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Desdaemona (2011)

by Ben Macallan(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1907519637 (ISBN13: 9781907519635)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Solaris

series

Desdaemona

review 1: Well, this is an interestingly different story. Generally with Urban Fantasy there are rules that are usually followed - they are mostly told first person by the protagonist, and that protagonist is usually the same gender as the author. Desdaemona is different, in that it is told first person and the gender is right but that person is not the protagonist. Rather, he is Jordan, a missing Prince of Hell who is hired by the real protagonist, a daemon (enhanced human) called Desdaemona to find her missing sister Fay. It's an unusual twist that works quite well, as you get to know the main character through the eyes of someone else. It therefore avoids some of the snarkiness and self-awareness that sometimes accompanies first person told stories. There are some really good twi... morests in here with some genuine surprises, even shocks. The story fairly zips along with some well drawn characters and situations, and the ending is totally unexpected.
review 2: Ben Macallan is another pseduonym for Chaz Brenchley ( I believe he's got at least 2 more). He's using this name for a foray into urban fantasy.I was willing to go along for the ride, but about 130 pages into the book I realized that I didn't have it in me to read through the next 200 pages, so I skimmed. I feel that was the right decision.Basic premise: young man (or something more?) on the run is recruited by a girl (who's definitely more) to find the girl's missing sister. There is, of course, a twist. Or two. It's a good urban fantasy, with lots of mythology on top of the normal vampires and werewolves, like dryads/shapeshifters and sort of a Faerie world. This author can craft a sentence. You'll be reading along for the story, and a phrase will come out of the blue and make you stop and think. I don't have a good example in front of me, but the process of reading is a pleasure. It feels higher grade than a lot of the urban fantasy being churned out right now.However, the book does suffer a bit from lack of context. There's lots of atmosphere being set, so everything is powerful, fraught and grim. For example, during the first fight scene we're told that Desdaemona has her Aspect (the supernatural side of her) powered "up to 11". That's as far as it can go, right? But no. Three times after this ( so far ) the main character is amazed by how much more powerful Desi's Aspect is than he's ever seen. If you've ratcheted up to 11 out of 10 in the first 50 pages, you'd think you'd have nowhere to go, but that's not the way the book goes. After a while, everything and everyone, protagonist and antagonist, is so powerful and overwhelming that it becomes meaningless. All sense of scale is lost. Everything is so over the top that nothing's over the top, if you take my meaning. But there will be plenty of people who enjoy the book, and it is a cut above the average UF. less

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