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A review by gracecrandall
The Beast of Talesend by Kyle Robert Shultz
5.0
*falls backwards*
*stares happily at the ceiling*
Well. THAT was glorious.
I loved how FUN this story was. It wasn't only fun; there was meat and substance to it, too, but--it was also fun. Fun-ness is a virtue that a lot of stories seem to forget, it seems; but not this one.
Years after all the fairy tales have ended, the world still turns on, growing and changing, filling up with cars and zeppelins. Magic seems, at best, like a half-forgotten memory; at worst, an invention and a myth.
Nick Beasley, a private detective with a penchant for tracking down and disproving any hint of fairy-tale magic he can find, is of the latter opinion.
Or, he was. Right up until a hunt for an ancient artifact landed him as a horned beast, riding a magic carpet with a half-insane noblewoman in a desperate attempt to save the world.
This whole book read like the pilot episode of a really epic TV show. It was fast-paced, insanely clever (I was grinning the whole time), and it was satisfying, but it felt like there was so much more going on, and so
much more that COULD go on in the future. (so happy there's going to be a sequel!! I cannot wait). The whole mythology and structure of the story's world felt at the same time oddly different from anything I've ever seen, but also familiar. It was an adventure in the truest sense of the word.
I also loved the characters. Nick was such a wonderful grumpy skeptic, but with a big heart, and Cordelia was--well--Cordelia. Slightly insane and wildly idealistic, I really liked the edges to her character--and I'm curious to know more about her past, too. (Crispin, meanwhile, is my favorite. Don't tell him, though).
Again, this was so much fun.
I think I'm going to go and read it again...
*stares happily at the ceiling*
Well. THAT was glorious.
I loved how FUN this story was. It wasn't only fun; there was meat and substance to it, too, but--it was also fun. Fun-ness is a virtue that a lot of stories seem to forget, it seems; but not this one.
Years after all the fairy tales have ended, the world still turns on, growing and changing, filling up with cars and zeppelins. Magic seems, at best, like a half-forgotten memory; at worst, an invention and a myth.
Nick Beasley, a private detective with a penchant for tracking down and disproving any hint of fairy-tale magic he can find, is of the latter opinion.
Or, he was. Right up until a hunt for an ancient artifact landed him as a horned beast, riding a magic carpet with a half-insane noblewoman in a desperate attempt to save the world.
This whole book read like the pilot episode of a really epic TV show. It was fast-paced, insanely clever (I was grinning the whole time), and it was satisfying, but it felt like there was so much more going on, and so
much more that COULD go on in the future. (so happy there's going to be a sequel!! I cannot wait). The whole mythology and structure of the story's world felt at the same time oddly different from anything I've ever seen, but also familiar. It was an adventure in the truest sense of the word.
I also loved the characters. Nick was such a wonderful grumpy skeptic, but with a big heart, and Cordelia was--well--Cordelia. Slightly insane and wildly idealistic, I really liked the edges to her character--and I'm curious to know more about her past, too. (Crispin, meanwhile, is my favorite. Don't tell him, though).
Again, this was so much fun.
I think I'm going to go and read it again...