, because my emotional response when reading was "this is just lacking" but once I actually try and think about "how to fix it", I become puzzled as to why it doesn't work. It seems to have everything it should - a pretty tight story focused around a collection of interlocking characters with high stakes. Also vampires, werewolves, magick and swooning maidens.
Why doesn't it work?
For me, it's because I'm just not feeling it, and that's probably down to a couple of big factors about the way it's told. One: the story is tight, but the telling of it is all over the place. It jumps between narrators without balance (one guy's only used in the first third of the book, one guy only used in the middle third, the final third is almost exclusively from the "hero's" POV without break). It jumps around in time without giving you any clear indication until you get a couple of pages into the new chapter, and thus confusion abounds (not assisted by his drama-over-clarity style, especially in the meta-story patches). And Two: it talks a lot about the big emotions the characters are feeling - which drive their actions - but I rarely saw or felt the justification for them. This was especially bad for love, which all of the characters feel passionately for one or more of the other characters, usually not the one who feels that way about them - I had no idea what any of them were talking about, because there rarely seemed to be any basis for that love, and certainly few of them acted like they genuinely cared about that person. (Particular extra-special face-pulling for Tycho and Giulietta, who meet for scant moments and are bound by love henceforth. Bleurgh.) In general, I just didn't care much for any of the characters (a little for Atilo; a little for Desdaio; both of these withered as the book progressed) and thus I just plain didn't care.
Anyway, when you have and I'm BORED, you're doing something wrong.
Actually, this is an interesting book to try and talk about, because my emotional response when reading was "this is just lacking" but once I actually try and think about "how to fix it", I become puzzled as to why it doesn't work. It seems to have everything it should - a pretty tight story focused around a collection of interlocking characters with high stakes. Also vampires, werewolves, magick and swooning maidens.
Why doesn't it work?
For me, it's because I'm just not feeling it, and that's probably down to a couple of big factors about the way it's told. One: the story is tight, but the telling of it is all over the place. It jumps between narrators without balance (one guy's only used in the first third of the book, one guy only used in the middle third, the final third is almost exclusively from the "hero's" POV without break). It jumps around in time without giving you any clear indication until you get a couple of pages into the new chapter, and thus confusion abounds (not assisted by his drama-over-clarity style, especially in the meta-story patches). And Two: it talks a lot about the big emotions the characters are feeling - which drive their actions - but I rarely saw or felt the justification for them. This was especially bad for love, which all of the characters feel passionately for one or more of the other characters, usually not the one who feels that way about them - I had no idea what any of them were talking about, because there rarely seemed to be any basis for that love, and certainly few of them acted like they genuinely cared about that person. (Particular extra-special face-pulling for Tycho and Giulietta, who meet for scant moments and are bound by love henceforth. Bleurgh.) In general, I just didn't care much for any of the characters (a little for Atilo; a little for Desdaio; both of these withered as the book progressed) and thus I just plain didn't care.
Anyway, when you have
Spoiler
a vampire and a werewolf duelling with magical swords atop a Venetian towersmartflutist661's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.25
There were some things this book did really well. I enjoyed the Venetian intrigues, the bits of Tycho's training we got, the smaller-scale combats. Plus the alternate-history Venice was excellent. Had it stuck to mostly politics and assassination, I think it would have been a pretty good book. The writing, on the other hand, was mediocre, and could have used a lot more attention from an editor. Worse, the ending felt weirdly out of place and rushed. The reasons for the Mamluk invasion felt like they were given the smallest possible amount of lip service throughout. And while there were interesting characters, none of them felt like they were actually affected in any meaningful way by the events of the story (and not in a good way). Overall, might be worth a read if you really like this kind of setting, but I probably won't be reading the sequels any time soon, and certainly wouldn't widely recommend it.
missuskisses's review against another edition
4.0
http://www.rantingdragon.com/the-fallen-blade-vampire-assassin-1-by-jon-courtenay-grimwood/
The Fallen Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood is the first in the Vampire Assassin Trilogy, set in an alternate history Venice circa 1407. Since the city ruler, Duke Marco IV, is a simpleton and figurehead, the Duke’s Uncle, Prince Alonzo, rules in his stead. Alonzo’s ambitions, in turn, are tempered by the schemes of the Duke’s widowed mother, Duchess Alexa. The book opens as the Duke’s young cousin, Lady Giulietta, runs away from home, trying to escape an arranged marriage to the elderly King Janus of Cyprus. Atilo, the Duke’s chief assassin, retrieves Giulietta and saves her from the werewolves roaming the night.
Before she is wed, however, Giulietta vanishes again. This time, retrieving Giulietta proves difficult; the only fruitful find proves to be a boy chained and bound to a ship. This boy, Tycho, possesses superhuman strength and speed, feeds on blood, and reviles the sunlight. Atilo immediately recruits Tycho as an assassin-in-training who will aid in the search for the missing girl.
Misleading cover
The cover for The Fallen Blade is beautiful but somewhat misleading. Tycho looks clean and well-dressed. He stands tall, resembling the love child of Edward Cullen and the Vampire Lestat, redone in 1407 Venice style. But The Fallen Blade is gritty, dirty, and coarse. Not even the noblewomen in this book are so pristine as to escape the visceral reaction of soiling their underpants when the situation calls for it. Think Underworld’s vampire-werewolf rivalry meets The Tudors’ political intrigue—then toss in all the dirt and grime from The Road and Children of Men.
Revitalizing the vampire genre
Just as Batman Begins revitalized the Batman franchise, Grimwood revitalizes the vampire genre with The Fallen Blade. As Tycho adjusts to the year 1407, he realizes that his last memory is from one century earlier. Because he may very well be history’s first vampire, he has no idea what he is, nor how he became that way. He has help developing his assassin skills, but he has no mentor to decipher his vampiric abilities. While it may be obvious to the reader what Tycho is, the lack of vampiric precedence in this world makes us question some of our preconceived notions about vampires and sets the stage for fresh parameters to be further defined by the next two books. Since the werewolves are not examined in detail this time around, I also hope that the next two books will reveal the inner workings of the Wolf Brothers, who in this book are led by the German Prince Leopold.
The only minor complaint I have with The Fallen Blade is that while stylishly written, the prose can sometimes be downright dense, leading me to reread passages where I’ve lost track of the speaker, the setting, or both.
Why should you read this book?
Grimwood is a wizard who brings this world alive. Not only will you walk through 1407 Venice, you’ll smell the urine on the streets, taste the salt water in the air, rock along with the boats, and roam across the rooftops. That all this is done while an intriguing fantasy storyline unfolds is nothing less than impressive.
Benni received a review copy of this book courtesy of Orbit.
The Fallen Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood is the first in the Vampire Assassin Trilogy, set in an alternate history Venice circa 1407. Since the city ruler, Duke Marco IV, is a simpleton and figurehead, the Duke’s Uncle, Prince Alonzo, rules in his stead. Alonzo’s ambitions, in turn, are tempered by the schemes of the Duke’s widowed mother, Duchess Alexa. The book opens as the Duke’s young cousin, Lady Giulietta, runs away from home, trying to escape an arranged marriage to the elderly King Janus of Cyprus. Atilo, the Duke’s chief assassin, retrieves Giulietta and saves her from the werewolves roaming the night.
Before she is wed, however, Giulietta vanishes again. This time, retrieving Giulietta proves difficult; the only fruitful find proves to be a boy chained and bound to a ship. This boy, Tycho, possesses superhuman strength and speed, feeds on blood, and reviles the sunlight. Atilo immediately recruits Tycho as an assassin-in-training who will aid in the search for the missing girl.
Misleading cover
The cover for The Fallen Blade is beautiful but somewhat misleading. Tycho looks clean and well-dressed. He stands tall, resembling the love child of Edward Cullen and the Vampire Lestat, redone in 1407 Venice style. But The Fallen Blade is gritty, dirty, and coarse. Not even the noblewomen in this book are so pristine as to escape the visceral reaction of soiling their underpants when the situation calls for it. Think Underworld’s vampire-werewolf rivalry meets The Tudors’ political intrigue—then toss in all the dirt and grime from The Road and Children of Men.
Revitalizing the vampire genre
Just as Batman Begins revitalized the Batman franchise, Grimwood revitalizes the vampire genre with The Fallen Blade. As Tycho adjusts to the year 1407, he realizes that his last memory is from one century earlier. Because he may very well be history’s first vampire, he has no idea what he is, nor how he became that way. He has help developing his assassin skills, but he has no mentor to decipher his vampiric abilities. While it may be obvious to the reader what Tycho is, the lack of vampiric precedence in this world makes us question some of our preconceived notions about vampires and sets the stage for fresh parameters to be further defined by the next two books. Since the werewolves are not examined in detail this time around, I also hope that the next two books will reveal the inner workings of the Wolf Brothers, who in this book are led by the German Prince Leopold.
The only minor complaint I have with The Fallen Blade is that while stylishly written, the prose can sometimes be downright dense, leading me to reread passages where I’ve lost track of the speaker, the setting, or both.
Why should you read this book?
Grimwood is a wizard who brings this world alive. Not only will you walk through 1407 Venice, you’ll smell the urine on the streets, taste the salt water in the air, rock along with the boats, and roam across the rooftops. That all this is done while an intriguing fantasy storyline unfolds is nothing less than impressive.
Benni received a review copy of this book courtesy of Orbit.
eliza_v_paige's review against another edition
3.0
[3.5]
Quite enjoyed this one. It was super interesting and addicting. I got lost in the plot and environment very quickly. The one major down point was a lack of connection to the character caused by a sort of distance to the whole story. It felt like it lessened throughout the book so I'm gonna read the sequels to see if I connect better with the characters.
Quite enjoyed this one. It was super interesting and addicting. I got lost in the plot and environment very quickly. The one major down point was a lack of connection to the character caused by a sort of distance to the whole story. It felt like it lessened throughout the book so I'm gonna read the sequels to see if I connect better with the characters.
macindog's review against another edition
4.0
Set in an alternate, early 15th-century Venice we enter a world rife with assassins, back-stabbing Machiavellian politics, pirates and of course werewolves, witches and vampires.
It's certainly a twist on the usual horror theme and the assassin theme reminded me a bit of The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks although this has a truer historical feel to it.
The hero/anti-hero here is Tycho. Certainly a vampire, possibly a Fallen Angel, and in training to be the next Duke's Blade or chief assassin to the Venetian Court.
It's an enjoyable read where the author imparts a gritty vision of his alternate, medieval Venice and mixes in a goodly dose of horror. That said, the storytelling is a bit convoluted and I get lost a few times. Worth reading if you fancy a new take on the vampire/werewolf theme.
It's certainly a twist on the usual horror theme and the assassin theme reminded me a bit of The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks although this has a truer historical feel to it.
The hero/anti-hero here is Tycho. Certainly a vampire, possibly a Fallen Angel, and in training to be the next Duke's Blade or chief assassin to the Venetian Court.
It's an enjoyable read where the author imparts a gritty vision of his alternate, medieval Venice and mixes in a goodly dose of horror. That said, the storytelling is a bit convoluted and I get lost a few times. Worth reading if you fancy a new take on the vampire/werewolf theme.