A review by krismcd59
The Twelve Children of Paris by Tim Willocks

3.0

I'm really conflicted about this one. I loved The Religion, and this sequel has many of its good qualities -- a macabre sense of humor, memorable, surprising characters, and a keen sense of period values and morals. The premise -- that Mattias becomes increasingly encumbered by brave, precocious, endangered children in his quest to navigate the labyrinth of Paris and rescue his very pregnant wife -- is compelling, sometimes hilarious, and touching without being overly sentimental. The story is complex and fascinating, but by the halfway point of the novel, the presentation of Mattias as an unstoppable killing machine -- and the obsession with anatomically detailing each killing thrust and blow he delivers -- begins to feel like a first-person-shooter video game more than a novel. Willocks also quickly abandons his initial discussion of the political complexities of the religious power struggle in France, and the intersection of politics and religion was one of the things that made The Religion such a intelligent read. The fact that he has no real moral confrontation with his actual enemies and must chiefly overcome a series of confrontations with nameless armed companies (and the very occasional moment of self-loathing), also adds to the video-game feel of the novel's second half. The secondary characters are much more interesting, although they, too, behave in what feels like pretty programmed ways once they've committed themselves to Mattias's cause. I finished the novel more from a sense of duty -- and a curiosity about which characters would survive and which would not -- than from real enjoyment.