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mpatel66's review against another edition
3.0
The Fallen Blade Stephanie Meyer and Deborah Harkness need a lesson in what a vampire really is and that lesson is "The Fallen Blade". Jon Courtenay Grimwood has taken a step back (thank God) towards the more traditional vampire myth. However, what really drew me to this book was its setting in 15th century Venice - a historical novel with vampires, witches and werewolves and plenty of political intrigue? Sounds pretty damn good to me!Although the plot was sound and kept me reading, the characters fell short of what I expected. To me it seemed as though the characters were underdeveloped and jumps in time within the plot really didn't help with that. I also found the relationship between the characters Giulietta, Tycho and Leopold rather confusing, although this was balanced out, in some ways, by the intricate political plot line.The writing style was also a little confusing in some places in that I had to read over the dialogue several times before I could understand what was going on and who was speaking.Overall I'd rather give this book 3.5 stars - I'd like to give it more but the characters were a let down and prose could have been more clear. However, Grimwood redeems himself by creating a powerful plot line and I'll definitely be picking up the next book.
reader_fictions's review
1.0
I went into this book with no knowledge of the author and little of the plot. All I knew was that it was the first book of a historical fiction vampire series. My expectations were pretty low. In this context, I liked the book far more than I anticipated.
This story caught my interest early and managed to hold it. There is quite a bit of action and the characters are so odd that I wanted to figure out what was going on. Though I would not have had the story develop the way it did, it was definitely decent.
I had two main quibbles with the book:
There is only one non-attractive woman in the book, the one-armed old woman who raised Tycho, the boy in the box. All of the others are described by words like 'lush.' Unlikely.
Few chapters (of which there are many) pass without someone voiding their bowels out of fear and/or pain. This strikes me as unnecessarily gruesome, graphic and gross. Sure this is a natural thing and does happen to people, but every time violence happens? Really?
Some people will quite enjoy this book, which I thought was pretty decent for what it was. If you have no problems with violence or constant discussion of scatalogical happenings, give this a try. It also has a bunch of action scenes, political machinations and paranormal fantasy. I will not be returning for book two, but this was not an awful read.
This story caught my interest early and managed to hold it. There is quite a bit of action and the characters are so odd that I wanted to figure out what was going on. Though I would not have had the story develop the way it did, it was definitely decent.
I had two main quibbles with the book:
There is only one non-attractive woman in the book, the one-armed old woman who raised Tycho, the boy in the box. All of the others are described by words like 'lush.' Unlikely.
Few chapters (of which there are many) pass without someone voiding their bowels out of fear and/or pain. This strikes me as unnecessarily gruesome, graphic and gross. Sure this is a natural thing and does happen to people, but every time violence happens? Really?
Some people will quite enjoy this book, which I thought was pretty decent for what it was. If you have no problems with violence or constant discussion of scatalogical happenings, give this a try. It also has a bunch of action scenes, political machinations and paranormal fantasy. I will not be returning for book two, but this was not an awful read.
pauliree's review
3.0
While I did enjoy aspects of this book, the back and forth of the narrative both confused and annoyed me here. It would have been better served limiting the POVs. Still, original and interesting and I loved the setting.
prationality's review
3.0
I had a small amount of trouble truly getting into this book. I'm not sure if for whatever reason my brain just could not grasp all the different characters, or if there was just too much going on at once for me to follow properly, but I found myself constantly having to refer back to the 'Character List' in the front in order to remember who was who. Who was beholden to who, who held what position, etc.
There was also the matter that other then Tycho and Guiletta, the characters all seemed to have the same 'voice'. Its told in third person limited, but there wasn't much to distinguish one viewpoint from another. They all sort of bled into each other in a confusing manner.
Moving back to the confusion I felt regarding the characters and remembering their various allegiances, some of that stemmed from the fact few of the characters seemed to be truly tied to one faction or the other. Everyone was running so many agendas and schemes, most of which crossed each other and interfered with each other, it was hard to keep the lines straight. I eventually resorted to keeping a running list of everyone's actions, but even then it became a long winded chart.
Where Grimwood really shone was in his depiction of Venice and the time period. Many times I could almost feel the decadence and filth that Grimwood meticulously details of the canals, streets and palaces. The intrigues of the families and parishes, the various types of people and stations of life, they came alive. The narrative though doesn't let the reader figure out very much on their own. A mystery, or secret, is introduced, some clues are strewn about, but almost immediately things become obvious. There's very little sustained tension.
There was also the matter that other then Tycho and Guiletta, the characters all seemed to have the same 'voice'. Its told in third person limited, but there wasn't much to distinguish one viewpoint from another. They all sort of bled into each other in a confusing manner.
Moving back to the confusion I felt regarding the characters and remembering their various allegiances, some of that stemmed from the fact few of the characters seemed to be truly tied to one faction or the other. Everyone was running so many agendas and schemes, most of which crossed each other and interfered with each other, it was hard to keep the lines straight. I eventually resorted to keeping a running list of everyone's actions, but even then it became a long winded chart.
Where Grimwood really shone was in his depiction of Venice and the time period. Many times I could almost feel the decadence and filth that Grimwood meticulously details of the canals, streets and palaces. The intrigues of the families and parishes, the various types of people and stations of life, they came alive. The narrative though doesn't let the reader figure out very much on their own. A mystery, or secret, is introduced, some clues are strewn about, but almost immediately things become obvious. There's very little sustained tension.
nigellicus's review
5.0
Grimwood, who developed his style writing mean nasty cyberpunk thrillers, applies it to a mean nasty historical fantasy set in Venice in 1407. Assassins battle with werewolves over fleeing aristocratic brides-to-be, with the assassins coming off the worse, leaving the city of Venice defended in the secret war by a few surviving killers and a lingering reputation. Can the strange young man with silver hair taken from a hidden compartment in a Mamluk ship, with his unnatural strength, speed and hungers be the answer? He will have to be caught and trained and tamed and forced to give in to his unnatural nature. Kidnappings, murders, power plays and political intrigues come to a head with a massive armada sailing for Cyprus with only a smaller flotilla and the silver haired boy standing in the way.
Fast-moving and vivid, atmospheric and grimy and I may be a little drunk and i had this lovely savoury pie bread thing and yum and I enjoyed this book and the pie and the cider so yay! Stars all round!
Fast-moving and vivid, atmospheric and grimy and I may be a little drunk and i had this lovely savoury pie bread thing and yum and I enjoyed this book and the pie and the cider so yay! Stars all round!
bibliotropic's review
3.0
This book roared off to a wonderful start, painting a vivid picture of alternate-history Venice, mixing in the always-intriguing supernatural elements of vampires and werewolves and mysterious magic, adding the spice of assassins and political intrigue and the gritty realism of life in the past.
But after a promising beginning, this book failed to deliver. Grimwood’s talented descriptions were astounding in some areas and completely missing in others, making it so that I had a great mental picture of the architecture and the smell of the street kids, but a poor picture of just what the hell happened with the plot and important characters. Really, when I have to reread a scene three times and even then only have a vague picture of what the author was trying to describe, I know something is seriously lacking. That inconsistancy spoiled the story in some many places.
It was the same thing with characters, too. For instance, when you’ve got a line that amounts to, “Person A would change the life of Person B,” you don’t exactly expect them to vanish in two paragraphs and then not show up again for another quarter of the book, even then for only a short time. A’rial does change Tycho’s life in a dramatic way, but not until the very end of the novel, so when she pops up from time to time to taunt him, it was pretty easy to forget why I was supposed to think she was important in the first place. Things you think are going to be important because people spend a fair amount of time discussing them, such as a glass-blower’s escape, turn out to be dead-ends that never get mentioned again, thus leaving me with the feeling of a dangling plot-point with no resolution.
Tycho was quite an interesting character, I must admit. Seeing him discover the secrets of his past was one of two things that kept me reading (the other thing was seeing what would happen to Giulietta and her child). However, I felt like sometimes this was all written like it as supposed to be an episodic TV show, where the chapter ends with somebody about to explain something important, and then we find out what that important thing is halfway through the next chapter, in the form of a flashback. Potentially interesting to see, mildly annoying to read.
It’s obvious that Grimwood has talent, and that there is potential for this story to shine. When the details were clear, they were stunning. When the characters were in the spotlight, they were fascinating. But the balance faltered, and the execution was off, and that, most of all, was what killed this novel for me. Which is a true shame, considering what a promising start it seemed to have.
If I read the others in this series, it will probably only be for the sake of completion, and even then most likely if I can borrow them from the library. I can see myself being interested in the story, but if Grimwood’s writing style stays the same, then I can’t see myself being eager to wade through another book filled with the same problems evident in this one.
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
But after a promising beginning, this book failed to deliver. Grimwood’s talented descriptions were astounding in some areas and completely missing in others, making it so that I had a great mental picture of the architecture and the smell of the street kids, but a poor picture of just what the hell happened with the plot and important characters. Really, when I have to reread a scene three times and even then only have a vague picture of what the author was trying to describe, I know something is seriously lacking. That inconsistancy spoiled the story in some many places.
It was the same thing with characters, too. For instance, when you’ve got a line that amounts to, “Person A would change the life of Person B,” you don’t exactly expect them to vanish in two paragraphs and then not show up again for another quarter of the book, even then for only a short time. A’rial does change Tycho’s life in a dramatic way, but not until the very end of the novel, so when she pops up from time to time to taunt him, it was pretty easy to forget why I was supposed to think she was important in the first place. Things you think are going to be important because people spend a fair amount of time discussing them, such as a glass-blower’s escape, turn out to be dead-ends that never get mentioned again, thus leaving me with the feeling of a dangling plot-point with no resolution.
Tycho was quite an interesting character, I must admit. Seeing him discover the secrets of his past was one of two things that kept me reading (the other thing was seeing what would happen to Giulietta and her child). However, I felt like sometimes this was all written like it as supposed to be an episodic TV show, where the chapter ends with somebody about to explain something important, and then we find out what that important thing is halfway through the next chapter, in the form of a flashback. Potentially interesting to see, mildly annoying to read.
It’s obvious that Grimwood has talent, and that there is potential for this story to shine. When the details were clear, they were stunning. When the characters were in the spotlight, they were fascinating. But the balance faltered, and the execution was off, and that, most of all, was what killed this novel for me. Which is a true shame, considering what a promising start it seemed to have.
If I read the others in this series, it will probably only be for the sake of completion, and even then most likely if I can borrow them from the library. I can see myself being interested in the story, but if Grimwood’s writing style stays the same, then I can’t see myself being eager to wade through another book filled with the same problems evident in this one.
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
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