Folly of Reviews
Jan. 13th, 2013 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHey,
So the first book outta the gate for 2013 is The Folly of the World by Jesse Bullington. Mr. Bullington wrote The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart which had a great premise and a killer book cover but I found the story rather flat.
This time we got to 15th Century Holland. A massive flood from the sea has inundated the lowlands and submerged hundreds of square miles of land. Whole villages were covered up in water. Lots of interesting things could be down there and so a stylish conman, his psychotic boyfriend, and a half-feral girl team up to bring up a treasure from the deep that will put them on easy street. Like all good crime fiction they're pretty much at each other's throats from the beginning and just as they find what they're looking for it seems that it won't do them any good.
There is, however, a larger game afoot and so in the second half of the book our heroes are thrust into a high society they're only hastily prepared for and which is divided by fierce political rivalries. They do their best to lie low and let the money roll in but complications arise.
It's a pretty good book. The ending may be a bit troubling since the author just up and admits that he won't bother answering a number of plot questions that get raised, but those particular questions aren't really what the book wants to deal with anyway. It smacks of laziness, but everything else is pretty well done, so I give it a pass. Certainly it's worthwhile if you want some grungy low-life, low-magic fantasy stuff. It passes the Bechdel Test and also includes a loving, kinky, gay sex scene so I guess there's something for just about everyone.
later
Tom
So the first book outta the gate for 2013 is The Folly of the World by Jesse Bullington. Mr. Bullington wrote The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart which had a great premise and a killer book cover but I found the story rather flat.
This time we got to 15th Century Holland. A massive flood from the sea has inundated the lowlands and submerged hundreds of square miles of land. Whole villages were covered up in water. Lots of interesting things could be down there and so a stylish conman, his psychotic boyfriend, and a half-feral girl team up to bring up a treasure from the deep that will put them on easy street. Like all good crime fiction they're pretty much at each other's throats from the beginning and just as they find what they're looking for it seems that it won't do them any good.
There is, however, a larger game afoot and so in the second half of the book our heroes are thrust into a high society they're only hastily prepared for and which is divided by fierce political rivalries. They do their best to lie low and let the money roll in but complications arise.
It's a pretty good book. The ending may be a bit troubling since the author just up and admits that he won't bother answering a number of plot questions that get raised, but those particular questions aren't really what the book wants to deal with anyway. It smacks of laziness, but everything else is pretty well done, so I give it a pass. Certainly it's worthwhile if you want some grungy low-life, low-magic fantasy stuff. It passes the Bechdel Test and also includes a loving, kinky, gay sex scene so I guess there's something for just about everyone.
later
Tom
