Sunday, December 30, 2012

Book review: Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone

Witches, vampires, religion, the supernatural—Max Gladstone's debut novel Three Parts Dead has them all.

Humans have come to dominate after the God wars of a generation ago. Kos, the God of the city Alt Coulumb, was the exception, until he, too, dies. Tara, newly graduated practitioner of Craft, is taken on by one of the large Craft firms. She and her boss have the job of resurrecting Kos before the God's creditors claim what is left of his power. Aided by Abelard, a chain-smoking priest in Kos' church, Tara discovers that Kos was murdered and must make the case in Alt Coulumb's courts, thus adding a legal thriller element.

Three Parts Dead sports a byzantine plot and writing that I found pedestrian. It took a long time for me to be interested in what was going to happen, but even after that point, I still found the story too abstruse to be accessible. First published in hardcover by Tor in October 2012, the publisher must have recognized it as having appeal among hard-core fantasy readers. For a positive review from a receptive reader, see the review at Kirkus Reviews.


1 comment:

Dave said...

I quite liked the book personally. It seemed short, fun and I liked the world it was set in. I have come across a bunch of negative reviews though so maybe I'm in the minority here.