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A review by branch_c
California Bones by Greg Van Eekhout
4.0
This is a tight, solid story with a cast of fantastic and creatively eccentric characters. But it's the setting that really makes the book stand out: an absolutely brilliant reimagining of Los Angeles that blends sorcery with technology and real history with alternate reality.
If I had to find fault with this book, it would be that the plot is actually fairly straightforward, with the kinds of twists and turns you'd expect from a well constructed heist movie. Also there's certainly some over the top gruesomeness where the villains are involved.
But there are plenty of moments where the plot rises above average, including some truly surprising turns of events, and the unpleasantness is in service of making the bad guys bad enough, so no real complaints there.
The characters manage to strike that perfect balance where the reader can take them seriously when they get into life and death situations while often laughing at their wisecracking and improbable stunts.
A well done and enjoyable book.
If I had to find fault with this book, it would be that the plot is actually fairly straightforward, with the kinds of twists and turns you'd expect from a well constructed heist movie. Also there's certainly some over the top gruesomeness where the villains are involved.
But there are plenty of moments where the plot rises above average, including some truly surprising turns of events, and the unpleasantness is in service of making the bad guys bad enough, so no real complaints there.
The characters manage to strike that perfect balance where the reader can take them seriously when they get into life and death situations while often laughing at their wisecracking and improbable stunts.
A well done and enjoyable book.