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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is my fourth or fifth time reading this (I guessed on the older dates, but I know I read it the week it came out and I know I reread it at least once in conjunction with the Fall of Ile Rien trilogy, and I think I reread this and Element and the first two Fall books when the third one pubbed, so 2005 would make sense for that; there's a pretty solid chance I also reread in 2003, when the first Fall book came out). It's still fantastic. And the literary shoutouts get even better with time -- I knew Ronsarde was a play on a certain brilliant detective trope, but I don't think I realized that while he's not precisely Holmes, Halle is totally Watson until this time around. And I love the depth of Ile-Rien in terms of world-building -- Madeline quotes from plays! History! Technological advances! Just for that -- that the Fay are only barely a threat here, when 100 years ago (in element of fire) they were a massive issue, but the railroads and the iron everywhere have transformed the worlds -- massive props, but then you also add amazing characters and tight plotting and not everything spelled out and man, it's just SO GOOD.
Now I want to go read the followup trilogy again, too.
Now I want to go read the followup trilogy again, too.
It’s quite interesting to go back in time and read an earlier book by a now-beloved author and see how some things changed and some things didn’t. You can see the basis of her modern style but some things are different. The snappy dialogue and intricate characters are there already. On the other hand, I felt that it could’ve been trimmed in spots. Entire scenes where her modern books would explain it away in a sentence and you’d get the same impact. The characters are slightly slower to fall in love with than say Murderbot or Moon who I loved from page 1. But by the time they got to the (first) ruined mansion I was ready to go to bat for Nicholas and Madeline and Arisilde and Nicholas’ favorite enemy the Inspector and his doctor companion. The constant push-and-pull cat-and-mouse of their relationship delighted me and the set up of it made me cackle at the final chapter’s payoff.
I know they’re making a murderbot show but I honestly think this would make a better one. Or a movie! This would be a great movie
I know they’re making a murderbot show but I honestly think this would make a better one. Or a movie! This would be a great movie
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A fantasy murder mystery by one of my favorite authors? This is for meeeeeeeeeeeeee! I fucking love golden age murder mystery novels (Agatha Christie, Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle). This was a great fresh take on that type of novel (a group of thieves as the focus, and of course the necromancy) with all the things I love about this genre.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Drug abuse, Torture, Death of parent
Great book, with a wonderful cast of characters and a richly detailed setting. There's magic, action, plotting, planning, deception, and humor. What more could you want?!
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews
Summary
Nicholas Valiarde, disregarded noble and part-time thief, is on a mission of revenge. For years, he has planned to lay low the man who falsely implicated his mentor in necromantic crime. But now a plague of ghouls is getting in his way.
Review
This second installment of Ile-Rien is a much more cohesive, polished affair than the first. It’s set in the same world, a hundred years later, and has a few references to its predecessor. But there are also so many references to other past exploits of its protagonists, that you’d be forgiven for thinking it a sequel to another (nonexistent) book entirely. (And the later sequels are another story as well.)
Happily, there’s far less of Faerie and courts in this book. Instead, it’s a magic-infused period mystery/heist story that works much better than the first book did. I’ve given each book the same rating, but they lean toward different ends of the range. This book is much more assured and enjoyable; I looked forward to picking it up. The wrapup is on the easy side and doesn’t stand up to the quality of the rest of book, but you can look past it to enjoy the whole.
This again is the omnibus Book of Ile-Rien version. I didn’t compare it to the prior e or print versions I have, but also didn’t note any substantive changes. Looking this series up in ISFDB reminded me that an Ile-Rien story is also in the anthology Elemental I also have, so I’ll be looking that up as well, though the anthology didn’t stand out in my mind, so I won’t be rereading the whole thing.
Summary
Nicholas Valiarde, disregarded noble and part-time thief, is on a mission of revenge. For years, he has planned to lay low the man who falsely implicated his mentor in necromantic crime. But now a plague of ghouls is getting in his way.
Review
This second installment of Ile-Rien is a much more cohesive, polished affair than the first. It’s set in the same world, a hundred years later, and has a few references to its predecessor. But there are also so many references to other past exploits of its protagonists, that you’d be forgiven for thinking it a sequel to another (nonexistent) book entirely. (And the later sequels are another story as well.)
Happily, there’s far less of Faerie and courts in this book. Instead, it’s a magic-infused period mystery/heist story that works much better than the first book did. I’ve given each book the same rating, but they lean toward different ends of the range. This book is much more assured and enjoyable; I looked forward to picking it up. The wrapup is on the easy side and doesn’t stand up to the quality of the rest of book, but you can look past it to enjoy the whole.
This again is the omnibus Book of Ile-Rien version. I didn’t compare it to the prior e or print versions I have, but also didn’t note any substantive changes. Looking this series up in ISFDB reminded me that an Ile-Rien story is also in the anthology Elemental I also have, so I’ll be looking that up as well, though the anthology didn’t stand out in my mind, so I won’t be rereading the whole thing.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Somewhat uneven, but an enjoyable dungeon-crawl on the whole.