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twislerguy's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
peritract's review
2.0
James Brimstone doesn’t want to have anything to do with magic anymore. With the burial of his cruel mentor, all his remaining bridges to the world of hexes and demons have been burnt. He can start work as a private investigator and leave the supernatural behind him.
His first case, predictably enough, plunges him right back into it all. A actress with hideous facial scarring – scarring that tastes of magic – begs for his help. James Brimstone finds himself going up against Nazi occultists, monstrous snakes and rage-filled gladiators as he investigates the seamier side of Hollywood.
Hex-Rated is the first book in a planned urban fantasy series. It starts very much in medias res, and does lots of world-building through what’s left unexplained, but it is the first book. I checked.
I really wanted to like this book. The cover, the concept, the aesthetic – all of these are exactly my kind of thing. I love the vividness of pulp, and anything containing occult Nazis catches my interest; they’re such fun antagonists. So when I started reading Hex-Rated, I was inclined to view it very positively.
And I did find several positives. I liked the magic – it’s not as present as you’ll find in other books in the genre, and the protagonist’s distaste comes across well. Magic in Hex-Rated is strange and scary. Wizards don’t throw fire – they make perverted pacts with demons and carve sigils into living flesh. The essential elements aren’t original, but the presentation is.
I liked the setting as well. 1970s America is not something I’m very familar with, and its an unusual choice for urban fantasy. All the cultural references are slightly off from where I expect them – different songs on the radio and homeless veterans of different wars. I’m growing a little sick of urban fantasy that takes place in the early and undifferentiated 2000s. The 1970s setting of this book is both fresh and important, permeating the whole plot.
Unfortunately, I felt that the positives were outweighed by a significant negative. The issue is Brimstone himself; he’s very hard to like. In some ways he’s the standard urban fantasy protagonist – impoverished, worried about falling to the darkness, and surrounded by beautiful women. It’s a common archetype now, and it is a little hackneyed and objectionable. Normally though, the annoying parts of these characters are tempered by humility or incompetence, so the character ends up sympathetic.
Brimstone isn’t humble. He knows how good he is. He’s not particularly great at magic, but he rarely uses it – again, in this book, magic is a strange and dangerous thing. Brimstone solves most of his problems through either fighting or sex. And he’s very, very good at both of them.
I struggle to worry about a character who outclasses all of his opponents – regardless of size or magical assistance – with relative ease. Brimstone knows all the martial arts. He can disable his enemies’ limbs through the careful tapping of pressure points. He moves incredibly fast and can see in the dark. There’s little tension to the combat because he’s essentially unstoppable, and while the author does try and make situations seem desperate, it rings rather hollow – the reader has already seen how capable he is, so pretending he is in trouble doesn’t actually work.
There’s a lot of sex in the book. Quite a lot more than I was expecting. That’s fine – it’s not a problem – but some kind of earlier hint would have been nice. And once Brimstone starts having sex with people, he just doesn’t stop. By my (admittedly rough) count, he has sex with five different porn actresses only a few hours. It’s very detailed, and not really justified that well by the plot. Most importantly, it’s amazing; those of his partners who discuss it (at length) declare sex with Brimstone to be a transcendental experience. In case you were in any doubt over this, his internal monologue also repeatedly explains just how great he is in bed.
Characters must be flawed to be relatable. I don’t know about you, gentle reader, but I’m not an unstoppable god of sex and violence. If I was, I wouldn’t spend all my time congratulating myself on that fact. Brimstone’s abilities are essentially superpowers, and he’s really smug about them. He even has the gall to lecture the reader on being respectful to women, and then immediately takes advantage of a distraught victim of a brutal attack or has a threesome with two strangers just to avoid having to tell the truth.
I get that pulp is about sex and violence. I’m okay with that. But there are limits. One of those limits, it turns out, is graphically describing sex with multiple porn stars while congratulating yourself on your thrusting technique. It’s gratuitous, and not in a fun way. Brimstone comes across as arrogant and self-obsessed, which makes it hard to root for him.
I wanted to like Hex-Rated; I really did. There’s a lot to like about it – the originality, the setting; even the prose, at points, is snappy and compelling. But it’s hard to enjoy a book when the protagonist needs shaking. If you are riding in someone’s head, it needs to be a head that’s interesting to be in. Not the head of a good person, necessarily, but one who you can sympathise with. With a toned-down protagonist and less emphasis on sex, I’d have enjoyed the book a lot more. As it is, Hex-Rated is a bundle of interesting ideas let down by the overall execution.
His first case, predictably enough, plunges him right back into it all. A actress with hideous facial scarring – scarring that tastes of magic – begs for his help. James Brimstone finds himself going up against Nazi occultists, monstrous snakes and rage-filled gladiators as he investigates the seamier side of Hollywood.
Hex-Rated is the first book in a planned urban fantasy series. It starts very much in medias res, and does lots of world-building through what’s left unexplained, but it is the first book. I checked.
I really wanted to like this book. The cover, the concept, the aesthetic – all of these are exactly my kind of thing. I love the vividness of pulp, and anything containing occult Nazis catches my interest; they’re such fun antagonists. So when I started reading Hex-Rated, I was inclined to view it very positively.
And I did find several positives. I liked the magic – it’s not as present as you’ll find in other books in the genre, and the protagonist’s distaste comes across well. Magic in Hex-Rated is strange and scary. Wizards don’t throw fire – they make perverted pacts with demons and carve sigils into living flesh. The essential elements aren’t original, but the presentation is.
I liked the setting as well. 1970s America is not something I’m very familar with, and its an unusual choice for urban fantasy. All the cultural references are slightly off from where I expect them – different songs on the radio and homeless veterans of different wars. I’m growing a little sick of urban fantasy that takes place in the early and undifferentiated 2000s. The 1970s setting of this book is both fresh and important, permeating the whole plot.
Unfortunately, I felt that the positives were outweighed by a significant negative. The issue is Brimstone himself; he’s very hard to like. In some ways he’s the standard urban fantasy protagonist – impoverished, worried about falling to the darkness, and surrounded by beautiful women. It’s a common archetype now, and it is a little hackneyed and objectionable. Normally though, the annoying parts of these characters are tempered by humility or incompetence, so the character ends up sympathetic.
Brimstone isn’t humble. He knows how good he is. He’s not particularly great at magic, but he rarely uses it – again, in this book, magic is a strange and dangerous thing. Brimstone solves most of his problems through either fighting or sex. And he’s very, very good at both of them.
I struggle to worry about a character who outclasses all of his opponents – regardless of size or magical assistance – with relative ease. Brimstone knows all the martial arts. He can disable his enemies’ limbs through the careful tapping of pressure points. He moves incredibly fast and can see in the dark. There’s little tension to the combat because he’s essentially unstoppable, and while the author does try and make situations seem desperate, it rings rather hollow – the reader has already seen how capable he is, so pretending he is in trouble doesn’t actually work.
There’s a lot of sex in the book. Quite a lot more than I was expecting. That’s fine – it’s not a problem – but some kind of earlier hint would have been nice. And once Brimstone starts having sex with people, he just doesn’t stop. By my (admittedly rough) count, he has sex with five different porn actresses only a few hours. It’s very detailed, and not really justified that well by the plot. Most importantly, it’s amazing; those of his partners who discuss it (at length) declare sex with Brimstone to be a transcendental experience. In case you were in any doubt over this, his internal monologue also repeatedly explains just how great he is in bed.
Characters must be flawed to be relatable. I don’t know about you, gentle reader, but I’m not an unstoppable god of sex and violence. If I was, I wouldn’t spend all my time congratulating myself on that fact. Brimstone’s abilities are essentially superpowers, and he’s really smug about them. He even has the gall to lecture the reader on being respectful to women, and then immediately takes advantage of a distraught victim of a brutal attack or has a threesome with two strangers just to avoid having to tell the truth.
I get that pulp is about sex and violence. I’m okay with that. But there are limits. One of those limits, it turns out, is graphically describing sex with multiple porn stars while congratulating yourself on your thrusting technique. It’s gratuitous, and not in a fun way. Brimstone comes across as arrogant and self-obsessed, which makes it hard to root for him.
I wanted to like Hex-Rated; I really did. There’s a lot to like about it – the originality, the setting; even the prose, at points, is snappy and compelling. But it’s hard to enjoy a book when the protagonist needs shaking. If you are riding in someone’s head, it needs to be a head that’s interesting to be in. Not the head of a good person, necessarily, but one who you can sympathise with. With a toned-down protagonist and less emphasis on sex, I’d have enjoyed the book a lot more. As it is, Hex-Rated is a bundle of interesting ideas let down by the overall execution.
sjj169's review against another edition
I'm putting this one aside until I'm maybe in a better mood to try it. I'm hating the main character too much right now.
lordnikon's review
1.0
It’s weird. I liked the opening of the book, and found it MOSTLY okay for about 1/4 of it…but then the issues started glaring me in the face.
On the face of it the things I liked are the 1970’s setting, the pulpy feel, some of the story and plot ideas and the shortish chapters.
I’m not sure what to chalk these other things up to…but here are my issues with the book.
Protagonist James Brimstone is really unlikeable. He’s basically an asshole. In almost every interaction he’s a smug, arrogant dick. To his friends, to his acquaintances and to total strangers. He’s the kind of guy you walk away from a calm conversation with thinking “God, what an asshole!”.
Let me put this into perspective. Brimstone is an Irish-American Korean war veteran (scout), who is also a badass at many martial arts (taught to him by a mystic Japanese Circus bodyguard who knew MULTIPLE disciplines…because yeah….THAT happens IRL), who can also somehow (never truly explained) use magic to slow down to bullet time so he can move faster than his opponent…which occurs VIA reciting of “poetry” (AKA concentrating real well!) and only kind of drains him (Sorry, but how?), who also happens to be TRANSCENDENT TANTRIC Sting God in the sack who ALL the women want to sleep with…and WHEN they sleep with him they think he is the greatest they’ve ever had…and he agrees…out loud…and in his head (POV narration), who was trained by some crazy Magic Castle-attending Magician who was also an asshole, and is now a P.I. (got his license by mail) who operates an office (unpaid for) in a Burlesque Show house.
Got all that? So basically he is Sgt. Rock-Batman-Sam Spade-Neo-Sting amalgam. You know, an omnipotent human who is NEVER in danger. No matter how many times and how long the attempt is made on Ridler’s part to make it SEEM like Brimstone is in danger…you never believe it because of all his crazy skills which never fail him. On top of which, he knows EVERYTHING. Like he lectures everyone, knows how to get out of every situation with his MindSkillzTM and can talk anyone down off a precipice (real or metaphorical), or his way into anywhere. There is one spot where this lecturing of how smart he is is SO out of place that it was the moment when I knew the jig was up. He literally comes off a chase/action sequence, and sees a bunch of teens standing outside a theatre discussing MASH the movie (which I think they are about to see) and he literally stops to inexplicably explain to them what MASH is all about. There is ZERO narrative point to Brimstone doing this. It doesn’t serve his character, their characters, or anyone else in the story. You know who it serves? The author. It’s Ridler’s chance to lecture US (the reader) about what his feelings are on the matter. This is neither the first, nor the last time that Brimstone (Read: Ridler) does this in the book. To say it stood out is an understatement. You don’t need your main character yo both be whizbang-never-wrong smart…AND a dick who flaunts that to randoms on the street.
Speaking of being a dick on the street. Another instance sees Brimstone alongside a car full of young women (all of whom seem to be ogling him….because yeah…sure..why not) some of who hit on him….he rebuffs them (cause he’s on the job I assume, otherwise I’m sure he would have tried to get it on with all of them separately) and the lead ogler immediately turns into a nasty jerk about it. You get that? I could not help but read that as a male-gaze moment. You introduce a car of of random female characters…for no reason (again, this is one of those “it doesn’t remotely concern the plot” moments that litter this book) have them come onto your main guy, he rebuffs them and gets shit on by bitchy women who turn on a dime when they can’t have him. The sexism that kind of drips off that moment was…not great. Like they can’t just drive off and laugh…they have to get angry because they can’t have him? I would have less problem with this if it concerned the plot. It does not in any significant way. As such, what purpose does it serve other than to say “women will come onto you, but get angry if you tel them no”…I mean…come on.
This brings us to the sex. I am no stranger to lascivious sex scenes in books. Hell, I read Haruki Murakami books and that guy spends pages and pages on sex. So I have no issues with it present. That said, once the first sex scene occurs, it’s no holds barred “Brimstone gets to sleep with all the buxom (deliciously described) women…most of whom are porn stars. I’m not sure at what point the male masturbatory fantasy kicked in, but it kicks into gear hard and never stops. Combine this with all these women thinking Brimstone is the second coming (pun intended) at the act, but they tell him during, and after…and he agrees vociferously. In one moment even commenting how women have told him how good (and big) he is since high school. Yeah. Okay man. You’re the great omnipotent Batman-Shaft, solver of crimes, seducer of women. So as the scenes get more raucous, Brimstone gets more compliments on his performance and his bigger than average junk. I don’t know that I need to spell out how ridiculous it becomes.
The story itself is fine, serviceable as far as Urban Fantasy goes. The setting helps with that (the 70’s being unique)…but when we have the PERFECT Detective in Urban Fantasy in Harry Dresden, with a fleshed out world, realistic and characters of depth (damned near everyone from Harry’s best friends to his most random enemies) who is often fallible, and often loses…is FLAWED like a protagonist should be…the rest of these issues stand out really hard in contrast.
I don’t really want to give advice to the author, so let’s call this feedback.
Jason, if you read this.
Your protagonist is realistic and easy to identify with (ESPECIALLY since this is First Person and we are in his head) when they are flawed. They shouldn’t be superhuman, omnipotent sex machine assholes. No one wants to be in the head of such people. This is why Breaking Bad largely positioned the audience in Jesse’s POV and not Walter’s. Harry Dresden is flawed, he often loses…Hell, Batman is flawed and often loses. James Bond is flawed and often loses. Look, you DO get to have them win in the end…but on the road to that, they can’t be basically untouchable gods. In no fight or action sequence in this book do you EVER worry that Brimstone will lose. He’s built up to be Mr. Amazing. The centre of that cannot hold, man.
Your other characters need to be more than cardboard cutouts. I think the ONLY person other than Brimstone that gets any depth is Isabelle…everyone else just feels like they go through the motions that you needed them to go through. It needs to feel organic. Wanna hype up Edgar? You can’t just have Brimstone and a few others just refer to him as a jerk…he needs more even if he’s not present. Throw in some flashbacks to his teachings/training…I dunno. Something. Because it carries no weight. Cactus felt like someone who needed WAY more depth…he seemed like such an interesting character, and then he’s just wasted as a Random Muscle Thug. It was pitiful to watch such a thing go down.
And your P.I…..need to be more P.I.-like. Brimstone is a TERRIBLE detective. At no point does he “detect”. Sure he follows some leads, but he MEANDERS. It’s tedious. The funny thing is that the pacing is fine…but it’s so littered with random events that I can’t help but wonder what the book would look like with the extraneous bull cut out.
Also, WORLD-BUILDING. You have this seemingly Supernatural-based world around him…but everything gets random tiny mentions and no exposition so I haven’t a clue how the magic works, what myths are real, how they are hidden from the rest of the plebs, ect. Basic world building stuff. Honestly, read the first Harry Dresden book (arguably the worst of the lot..even though that series is utterly stellar) or the first Kate Daniels book…and both do a fantastic job of setting up not only how the magic works, but a significant portion of the supernatural world around the protags.
I dunno what else to say. I wanted to like this book, but after a decent opening, it devolved into a mess of really glaring issues for me.
I don’t mean this to sound too negative…but yeah, I was really disappointed.
On the face of it the things I liked are the 1970’s setting, the pulpy feel, some of the story and plot ideas and the shortish chapters.
I’m not sure what to chalk these other things up to…but here are my issues with the book.
Protagonist James Brimstone is really unlikeable. He’s basically an asshole. In almost every interaction he’s a smug, arrogant dick. To his friends, to his acquaintances and to total strangers. He’s the kind of guy you walk away from a calm conversation with thinking “God, what an asshole!”.
Let me put this into perspective. Brimstone is an Irish-American Korean war veteran (scout), who is also a badass at many martial arts (taught to him by a mystic Japanese Circus bodyguard who knew MULTIPLE disciplines…because yeah….THAT happens IRL), who can also somehow (never truly explained) use magic to slow down to bullet time so he can move faster than his opponent…which occurs VIA reciting of “poetry” (AKA concentrating real well!) and only kind of drains him (Sorry, but how?), who also happens to be TRANSCENDENT TANTRIC Sting God in the sack who ALL the women want to sleep with…and WHEN they sleep with him they think he is the greatest they’ve ever had…and he agrees…out loud…and in his head (POV narration), who was trained by some crazy Magic Castle-attending Magician who was also an asshole, and is now a P.I. (got his license by mail) who operates an office (unpaid for) in a Burlesque Show house.
Got all that? So basically he is Sgt. Rock-Batman-Sam Spade-Neo-Sting amalgam. You know, an omnipotent human who is NEVER in danger. No matter how many times and how long the attempt is made on Ridler’s part to make it SEEM like Brimstone is in danger…you never believe it because of all his crazy skills which never fail him. On top of which, he knows EVERYTHING. Like he lectures everyone, knows how to get out of every situation with his MindSkillzTM and can talk anyone down off a precipice (real or metaphorical), or his way into anywhere. There is one spot where this lecturing of how smart he is is SO out of place that it was the moment when I knew the jig was up. He literally comes off a chase/action sequence, and sees a bunch of teens standing outside a theatre discussing MASH the movie (which I think they are about to see) and he literally stops to inexplicably explain to them what MASH is all about. There is ZERO narrative point to Brimstone doing this. It doesn’t serve his character, their characters, or anyone else in the story. You know who it serves? The author. It’s Ridler’s chance to lecture US (the reader) about what his feelings are on the matter. This is neither the first, nor the last time that Brimstone (Read: Ridler) does this in the book. To say it stood out is an understatement. You don’t need your main character yo both be whizbang-never-wrong smart…AND a dick who flaunts that to randoms on the street.
Speaking of being a dick on the street. Another instance sees Brimstone alongside a car full of young women (all of whom seem to be ogling him….because yeah…sure..why not) some of who hit on him….he rebuffs them (cause he’s on the job I assume, otherwise I’m sure he would have tried to get it on with all of them separately) and the lead ogler immediately turns into a nasty jerk about it. You get that? I could not help but read that as a male-gaze moment. You introduce a car of of random female characters…for no reason (again, this is one of those “it doesn’t remotely concern the plot” moments that litter this book) have them come onto your main guy, he rebuffs them and gets shit on by bitchy women who turn on a dime when they can’t have him. The sexism that kind of drips off that moment was…not great. Like they can’t just drive off and laugh…they have to get angry because they can’t have him? I would have less problem with this if it concerned the plot. It does not in any significant way. As such, what purpose does it serve other than to say “women will come onto you, but get angry if you tel them no”…I mean…come on.
This brings us to the sex. I am no stranger to lascivious sex scenes in books. Hell, I read Haruki Murakami books and that guy spends pages and pages on sex. So I have no issues with it present. That said, once the first sex scene occurs, it’s no holds barred “Brimstone gets to sleep with all the buxom (deliciously described) women…most of whom are porn stars. I’m not sure at what point the male masturbatory fantasy kicked in, but it kicks into gear hard and never stops. Combine this with all these women thinking Brimstone is the second coming (pun intended) at the act, but they tell him during, and after…and he agrees vociferously. In one moment even commenting how women have told him how good (and big) he is since high school. Yeah. Okay man. You’re the great omnipotent Batman-Shaft, solver of crimes, seducer of women. So as the scenes get more raucous, Brimstone gets more compliments on his performance and his bigger than average junk. I don’t know that I need to spell out how ridiculous it becomes.
The story itself is fine, serviceable as far as Urban Fantasy goes. The setting helps with that (the 70’s being unique)…but when we have the PERFECT Detective in Urban Fantasy in Harry Dresden, with a fleshed out world, realistic and characters of depth (damned near everyone from Harry’s best friends to his most random enemies) who is often fallible, and often loses…is FLAWED like a protagonist should be…the rest of these issues stand out really hard in contrast.
I don’t really want to give advice to the author, so let’s call this feedback.
Jason, if you read this.
Your protagonist is realistic and easy to identify with (ESPECIALLY since this is First Person and we are in his head) when they are flawed. They shouldn’t be superhuman, omnipotent sex machine assholes. No one wants to be in the head of such people. This is why Breaking Bad largely positioned the audience in Jesse’s POV and not Walter’s. Harry Dresden is flawed, he often loses…Hell, Batman is flawed and often loses. James Bond is flawed and often loses. Look, you DO get to have them win in the end…but on the road to that, they can’t be basically untouchable gods. In no fight or action sequence in this book do you EVER worry that Brimstone will lose. He’s built up to be Mr. Amazing. The centre of that cannot hold, man.
Your other characters need to be more than cardboard cutouts. I think the ONLY person other than Brimstone that gets any depth is Isabelle…everyone else just feels like they go through the motions that you needed them to go through. It needs to feel organic. Wanna hype up Edgar? You can’t just have Brimstone and a few others just refer to him as a jerk…he needs more even if he’s not present. Throw in some flashbacks to his teachings/training…I dunno. Something. Because it carries no weight. Cactus felt like someone who needed WAY more depth…he seemed like such an interesting character, and then he’s just wasted as a Random Muscle Thug. It was pitiful to watch such a thing go down.
And your P.I…..need to be more P.I.-like. Brimstone is a TERRIBLE detective. At no point does he “detect”. Sure he follows some leads, but he MEANDERS. It’s tedious. The funny thing is that the pacing is fine…but it’s so littered with random events that I can’t help but wonder what the book would look like with the extraneous bull cut out.
Also, WORLD-BUILDING. You have this seemingly Supernatural-based world around him…but everything gets random tiny mentions and no exposition so I haven’t a clue how the magic works, what myths are real, how they are hidden from the rest of the plebs, ect. Basic world building stuff. Honestly, read the first Harry Dresden book (arguably the worst of the lot..even though that series is utterly stellar) or the first Kate Daniels book…and both do a fantastic job of setting up not only how the magic works, but a significant portion of the supernatural world around the protags.
I dunno what else to say. I wanted to like this book, but after a decent opening, it devolved into a mess of really glaring issues for me.
I don’t mean this to sound too negative…but yeah, I was really disappointed.
jimbob_luke's review
5.0
Reading this book is like reading the old pulps of yesteryear. This is the perfect read while sitting in your garden or to take on holiday. The pace is fast and furious with great dialogue. Like a popcorn movie, but in written form. You get what you pay for- mindless fun and violence. Recommended.
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