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A review by nakedsteve
Bookburners by Mur Lafferty, Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Brian Francis Slattery
5.0
Full disclosure: I received this book for free as a sweepstakes prize from tor.com.
Right there on the copyright page: "Originally published in e-serial format online."
This book is the story of an American cop (Sal) whose brother gets possessed by a demon, who then finds herself rushed into the shadowy world of the Vatican's demon response unit. Does that sound like the one sentence summary of a TV show? It should. Because this book is actually a collection of 16 episodes of an online series. And you know what? This model works. It felt like reading a TV show—each episode had it's own short story arc, and the whole season had a much grander arc.
The four authors who did this are all accomplished writers of fantasy fiction, but they spoke here with a common voice, clearly collaborating throughout the series.
I really liked this. It hits a lot of my "fun" buttons, and the pace of the story in "serial" form means that nothing ever bogged down in overblown exhibition. The beats kept coming, and it really kept my interest throughout.
I don't think I want all of my novels to read this way, but this was a really great switch from the novels I usually read. I had a lot of fun with this.
5 of 5 stars.
Right there on the copyright page: "Originally published in e-serial format online."
This book is the story of an American cop (Sal) whose brother gets possessed by a demon, who then finds herself rushed into the shadowy world of the Vatican's demon response unit. Does that sound like the one sentence summary of a TV show? It should. Because this book is actually a collection of 16 episodes of an online series. And you know what? This model works. It felt like reading a TV show—each episode had it's own short story arc, and the whole season had a much grander arc.
The four authors who did this are all accomplished writers of fantasy fiction, but they spoke here with a common voice, clearly collaborating throughout the series.
I really liked this. It hits a lot of my "fun" buttons, and the pace of the story in "serial" form means that nothing ever bogged down in overblown exhibition. The beats kept coming, and it really kept my interest throughout.
I don't think I want all of my novels to read this way, but this was a really great switch from the novels I usually read. I had a lot of fun with this.
5 of 5 stars.