(no subject)

[olivermoss]

Twenty Palaces by Henry Connolly- A very well structured urban fantasy, but the vibes were off.

It's a series that's got a number of volumes out, some from Del Rey and some self-pub. This book takes place in Seattle, but most of the series takes place in rural PNW.



Early in the book, the hero feels violated by a male vampire. The story is careful to avoid making it a gender/gay thing, more of a 'so the person who did this happened to be male' type thing... but it still feels like choices were made. There was no reason for the protag to wake up fully nude. In fact, since the vamp wants the protag to trust him, there was negative reason for that.

Also, this is the least sexy urban fantasy I've ever read. The protag is just out of jail, so he wants 'relief' from some of the women around him, but he doesn't connect their bodies to the people inhabiting them at all. It's like they've got a stress ball he wants to borrow. It's very perfunctory and disconnected.

I am not going to read any of the other books in the series. I finished this one just because it was a well structured urban fantasy. Very good world building. It all feels very solid. Also, it was good to finish something and not DNF it.

It's cool that the author is trying to revive the series by going into self pub. I feel like this would have fallen flat for me even if not for the weird vampire bit. It's all very well structured and has lots of clever bits where the protag uses his shady background to steal spells or get out of situations, but the relationships fell flat and if you asked me what the protag's dramatic need was I couldn't tell you. At times it's 'to not die like this' but overall, idk. His dramatic need isn't even survival because at a few points towards the end he thinks he's going to be killed and doesn't care.

Comments

[rachelmanija]

I remember DNF-ing the first book, but that's literally all I remember about it.

[olivermoss]

The original first book started very in media res and, based on some reviews I just read, left a lot of people confused. The book I just read recently came out, but is the new start of the series.

I didn't read the original book, I was just poking through reviews for context and to see if I missed anything big about it's appeal. Mostly I saw people happy to finally know what was going on.

[mistressofmuses]

That's sort of a bummer. It's almost more frustrating when something has some really good aspects to it, but other parts feel very off. I could hope it gets better later down the road, but don't blame you not wanting to commit to a series based on that start.

[olivermoss]

While it's the first book in the series it's also the most recently written, which is part of why it's such a shame to be flat and also make certain choices. According to reviews I looked at after, the series started very in media res but then never explained anything or gave backstory. This is the missing piece, basically. That kinda paints a dire picture for the rest of the series.

[mistressofmuses]

Oh, I see! I thought that it was the first book and therefore the oldest, so I'd hoped that perhaps the characterization and such had improved later! That's unfortunate that it's more likely the opposite. :/ (Unless the writer was trying to overcorrect for "this is the main character before he went through character growth" but that doesn't fill me with confidence either, tbh.)

That definitely paints kind of a dire picture. I *love* fun urban fantasy worldbuilding, so it sucks that it's so flat and the main character is kinda meh. I'd maybe buy that the unfortunate choices were just something that the author didn't want to retcon, even if they now understand why it could be unfortunate choices, but... eh, still not the sort of thing that would fill me with an abundance of faith.

Bummer.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, I am thoroughly done with this guy's work. Still, I want to write urban fantasy and it's good to read the genre even if it's to go 'yerg...' and deconstruct it... both the good and the bad.

[mistressofmuses]

"What NOT to do" is a powerful thing, honestly. Stealing some fragments of good - like how the worldbuilding is incorporated or the like - is great, but sometimes reading bad books (whether total garbage or just in the "not for me, thanks" vein) is even more helpful for your own work!