Vicious Circle by Mike Carey

[lightreads]

Vicious Circle by Mike Carey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Eh, you know, this is perfectly competent urban fantasy. Better than, in several respects. The writing, in particular, is several cuts above the pack. But it’s doing that thing where the lone hero wanders around London alternately getting beat up and snarking at people. Which is entertaining enough, but when it comes right down to it that’s all you’ve got because this guy is a lone hero, doncha know, so he has no real community or support system. And what he does have will be stripped away by the story, because that’s drama or whatever.

Lone heroes bore me. Tell me a story about an embedded hero. Tell me about the one who talks to his mother about his problems – tell me the story about the one who fucking has a mother. Tell me about the one who has someone to call at three in the morning, and maybe it’s a complicated, difficult call – hell, I like it better when it is – but when the phone rings, it’ll get picked up. Doing the obligatory hero self-sacrifice-drama thing is so much more interesting when every move tugs a web of deep social connection that I care about.

That book will get more than tepid ‘huh, I guess it passes the time’ from me, even if it isn’t as creative or well-written as this one.




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Comments

[readerjane]

Robin McKinley's Sunshine. Best embedded heroine IMO. What she does for a living and who she does it for matters, and those things don't stop just because the things-that-go-bump-in-the-night come stalking. And her relationships are difficult, but they hold.

Sunshine doesn't satisfy 100% in every aspect, but in terms of the main character, absolutely.

[lightreads]

Oh, yeah, only been meaning to read that for about six years now. Not bad, as the tbr pile goes!