Reviews

A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files

primereads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Did I like this book? Uncertain.

Will I read the next one? Probably.

kblincoln's review

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3.0

This is a hard book to review. Not surprising because it was a hard book to read and digest in the first place.

Set in the old west at the end of the Civil War, it mostly concerns three men and an Aztec composite goddess. Two of the three men are criminals, ex-soldiers who were sentenced to hang for the crime of killing a crazy Confederate Captain who, despite the war being over, wanted to lead his men on a suicide charge.

Asher Rook, ex preacher, gets hanged. Only he doesn't die all quiet like. It seems he's a "hex", a magic worker unleashed by his near-death experience. All hexes have their own way of working magic, and Rook's way is through bible-thumping quotations.

His partner-in-crime and in the sack is Chess Pargeter, literally a whoreson who is eerily sharp at shooting, killing, and keeping himself well-tailored.

Added to this mix is Ed Morrow, a Pinkerton agent in disguise hooked up with Rook's gang in order to get a read on how powerful Rook's hexing is with a new-fangled gadget.

But of course, it's much more complicated than just robbery and mayhem. Rook's rebirth as a Hex-worker brought him to the attention of an Aztec goddess who wants to be reborn into our world, and Chess is on the road to discovering a pretty momentous secret.

The writing is visceral, descriptive, brutally elegant. Rook and Chess are so vibrantly alive they jump off the page and sock you in the nose (and growl in your ear). There is absinthe and blood, and spilled guts, and whores in opium dens and blood-flowers with piranha teeth, and Chinese hex workers with unhinged jaws that vomit bats.

This is NOT a book for the squeamish. The quite blunt descriptions of both sex and violence make this totally inappropriate for young teens and children. While that didn't bother me so much, what did bother me, and made me reluctantly limit myself to three stars (instead of the four the quality of the writing probably deserves) is that the story itself is often lost to the powerful character development of the three men and their Aztec death goddess. I lost track of who was where doing what a million times, and also sometimes felt bits of dialogue purposelessly vague.

Yet, the story is compelling. Just not for everyone.

This Book's Snack Rating: Like eating a bag of spicy nacho Doritos for the extremely racy action and visceral physical description that overwhelms any other flavor or character.

mferrante83's review

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3.0

I was excited to read A Book of Tongues on just the mention of the “weird west” in the book’s description. My love of Pinnacle’s Deadlands setting certainly fueled my interest even the title of the series this books kicks off Hexslinger reminded me of Deadlands so I was certainly excited to dive into my A Book of Tongues with my past experiences with the weird west as impetus. Nostalgia is always a dangerous thing and I’m uncertain how much what I hoped the novel would be colored my interaction with the text; likely more than was healthy. The novel centers around Pinkerton agent William Morrow’s undercover job with notorious hexslinger and outlaw Reverend Asher Rook and Rook’s lover the murderous Chess Pargeter. Morrow is their to ferret out the extent of Rook’s powers at the behest of a scholar seeking to harness magic users for use by the Pinkertons and the U.S. Government. Things of course don’t go to plan and the machinations of an Aztec deity have repercussions for everyone involved.


Nostalgia aside the plot seemed exciting and had all the elements that I thought I might enjoy: magic, mystery, monsters and mayhem. Unfortunately there was one thing that held my enjoyment of the novel in check: sex. Lots and lots of sex. Had I paid attention to the Publisher’s Weekly snippet on Chizine’s website I might have noted the comment about “raunchily explicit gay love story” but I didn’t; though the description is extraordinarily apt. To be entirely clear it is the “explicit” part that I’m taking issue with here. The sex in A Book of Tongues is pervasive and common enough to detract from the rest of the novel. The problem is just that the sex in A Book of Tongues is both pervasive and and explicit but that sex and sexuality in general are seemingly implicit in the nature of magic of the novel and sex and passion are used as expression of the power of “hexes” (the term Files uses for magicians and sorcerers) and plays an integral role in the parasitic relationship “hexes” have with one another. As mentioned above a huge part of my problem had to do with my expectations. I found the sex in A Book of Tongues to be a major distraction from what amounts to a completely fascinating story full of horror and magic.

So what worked in A Book of Tongues? While confusing (I had a difficult time grasping the myth-laden introduction that preceded the major sections of the novel) I enjoyed the inclusion of Aztec mythology in the story. Much fantasy fiction seems to be very much anglo-centric so to see the inclusion of Mesoamerican culture behind many of the magical antics of the novel was a refreshing change of pace. I particularly enjoyed Files’ interpretation of hell with the use of the “sunken ball court” seen in much Mesoamerican architecture being used by horrid corpses for an eternal game. The deities Files uses are also impressively horrific, self-serving with a chillingly callous disregard for human life. While William Morrow is a sort of typecast loyal hero, Files imbues both Chess and Reverend Rook with a great amount of depth. Chess in particular, from his introduction wearing his purple suit and with his ornery attitude right down to the startling revelation about his nature towards novel’s end, jumps off the page. Rook, a man whose starts as simply shaken in his faith is slowly drawn towards an increasing desire for power and respect down a path that is tragic, mesmerizing, and somewhat terrifying.

A Book of Tongues is hampered by it reliance on sex as a plot device. Will everyone find this to be the case? No. For some the sex might not be bothersome at all. For me at least it made reading the book something of a chore and more than once had me wanting to put it aside and move on. Despite that, and beyond the sex, is the makings of an excellent novel. Files has created an intriguing setting with a fascinating mythology and I am definitely curious to see where it goes from here. But will I be picking up the next volume? If sex as prevalent in the next volume as it was here then probably not. Those who aren’t comfortable with explicit sex should most definitely stay away for the more curious the product page over at Chizine Publications has some links to some more in depth preview information about the world of the Hexslinger series and I highly recommend anyone on-the-fence about giving the book a try to head over there and check it out for themselves. For an entirely more thorough and exhaustive examination of the novel you might also try reading Brit Mandelo’s review over at Tor.com; it’s far more eloquent and inclusive then I could ever be.

litwrite's review

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3.0

This was an interesting book to review because it was all over the place for me so I settled on three stars because while I enjoyed it, I think that the premise was somewhat let down by the execution.

The book follows the adventures of a hexslinger named Reverend Asher Rook and his psychopathic, gunslinging paramour Chess Pargeter in an alternate universe version of the Wild West. The idea behind the hexslingers I found to be very appealing, and the method in which Rook actually conducted his hexes - through the speaking of biblical verse - was fantastic. The fight scenes in the novel are exhilarating to read, and probably one of the best functional translations of magic I've read in a fantasy novel.

However, I find that the novel gets bogged down by the inclusion of Aztec gods controlling all the hexes and I just found all the metaphysical dialogue to be the driest parts of the novels and really skimmed through them, which is unfortunate because it really does make up a lot of the book. I suppose it makes the novel a lot more 'epic' in tone, and drives the plot which leads to the second in the trilogy, but honestly I just wanted to see more madness and mayhem of the Asher Rook gang as they cut a swathe through the west, slinging biblical hexes along the way.

Also of note, there are many very explicit gay sex scenes in this novel. This didn't really bug me, and seeing that Gemma Files actually wrote erotic dark fiction before these three novels, I suppose it's understandable, but I did feel they were a bit extraneous, or perhaps just went on for too long. Strangely, the descriptions of the gay sex scenes were far more graphic and detailed while any heterosexual sex scenes seemed much shorter or faded to black.

I'll still be interested to read the rest of the series, but I didn't really feel that this one held up to its promise.

alibobooks's review against another edition

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Didn’t reach beyond the third chapter due to the racism. 

chesspargeter's review

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5.0

I love this book. I consider it one of my favourite books of all time. Why? Because, honestly, I have never read anything else like it. It's about gay cowboy wizards and Aztec gods. When I first read it, I was just floored by how different it was from any other novel I had read. But there are many other reasons to love it.

Spoilers ahead!

SpoilerThe story is very interesting. Reading the back, you'd think it was a story about Ed Morrow, a Pinkerton agents assigned to measure the magical abilities of one "Reverend" Asher Rook, who is a magic user called a hex. But in reality, this book is really about Ash and his lover, Chess', relationship. A third of the book is a flashback to how they first met! But really, it's about Ash's struggle to choose between the power being promised to him by the Aztec goddess Ixchel, and his love for Chess. It's unclear at first whether Ash truly loves Chess, or he's just using him for "fun" and power. But by the end, it's clear Ash loves him, but he has a weird way of going about it. He has to keep making the same choice, love or power, over and over again. That's what I consider the main crux of the book. Ash's choices, and how they affect everyone else.

Chess is one of the most interesting characters I've ever read. Because he's a selfish, arrogant, obnoxious prick who will giggle as he shoots a whole family in the forehead, but I love him. Maybe it's because he's an awesome wise cracker, or because he's an openly gay man in the wild west, or because he doesn't take crap from anybody, or because he has a tragic past. No matter what, Chess is an incredibly engaging character. He is fun to read about. He'll make you laugh, roll your eyes, and cry. My love for him is evident in my user name and profile picture

As said above, a lot of the story revolves around him and Ash. It's clear not too far into the book that Chess, a man who claims love is for dumb fools and lying whores, is truly in love with Ash. He won't admit it outright, but there is no one else he cares for so much. It's sad though, because Chess seems to have fallen in love with an image of Ash. He sees Ash as this good man, a better man than himself, who will take care of him for all of his life. Maybe it's daddy issues because Chess had no dad. He might be looking for a big, strong man who will care for him. He doesn't acknowledge that, in reality, Ash is a bad man who desperately wants power, even if it risks hurting Chess. Ash knows that Chess views him this way, and he knows Chess is wrong. He tells Chess, when Chess says that Ash is a better man than him, "on this whole wide earth, there's nothin' worse than a bad man who knows the Bible."

Ed actually plays a more minor role, but he is still amazing. He is truly a good, noble man. He does what's right no matter the cost. His relationship with Chess is expanded on in the later books, but it starts here. His caring for Chess is very interesting. I think it's because he sees past Chess' facade of confidence, and sees him as a man who has been through too much for his young age. Chess definitely comes to care for Ed, because Ed is kind to him. He doesn't fear or degrade him. Ed is just kind.


Anyway, that's my long analysis. There's so much more but I can't write it all down. In summary: is this book's writing sometimes quite convoluted? Yes. Are the characters sometimes annoyingly opaque? Yes. Is the sex and violence sometimes gratuitous? Definitely. But it has an engaging story, complicated characters, and there is just nothing else like it. So if you can deal with the problems above, I highly recommend it.

gavreads's review against another edition

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There was nothing driving me to find out more 

bookcraft's review against another edition

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4.0

Not really a romance series, despite what Audible Romance thinks, but still an excellent dark and gritty read. Alas, there's no audiobook of the third volume on Audible, so the ebook will go into my To Read queue.

booksofhenry's review

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5.0

La Guerra di Secessione americana è appena giunta al termine, e il Reverendo Asher Rook, ex cappellano dell'esercito dei Confederati, è ora a capo di una banda di sanguinosi fuorilegge che terrorizza il Selvaggio West. Sempre insieme a lui troviamo il suo luogotenente e amante Chess Pargeter, eccellente e impulsivo pistolero, e Ed Morrow, agente della Pinkerton sotto copertura, incaricato di indagare sui poteri magici di Rook. 
Perché Rook, a seguito di un'impiccagione, è un potente Hex. Gli Hex sono umani dotati di eccezionali capacità magiche (come, nel caso di Rook, evocare gli episodi apocalittici contenuti nella Bibbia) che, tuttavia, non resistono alla tentazione di succhiarsi l'energia a vicenda. 
Cosa potrebbe mai accadere, quindi, se una potente e sanguinosa dea Azteca, desiderosa di risorgere tra gli uomini, decidesse di servirsi del più temibile tra tutti gli Hex? 

Il mio nuovo obiettivo è far scoprire questo libro (e questa serie) a tutte le book community online perché è davvero un peccato che sia così poco conosciuto. È un eccezionale dark fantasy per adulti dalle tinte pulp, leggere tracce steampunk ed elementi mitologici della tradizione Maya-Azteca, sebbene in questo primo volume abbiamo appena iniziato ad assaggiare il grande piano che gli dèi sembrano avere in serbo per gli umani. 

Umani che non potrebbero essere più imperfetti di così: la calcolata freddezza e le spietate ambizioni di Asher Rook si sposano meravigliosamente con l'attitudine violenta e caotica di Chess Pargeter — una storia d'amore tragica e codipendente che mi ha straziato il cuore.

Personaggi che più che un evoluzione, subiscono un'interessante involuzione, ma approfondire questo aspetto in una recensione sarebbe fare spoiler: mi limito a dite che Chess è il personaggio meglio riuscito e coerente, nonostante sia colui che subisce il più radicale dei cambiamenti, quello maggiormente schiacciato e provato dell'intensità degli eventi e dal piano di Rook, forse un po' troppo vittima di una certa ingenuità che ho trovato, in un certo senso, estranea su un personaggio così calcolatore. Eppure, la loro chimica, il loro amore, è il movente di tutto ciò che accade e scusate se mi strappo il cuore per questa coppia di maledetti. 

Il western (e il weird western, in particolare) è uno dei miei generi preferiti, e qualunque persona queer ne sia appassionata sa bene quanto sia permeato da machismo — e sebbene questo abbia dato vita a una vasta subcultura dell'immaginario gay, sappiamo quanto pecca in quanto a rappresentazione concreta. Questa è, invece, una carta vincente in A Book of Tongues: i personaggi non sono lo stereotipo del cowboy gay, sono tridimensionali e problematici, pieni di difetti, a volte grotteschi, e i legami sentimentali e l'erotismo sono inseriti e bilanciati in un mondo oscuro, magico e crudele. Gemma Files non ha pietà per nessuno, e penso di amarla per questo. 

Non posso ancora permettermi gli altri due volumi della saga, ma non vedo l'ora di comprarli perché mi manca, mi manca questo mondo selvaggio e, soprattutto, mi manca l'amore della mia vita Chess Pargeter.

lamusadelils's review

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3.0

Western gay super sexoso lleno de magia, violencia y harta emoción. Es un buen libro, pero tarda en llegar al punto donde entiendes porqué estas leyendo tanto saxo enal.

SpoilerAlso, Book of Tongues, tehehehe, geddit?