kriadydragon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kriadydragon) wrote2010-07-30 07:55 pm
kriadydragon) wrote2010-07-30 07:55 pm
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Book Review - Felix Castor: The Devil You Know
I really, really like this book. And yet, at the same time, I kind of, sort of don't.
It sucked me in pretty quick, most especially the mystery aspect (although I totally called it from the start ;)). I like Felix, love that his nickname is Fix. Love his landlady. Love how he exorcises ghosts. And love that there's some actual, visible character development and that exorcism isn't so cut and dry after all. Oh, and it has some awesome whump ;)
The only cons are personal cons, stuff that bugged me for personal reasons and not because it screwed up the plot or anything. I could have done without all the cussing, but more than that could have done with out all the sex - namely sexual innuendos, similes, metaphors and a couple of non-explicit, fade-to-black sex scenes. But I know what you're going to say - Dresden Files isn't all that chaste a story and yet I love it to pieces despite that. But the difference between Dresden and Castor is that in Dresden we're not told out right when someone is having an erection... three times throughout the story *shudders* (oh, and that one book that had the explicit sex scene was a book I borrowed from a friend, who had covered the scene with sticky notes, so that one doesn't count). Usually I'm pretty good at ignoring such things in books as long as they don't get too explicit and it's spread out enough to ignore, but this wasn't spread out enough to ignore, and I almost stopped reading because of it. Some images I would really rather not have in my head :P
I also had some... rather unusual issues with Castor's character at first. Nothing major and nothing that threw me from the story, but I was having a hard time really pinning down his characterization, and it was odd. While the author kept trying to paint Castor as being one way, I kept imagining Castor as something totally different. For example, at one point Castor is talking about music, and how he's more a punk fan than a fan of jazz. The thing is, I totally pegged him for a jazz fan, or at least classical music or maybe blues fan, not a punk fan. I kind of found it interesting. Castor wasn't a flat character, not by a long shot, but at some point in time I had developed this immediate impression of him that ended up contrasting with how the author wanted him to come across, and I don't know how this happened.
I think my problem was (and I do blame myself, not the author) that I wanted Castor to be someone else, so to speak. The author was going for the cliche detective - heavy drinker, jaded, cynical - while I was going more for... well, I'm not sure what I was going for, maybe someone leaning more toward the cliche exorcist with a few personal preferences thrown in. I think, in a way, I didn't want Castor to be the cliche-detective type, I wanted something else, so my brain automatically attempted to comply. *Shrugs* I don't know. It was weird, yet managed not to ruin the story in any way.
I don't think this is a series I'm going to continue with for the reasons mentioned above, which sucks because I did enjoy the story and the characters, and really love the concept and where the author is going with it. Maybe if I spread it out, read the next book after a couple of months rather than jump into the next book as soon as I get it. We'll see
And apologies for pimping my dragons on this post, but the green one refuses to grow up :P
It sucked me in pretty quick, most especially the mystery aspect (although I totally called it from the start ;)). I like Felix, love that his nickname is Fix. Love his landlady. Love how he exorcises ghosts. And love that there's some actual, visible character development and that exorcism isn't so cut and dry after all. Oh, and it has some awesome whump ;)
The only cons are personal cons, stuff that bugged me for personal reasons and not because it screwed up the plot or anything. I could have done without all the cussing, but more than that could have done with out all the sex - namely sexual innuendos, similes, metaphors and a couple of non-explicit, fade-to-black sex scenes. But I know what you're going to say - Dresden Files isn't all that chaste a story and yet I love it to pieces despite that. But the difference between Dresden and Castor is that in Dresden we're not told out right when someone is having an erection... three times throughout the story *shudders* (oh, and that one book that had the explicit sex scene was a book I borrowed from a friend, who had covered the scene with sticky notes, so that one doesn't count). Usually I'm pretty good at ignoring such things in books as long as they don't get too explicit and it's spread out enough to ignore, but this wasn't spread out enough to ignore, and I almost stopped reading because of it. Some images I would really rather not have in my head :P
I also had some... rather unusual issues with Castor's character at first. Nothing major and nothing that threw me from the story, but I was having a hard time really pinning down his characterization, and it was odd. While the author kept trying to paint Castor as being one way, I kept imagining Castor as something totally different. For example, at one point Castor is talking about music, and how he's more a punk fan than a fan of jazz. The thing is, I totally pegged him for a jazz fan, or at least classical music or maybe blues fan, not a punk fan. I kind of found it interesting. Castor wasn't a flat character, not by a long shot, but at some point in time I had developed this immediate impression of him that ended up contrasting with how the author wanted him to come across, and I don't know how this happened.
I think my problem was (and I do blame myself, not the author) that I wanted Castor to be someone else, so to speak. The author was going for the cliche detective - heavy drinker, jaded, cynical - while I was going more for... well, I'm not sure what I was going for, maybe someone leaning more toward the cliche exorcist with a few personal preferences thrown in. I think, in a way, I didn't want Castor to be the cliche-detective type, I wanted something else, so my brain automatically attempted to comply. *Shrugs* I don't know. It was weird, yet managed not to ruin the story in any way.
I don't think this is a series I'm going to continue with for the reasons mentioned above, which sucks because I did enjoy the story and the characters, and really love the concept and where the author is going with it. Maybe if I spread it out, read the next book after a couple of months rather than jump into the next book as soon as I get it. We'll see
And apologies for pimping my dragons on this post, but the green one refuses to grow up :P