Today, I'm reviewing The Good, the Bad and the Infernal and Deadbeat:Makes You Stronger.
Title: The Good, the Bad and the Infernal
Author: Guy Adams
Series: Heaven's Gate #1
Published: 11 April 2013 by Solaris
Source: Publisher
Review: There’s
talk of a town that only appears once every hundred years, in totally different
forms. But some things stay the same-it’s always called Wormwood, and it provides a gate to the afterlife. This
book follows a group of people aiming to get to it when it appears this time in
the Midwest of America, and as they travel, they face many many challenges.
I was sold this as western steampunk. Sounds awesome, right?
We start by following one character, who gets saved by an
old guy, and dragged along the trip. We then meet some other people, and folilow
them on their travels, and then they meet up towards the end of the book. this
makes The Good, The Bad and the Infernal seem more like a collection of stories
about characters, a bit less of a novel. However, this is the first of a
trilogy, so maybe it’ll pick up.
The characters are an interesting lot, but I don’t remember
very much about any of them. There’s a freak show lot, an old guy, a religious
person, and some others.
Imaginative things happen to the characters on the way
along. Snakes! It felt a bit slow and confusing to me in places, but at other
times, you’re really pulled in. The
travels along America are good, and I liked the setting.
I think that it probably will pick up later on in the
series, because the ending is a definite “something big happens next”.
Overall: Strength 3 tea to a Western Steampunk book
that’s totally different, but didn’t keep me entirely.
Title: Makes You
Stronger
Author: Guy Adams
Series: Deadbeat #1
Published: 11 June 2013 by Titan
Source: publisher
Review: Max and
Tom are two good friends who are in the graveyard one night when they see a
coffin being today. With a girl in it. who is breathing. Drawn into the shady
world of health insurance and dealing in other things, they’ve uncovered a
mystery, and they are going to try and solve it.
I quite like Adams’ other stories-works on Torchwood and he
also did the Sherlock casebook. I was looking forwards to reading this.
Max and Tom have an easy friendship, with other like minds,
and it’s nice seeing them work together and play off each other. I really
enjoyed the random side stories.
The twist, I didn’t see coming, but it made a few things
make a bit more sense. Protagonists of this nature always cheer me up, and the
events surrounding it for Max are interesting.
Plotwise, there’s a lot of intrigue, with different trails
and backstories regarding players.
There’s dual narration, and I liked reading from both Max
and Tom’s perspectives. There’s some more perspectives too when the plot calls
for it.
The antagonists were hilarious in parts, as were the
situaitons that Max and Tom found themselves in.
Overall: Strength 3 tea to a darkly funny mystery with
a supernatural twist.
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Thanks for taking time to read this!
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Nina xxx