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Bared Blade A Fallen Blade Novel Kelly McCullough Books

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Bared Blade A Fallen Blade Novel Kelly McCullough Books

If you haven't read the first book in this series, just ignore this review as I'm writing here mostly in comparison to the first. I really liked the first book, consider it a 4 star effort. For the sake of the overall concept and theme, I'd also prefer to give this book a higher rating, but due to some glaring problems, I had to downgrade my score substantially.

** MINOR SPOILER ALERT**

Am I the only person who finds the "voice" of most dialog in this book to be utterly unrealistic and hackneyed? No less than half of the dialog in this story is utterly banal and totally reminiscent in vocabulary, idiom, and voice of schlocky B-grade movies and low quality pulp fiction. Don't get me wrong, I like pulpy noire fiction, but they have to be consistent. This book lacked that consistency. One minute we have a very serious situation with compelling drama and snappy action, and then all of a sudden I feel like I've been thrown into a low-quality Saturday morning cartoon version of the story.

The overall level of dialog is severely downgraded (level of vocabulary, consistency of voice, and originality of idioms) from the first book. When the character VoS is telling Aral about how they got to Tien, we are "hearing" a speaker relate their experience AS IF THEY ARE WRITING A STORY ... NOBODY speaks like that. Utterly and completely took me out of the story ... destroyed all possible 'suspense of disbelief' because the tone was absolutely unbelievable. NOBODY "speaks" a story like a written fiction. Because it WASN'T a story, they were (supposedly) relating their actual and recent experience. Just ... terrible ... completely utterly terrible dialog.

And now Triss (stupid name for a shadow dragon in my opinion) has become some kind of cutesy little semi-comic-relief almost-kiddy-focused "aww so cute lil fuzzy wuzzy kitty cat" type of "animal companion" that every low-end kiddy-fiction schlock writer pumps out in every "low fantasy" story. The first book had made me believe this was going to be a reasonably adult and intelligent fantasy series. Now it seems almost like a Piers Anthony or Alan Dean Foster level of fantasy (which is to say, PG-rated / adolescent language level) with small bursts of adult material thrown in ... it's very disconcerting to me to see such simplistic writing with such adult material (sexual situations, violence, addiction).

I'll probably pick up book 3 just to see if the writing levels out ... but if if remains at this adolescent / uneven level of storytelling I'll definitely bail on the series.


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Bared Blade A Fallen Blade Novel Kelly McCullough Books Reviews

More action better dialoge the story just seemed to flow better than the previous one. The former assassin turned "jack" of all nefarious trades is back in this second installment of the fallen blades. Aral Kingslayer finds more then he bargained for when his conscience, his shadowy familiar Triss, urges him to assist two damsel's in distress. Action a bit of mystery and a few surprising twists this story definitely leaves the reader wanting more. If you've read the first one you'll probably read this one too, but if like me you weren't that impressed with broken blades and are a bit ambivalent about this second installment, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
I read this second volume in the series within a few days.

Conditional on enjoying fantasy-world detective stories with supernatural beings popping in (or out) at the most convenient times, this volume is indeed very pleasant with a proper whodunnit, a fairly irrelevant McGuffin, a couple of dryads (that actually turn into…well, no spoiler!), several false trails, a radical variation on the “good cop-bad cop” duo, and the compulsory climactic reversal of fortune at the very end (not a spoiler since it is the same in every novel!).

Once again, a very light read, to the point of being almost ethereal, with no pretence at depth or epics or myth, but rather funny and guaranteed 100% free of living-deads, which is a relief. I actually found this volume better than the first one, which is a rarity if you have had enough spare time to read thru my non-scientific book reviews, I am thus looking forward to the next break when I can skip through my following volume of Kelly McCullough, Crossed Blades.
Story is good, but one thing has started to detract from these for me. I get you need to impart information in each book about the character in case the reader is starting in the middle of the series. But several times in the same novel is overkill. I get it he is an addict. I get how much he craves his drug of choice. He does this with other things as well. But 4 months after i read the last book, i still remeber how annoyed i was about another paragraph about how difficult the craving is to overcome. You don't have to repeat it 4 or 5 times each book. That actually is one reason I down graded his writing to OK as well. Sorry, but when you are binge reading a series it is just too much.
The book is a pleasant stand alone fantasy with all the trappings sword fights, monsters, magic, women in leather, soldiers, dark alleys of streets, a fallen hero, his magical sidekick etc....

It is a quick read and has some humor. This is not one of those 600 page with 600 characters types of books. You can put it down and come back three weeks later and pick right back up.

But in the end, the book is just OK at best. I read the first one and then got this one and I have stopped reading half way through. First I found myself skipping a page or two ahead to get on with it, and then there is a long section toward the early middle where two of the characters sort of sarcastically banter back and forth for a few thousand pages ( or so it seemed ) and then even the shadow Triss gets into it and thus reduces his mystery from the supernatural shadow he is to a smart alec something else.

There are also spots where the dialogue seems off. Like when one of the characters says something like, "let's rewind" and suddenly it seems more like today's kids talking than a Blade and a supernatural Dryad speaking.

Nothing too amazing here, kind of like McDonalds French Fries. Get it used in paperback and some evening you will have a quick read.
If you haven't read the first book in this series, just ignore this review as I'm writing here mostly in comparison to the first. I really liked the first book, consider it a 4 star effort. For the sake of the overall concept and theme, I'd also prefer to give this book a higher rating, but due to some glaring problems, I had to downgrade my score substantially.

** MINOR SPOILER ALERT**

Am I the only person who finds the "voice" of most dialog in this book to be utterly unrealistic and hackneyed? No less than half of the dialog in this story is utterly banal and totally reminiscent in vocabulary, idiom, and voice of schlocky B-grade movies and low quality pulp fiction. Don't get me wrong, I like pulpy noire fiction, but they have to be consistent. This book lacked that consistency. One minute we have a very serious situation with compelling drama and snappy action, and then all of a sudden I feel like I've been thrown into a low-quality Saturday morning cartoon version of the story.

The overall level of dialog is severely downgraded (level of vocabulary, consistency of voice, and originality of idioms) from the first book. When the character VoS is telling Aral about how they got to Tien, we are "hearing" a speaker relate their experience AS IF THEY ARE WRITING A STORY ... NOBODY speaks like that. Utterly and completely took me out of the story ... destroyed all possible 'suspense of disbelief' because the tone was absolutely unbelievable. NOBODY "speaks" a story like a written fiction. Because it WASN'T a story, they were (supposedly) relating their actual and recent experience. Just ... terrible ... completely utterly terrible dialog.

And now Triss (stupid name for a shadow dragon in my opinion) has become some kind of cutesy little semi-comic-relief almost-kiddy-focused "aww so cute lil fuzzy wuzzy kitty cat" type of "animal companion" that every low-end kiddy-fiction schlock writer pumps out in every "low fantasy" story. The first book had made me believe this was going to be a reasonably adult and intelligent fantasy series. Now it seems almost like a Piers Anthony or Alan Dean Foster level of fantasy (which is to say, PG-rated / adolescent language level) with small bursts of adult material thrown in ... it's very disconcerting to me to see such simplistic writing with such adult material (sexual situations, violence, addiction).

I'll probably pick up book 3 just to see if the writing levels out ... but if if remains at this adolescent / uneven level of storytelling I'll definitely bail on the series.