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A review by shalini_gunnasan
Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw
2.0
I definitely prefer the original. I find this sequel lacklustre, and at 70-something percent, nearly DNF'ed. I only pushed on because I've already gone too far up the road, but it wasn't really reading so much as skimming.
Here's what worked:
I like seeing the old gang back. Grisaille is awesome, loved him. Varney's line about the wilting flowers was lovely.
Here's what didn't:
So few women and it's nearly a reverse nonsexual harem. Greta herself got really boring, and the only two significant female characters from the previous book made no appearance. I would have been stoked to see a part-rusalka and a witch join in, because they were very untapped characters. Instead we got an incredibly tiresome coven of vampires and their incredibly tiresome boss-villain, also mostly male. The one interesting female got fridged. Hurray. Two nonvillain female vampires showed up for all of five minutes, all snooty and smirking and unhelpful, well, why couldn't they have been heroic, to counterpoint Greta? Ugh. Also, Alceste could have been a girl.
New characters were unremarkable. The demon, the psychopomps with the weird ass names which is their only distinguishing characteristic. I wished we had more Fast.
The villains didn't work - they were a little over the top, and it is not new to satirize or mock them.
Overall I would not reread this, but I would reread the first book, because that one was fun and remained so with a recent reread.
Here's what worked:
I like seeing the old gang back. Grisaille is awesome, loved him. Varney's line about the wilting flowers was lovely.
Here's what didn't:
So few women and it's nearly a reverse nonsexual harem. Greta herself got really boring, and the only two significant female characters from the previous book made no appearance. I would have been stoked to see a part-rusalka and a witch join in, because they were very untapped characters. Instead we got an incredibly tiresome coven of vampires and their incredibly tiresome boss-villain, also mostly male. The one interesting female got fridged. Hurray. Two nonvillain female vampires showed up for all of five minutes, all snooty and smirking and unhelpful, well, why couldn't they have been heroic, to counterpoint Greta? Ugh. Also, Alceste could have been a girl.
New characters were unremarkable. The demon, the psychopomps with the weird ass names which is their only distinguishing characteristic. I wished we had more Fast.
The villains didn't work - they were a little over the top, and it is not new to satirize or mock them.
Overall I would not reread this, but I would reread the first book, because that one was fun and remained so with a recent reread.