Scan barcode
aceinit's review against another edition
4.0
Spoilers for major plot points to follow.
You have been warned.
I suppose this book is a case of “Be careful what you wish for.” In its predecessor, Three Parts Dead one of my chief complaints was the constant point of view changes, which occurred multiple times per chapter, and every handful of paragraphs in the novel’s closing chapters. Two Serpents Rising, in contrast, largely follows the story of one particular character. The problem is that the character in question, Caleb Altemoc, is the least interesting person in his own story.
What I love about Gladstone’s world, and what suffers severely in this novel, is the incredible worldbuilding. Here is a world that combines gods with self-made immortals who rival godhood through powerful magic and legal contracts. It is a world that drops a modern day Los Angeles or Las Vegas into the heart of the Aztec empire, complete with human sacrifice and pyramids. Where the threat of a water shortage and pump station sabatoge intermingles with aquatic demons. Where undead mage lords sip coffee at a desk that used to be a sacrificial alter while reviewing mergers and acquisitions. Where parkour and quetzalcoatl flight intermingle. Unfortunately, thanks to Caleb’s limited perspective and his own conflicted history, we see only glimpses: enough to pique the interest, but never enough to satisfy.
Caleb is an ordinary guy surrounded by the larger than life. His father is the last high priest of a dying religion, a man who believes in the power of the gods and the need for sacrifice. A survivor of the God Wars, where Craftsmen (the magic workers of this world) went to war with the gods, broke them, murdered them, and, in a roundabout way, assumed their roles. Caleb’s employer is the chief among these god-breakers, the skeletal, extremely powerful King in Red. Both Temoc (Caleb’s father) and Kopil (The King in Red) are infinitely more fascinating than Caleb himself, and I always found myself wishing the story would stay with them rather than Caleb and his pursuit of ecoterrorists sabatoging the city’s water one source at a time.
Which brings me to the novel’s other problem: Mal. Crazy Mal, as she is called. Who comes into Caleb’s life when he discovers her parkouring around a highly secure water plant shortly at exactly the moment it is discovered to be infested with a particularly vicious type of demon. Who just happens to be evasive and sexy and SURELY she must be completely innocent in spite of her mysterious cloaking amulet because, c’mon, look at how untamed and dangerous and smoking hot she is. Mal, who conveniently has ties to Every.Single.Thing that goes wrong in this book, but who Caleb blindly refuses to believe is actually involved in some kind of scheme because, c’mon, he loves her because she’s all Elusive and Mysterious and Dangerous and the Thrill of the Hunt is so gosh-darn exciting that she can’t possibly be involved in the Sinister Evil Plot even though every other thing she says to our intrepid hero reeks of foreshadowing.
Except, of course, that she is.
And if this revelation surprised ANYONE, you obviously weren’t paying attention.
Like, at all.
At. All.
So here we have this wicked-cool world and these wicked-cool characters revolving around a boring and, quite frankly, not that bright guy who works in risk management. We have a plot that’s not really a plot because you are introduced to one of the very obvious conspirators right off the bat. And yet I am still giving this book a 4-star review (though it’s more of a 3.5) and just pre-ordered the next one in the series.
Why?
Because the worldbuilding is that intriguing to me and, because even though I often have to pause to smack the book against my coffee table because I am so frustrated with it, I can never quite put it down and walk away from it either. They are incredible readable, and Gladstone has created something truly fascinating in his combination of modern technologies, floating schools of magic, gods and mage kings.
You have been warned.
I suppose this book is a case of “Be careful what you wish for.” In its predecessor, Three Parts Dead one of my chief complaints was the constant point of view changes, which occurred multiple times per chapter, and every handful of paragraphs in the novel’s closing chapters. Two Serpents Rising, in contrast, largely follows the story of one particular character. The problem is that the character in question, Caleb Altemoc, is the least interesting person in his own story.
What I love about Gladstone’s world, and what suffers severely in this novel, is the incredible worldbuilding. Here is a world that combines gods with self-made immortals who rival godhood through powerful magic and legal contracts. It is a world that drops a modern day Los Angeles or Las Vegas into the heart of the Aztec empire, complete with human sacrifice and pyramids. Where the threat of a water shortage and pump station sabatoge intermingles with aquatic demons. Where undead mage lords sip coffee at a desk that used to be a sacrificial alter while reviewing mergers and acquisitions. Where parkour and quetzalcoatl flight intermingle. Unfortunately, thanks to Caleb’s limited perspective and his own conflicted history, we see only glimpses: enough to pique the interest, but never enough to satisfy.
Caleb is an ordinary guy surrounded by the larger than life. His father is the last high priest of a dying religion, a man who believes in the power of the gods and the need for sacrifice. A survivor of the God Wars, where Craftsmen (the magic workers of this world) went to war with the gods, broke them, murdered them, and, in a roundabout way, assumed their roles. Caleb’s employer is the chief among these god-breakers, the skeletal, extremely powerful King in Red. Both Temoc (Caleb’s father) and Kopil (The King in Red) are infinitely more fascinating than Caleb himself, and I always found myself wishing the story would stay with them rather than Caleb and his pursuit of ecoterrorists sabatoging the city’s water one source at a time.
Which brings me to the novel’s other problem: Mal. Crazy Mal, as she is called. Who comes into Caleb’s life when he discovers her parkouring around a highly secure water plant shortly at exactly the moment it is discovered to be infested with a particularly vicious type of demon. Who just happens to be evasive and sexy and SURELY she must be completely innocent in spite of her mysterious cloaking amulet because, c’mon, look at how untamed and dangerous and smoking hot she is. Mal, who conveniently has ties to Every.Single.Thing that goes wrong in this book, but who Caleb blindly refuses to believe is actually involved in some kind of scheme because, c’mon, he loves her because she’s all Elusive and Mysterious and Dangerous and the Thrill of the Hunt is so gosh-darn exciting that she can’t possibly be involved in the Sinister Evil Plot even though every other thing she says to our intrepid hero reeks of foreshadowing.
Except, of course, that she is.
And if this revelation surprised ANYONE, you obviously weren’t paying attention.
Like, at all.
At. All.
So here we have this wicked-cool world and these wicked-cool characters revolving around a boring and, quite frankly, not that bright guy who works in risk management. We have a plot that’s not really a plot because you are introduced to one of the very obvious conspirators right off the bat. And yet I am still giving this book a 4-star review (though it’s more of a 3.5) and just pre-ordered the next one in the series.
Why?
Because the worldbuilding is that intriguing to me and, because even though I often have to pause to smack the book against my coffee table because I am so frustrated with it, I can never quite put it down and walk away from it either. They are incredible readable, and Gladstone has created something truly fascinating in his combination of modern technologies, floating schools of magic, gods and mage kings.
peterkeep's review against another edition
4.0
It's a bit new for me reading a series of books that are really standalones. There is no character crossover from [b: Three Parts Dead|13539191|Three Parts Dead (Craft Sequence #1)|Max Gladstone|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333049511s/13539191.jpg|19101555] to this one, and it takes place in a different city. The plots really only have minor (very minor) connections. So that took me a bit to get used to - I was a little disappointed, since I liked the murder-mystery/courtroom drama feeling of Three Parts Dead.
Two Serpents Rise is really cool in its own way though. It's still a fresh story in a cool setting. I think the writing was a bit better, even. It has a take on actuaries and risk management, as opposed to Three Parts Dead's look at banking and lawyers. One of the things about Three Parts Dead that I liked was that there was a bit of a critique of modern banking throughout the story...Gladstone really injected some of his opinion into it. It made everything feel a little more personal. I didn't notice as much (or any) of that here. That's fine - I don't expect every fantasy book that I read to make big stands for the author's stance on an issue - but it felt missing coming from the first book to here.
I'm still (obviously) really happy with the book. I devoured it in my spare time, and really enjoyed myself while I was reading it. I'm interested to see how the next one looks. With each being a standalone book, it should be fun to see what remains constant and what changes in each.
Two Serpents Rise is really cool in its own way though. It's still a fresh story in a cool setting. I think the writing was a bit better, even. It has a take on actuaries and risk management, as opposed to Three Parts Dead's look at banking and lawyers. One of the things about Three Parts Dead that I liked was that there was a bit of a critique of modern banking throughout the story...Gladstone really injected some of his opinion into it. It made everything feel a little more personal. I didn't notice as much (or any) of that here. That's fine - I don't expect every fantasy book that I read to make big stands for the author's stance on an issue - but it felt missing coming from the first book to here.
I'm still (obviously) really happy with the book. I devoured it in my spare time, and really enjoyed myself while I was reading it. I'm interested to see how the next one looks. With each being a standalone book, it should be fun to see what remains constant and what changes in each.
syllareads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
songwind's review against another edition
5.0
Gladstone has done it again, this time with a story set before the first book, [b:Three Parts Dead|16063889|Three Parts Dead (Arisen, #3)|Glynn James|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363871603s/16063889.jpg|21852994].
Two Serpents Rise centers around Caleb, a risk manager for a Craft concern in the dessert city of Dresediel Lex. When he's called in to determine what went wrong at one of the city's water reservoirs (now infested with demonic creatures) he uncovers a plot and war that are truly epic in scope.
Dresediel Lex and its surroundings are located in a dessert, and dependent on importing water to survive. Before the God Wars, gods provided for the city. After, Red King Consolidated, a Craft concern, took over the duties. The tension between the time before and after the God Wars, and between theism and humanism, are central to the plot of Two Serpents Rise. Aside from the dessert environment, the society of Desediel Lex is based on Meso-American cultures like that of the Aztecs. And like the Aztecs, DL had a very hungry, demanding pantheon of gods. One of the things that started the God Wars was the practice of human sacrifice to assuage the gods and win their favors. Most people of DL seem content with the new secular order, but others are not. They believe that rising against the gods was sacrilege and that the human-controlled Craft that now supplies their needs must be removed, and the old ways restored "before it's too late."
The writing, pacing and plot were all excellent. I loved this book from end to end, and am looking forward to [b:Full Fathom Five|16148208|Full Fathom Five (Craft Sequence #3)|Max Gladstone|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385068358s/16148208.jpg|21982690].
Two Serpents Rise centers around Caleb, a risk manager for a Craft concern in the dessert city of Dresediel Lex. When he's called in to determine what went wrong at one of the city's water reservoirs (now infested with demonic creatures) he uncovers a plot and war that are truly epic in scope.
Dresediel Lex and its surroundings are located in a dessert, and dependent on importing water to survive. Before the God Wars, gods provided for the city. After, Red King Consolidated, a Craft concern, took over the duties. The tension between the time before and after the God Wars, and between theism and humanism, are central to the plot of Two Serpents Rise. Aside from the dessert environment, the society of Desediel Lex is based on Meso-American cultures like that of the Aztecs. And like the Aztecs, DL had a very hungry, demanding pantheon of gods. One of the things that started the God Wars was the practice of human sacrifice to assuage the gods and win their favors. Most people of DL seem content with the new secular order, but others are not. They believe that rising against the gods was sacrilege and that the human-controlled Craft that now supplies their needs must be removed, and the old ways restored "before it's too late."
The writing, pacing and plot were all excellent. I loved this book from end to end, and am looking forward to [b:Full Fathom Five|16148208|Full Fathom Five (Craft Sequence #3)|Max Gladstone|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385068358s/16148208.jpg|21982690].
itsfreelancer's review against another edition
4.0
Book 2 but a whole new story. I went in without expectations and came out grinning. The bad thing about the Craft Sequence series is that it is dependent on the previous book and that probably makes it a good thing.
The universe is still the same. We are probably thinking of somewhere post apocalyptic where humans have transcended to God-Kings who have taken down the Gods. But it's not all black and white.
I like the protagonist. Caleb is someone I wouldn't mind seeing more of in some of the next installments.
The universe is still the same. We are probably thinking of somewhere post apocalyptic where humans have transcended to God-Kings who have taken down the Gods. But it's not all black and white.
I like the protagonist. Caleb is someone I wouldn't mind seeing more of in some of the next installments.
skycrane's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't enjoy Two Serpents Rise as much as Three Parts Dead, but it still was a solid read. There were a few times where I laughed out loud while reading, but in general the characters are moodier and the setting heavier.
From the beginning, everything seems set up for a typical cyberpunk story. Caleb, the main character, is a corporate slave working for the giant evil corporation that rules the city, and there are signs that the inevitable anarchist rebels are about to start some shit. However, all those cliches are deftly avoided. The evil corporation isn't really that evil, the "noble" rebels are fighting for the right to perform human sacrifices, and there's troubling hints that a third party, even more destructive, is beginning to make its moves. Behind all of this is the reality of Dresediel Lex, which seems to be eternally on the brink of disaster due to the ever-increasing appetites of its growing population.
What is Dresediel Lex? Los Angeles. The geography, the population, the all-consuming thirst of a city unnaturally blooming in the desert, all match LA. However, there are some differences. Until recently the city was ruled by the Quechal gods, who demanded human sacrifice in return for gifts of food and water to the population. The gods were all killed or overthrown, and now food and water is provided by Red King Consolidated via massive plantations farmed by zombies, industrial slaughterhouses, and an elaborate and expansive system of pumps, aqueducts, and desalination plants equaled only by its real-world counterpart. Instead of human sacrifices, RKC demands only a small payment of soulstuff. Why kill a paying customer when you could instead leach away at them for their entire lives?
All the pyramids have been converted to office buildings, the blood-stained altars serve as executives' desks, and the Craftsmen who killed the gods now rule in their place. Caleb is a mid-level risk manager at RKC, slowly dying of ennui. His best friend Teo is somewhat more lively, but still left seemingly left empty and unsatisfied by her life in the city. When Caleb catches Mal, a parkour aficionado apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time (someone has just poisoned one of RKC's reservoir with a batch of aggressive demons), he instantly falls in love and pursues her despite the danger she poses to his career as well as his life.
Unfortunately, I think Caleb's relationship with Mal is the worst part of the book. They're interesting characters, and it's clear they see in one another a reflection of their own scars and demons. However, it does not feel like love. This put me in the awkward position of just taking the author's word for it that they're infatuated with each other even though that doesn't come across through the descriptive text or their interactions with one another. On the other hand, Caleb's friendship with Teo is one of the best parts of the book. Even though Teo isn't around for much of the story, their interactions when they're together feel so comfortable and natural that it's easy to see why they're so devoted to one another. It's clear that the two of them trust one another even more than they trust themselves. It's good to read about such a well-written non-romantic male-female relationship, and especially a friendship like this.
There are some major differences between Two Serpents Rise and Three Parts Dead. The tone, as I mentioned before, is much darker. In the plot, the immediate stakes are much higher. The pacing is different—instead of the steadily rising action in its prequel, Two Serpents Rise has several large lulls in tension before quickly ramping up at the end. The narrative perspective focuses much more on a single character, and only rarely do we get glimpses of other characters' minds. Still, the books are more alike than they are different, and if you enjoyed Three Parts Dead you'll almost certainly enjoy Two Serpents Rise.
From the beginning, everything seems set up for a typical cyberpunk story. Caleb, the main character, is a corporate slave working for the giant evil corporation that rules the city, and there are signs that the inevitable anarchist rebels are about to start some shit. However, all those cliches are deftly avoided. The evil corporation isn't really that evil, the "noble" rebels are fighting for the right to perform human sacrifices, and there's troubling hints that a third party, even more destructive, is beginning to make its moves. Behind all of this is the reality of Dresediel Lex, which seems to be eternally on the brink of disaster due to the ever-increasing appetites of its growing population.
What is Dresediel Lex? Los Angeles. The geography, the population, the all-consuming thirst of a city unnaturally blooming in the desert, all match LA. However, there are some differences. Until recently the city was ruled by the Quechal gods, who demanded human sacrifice in return for gifts of food and water to the population. The gods were all killed or overthrown, and now food and water is provided by Red King Consolidated via massive plantations farmed by zombies, industrial slaughterhouses, and an elaborate and expansive system of pumps, aqueducts, and desalination plants equaled only by its real-world counterpart. Instead of human sacrifices, RKC demands only a small payment of soulstuff. Why kill a paying customer when you could instead leach away at them for their entire lives?
All the pyramids have been converted to office buildings, the blood-stained altars serve as executives' desks, and the Craftsmen who killed the gods now rule in their place. Caleb is a mid-level risk manager at RKC, slowly dying of ennui. His best friend Teo is somewhat more lively, but still left seemingly left empty and unsatisfied by her life in the city. When Caleb catches Mal, a parkour aficionado apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time (someone has just poisoned one of RKC's reservoir with a batch of aggressive demons), he instantly falls in love and pursues her despite the danger she poses to his career as well as his life.
Unfortunately, I think Caleb's relationship with Mal is the worst part of the book. They're interesting characters, and it's clear they see in one another a reflection of their own scars and demons. However, it does not feel like love. This put me in the awkward position of just taking the author's word for it that they're infatuated with each other even though that doesn't come across through the descriptive text or their interactions with one another. On the other hand, Caleb's friendship with Teo is one of the best parts of the book. Even though Teo isn't around for much of the story, their interactions when they're together feel so comfortable and natural that it's easy to see why they're so devoted to one another. It's clear that the two of them trust one another even more than they trust themselves. It's good to read about such a well-written non-romantic male-female relationship, and especially a friendship like this.
There are some major differences between Two Serpents Rise and Three Parts Dead. The tone, as I mentioned before, is much darker. In the plot, the immediate stakes are much higher. The pacing is different—instead of the steadily rising action in its prequel, Two Serpents Rise has several large lulls in tension before quickly ramping up at the end. The narrative perspective focuses much more on a single character, and only rarely do we get glimpses of other characters' minds. Still, the books are more alike than they are different, and if you enjoyed Three Parts Dead you'll almost certainly enjoy Two Serpents Rise.
elligo's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
isi gsi
callmeren's review against another edition
3.0
3.5. Great culture and moral dilemma. Beautiful. I didn't feel the leads' chemistry though.
lsparrow's review against another edition
1.0
I just could not get into the characters or the story.
sandygx260's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed "Three Parts Dead". I found the main character, Caleb, to be too much of a self-centered asshole and Mal too much of a... lunatic for no good reason. Instead I wanted to know more about supporting characters like Teo, the Red King, and Caleb's wild father Temoc. When they arrive on the page, the book jumps to five stars.
Don't get me wrong, the same amazing imagination is at work here, crafting magical battles and creating dire creatures and situations. I just wish I didn't despise Caleb.
So it goes. I still bow to Gladstone's wild talent.
Don't get me wrong, the same amazing imagination is at work here, crafting magical battles and creating dire creatures and situations. I just wish I didn't despise Caleb.
So it goes. I still bow to Gladstone's wild talent.