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Wrong Ways Down (2000)

by Stacia Kane(Favorite Author)

4.26 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

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review 1: Definite must read for fans of the Downside series and more importantly, fans of Terrible. One of the things I adore about this series is Kane's super creative (and oftentimes, hard to decipher) street talk, a little something she invented called Downspeech. It's not the usual street slang; Kane invented her own. But she didn't stop there - while many characters speak the language, it varies widely from character to character depending on many socioeconomic factors. Terrible's own version is a little more understood than others (like Bump's, or most of the people living at the docks), and I love that this whole entire story was told using Downspeak. Kudos, Stacia Kane. That had to get confusing at times. Seriously. This story is told from Terrible's POV. Really, I could st... moreop there because that's the hook. That's all you need to know since many, many fans of this series have been waiting for that. Well, wait no more and read it happily. What I loved was getting a deeper insight to Terrible and finally getting more about what he thinks not only of himself, but of Chess. Despite being a tougher than average street thug, Terrible is really quite a gentlemen. He doesn't get down with violence against women and unfortunately in this story, he had to witness the aftermath when Bump's whores are getting beaten and raped. Not only that, but we get to see his softer side when things don't work out with Amy. He feels and feels deeply, fearing he really mistreated her and I loved seeing his protective attitude towards women; whether they are hookers, casual screws like Amy or Sela, or something more, something great in his eyes, like Chess, they all deserve respect and protection. I absolutely loved getting his thoughts and feelings concerning Chess and they were much deeper than we were shown in the actual series books. Another thing I liked was his general thoughts about himself. Not that I like that he thinks so lowly of himself, but rather, he, very much like Chess, also has some deep insecurities. He thinks of himself as stupid, not much to look at, just someone who is good at what he does - collecting and enforcing and all the violence that comes along with it. He's completely unaware that Chess sees through all of that and really sees him for who he is - despite a lack of education, he is a smart man, much smarter than everyone gives him credit for and the part where he was reading the book loaned to him by Chess really proves that point. Another interesting comparison between Terrible and Chess, aside from their insecurities, is they both come from similar backgrounds. Terrible's beginnings were always hinted at, never explained in such depth and in Wrong Ways Down, so much of his past is revealed. What I didn't expect was for his tragedies to somewhat mirror Chess'. It really adds a deeper connection and hopefully one day, they can each overcome their horrid pasts. Terrible is such a complex and highly tangible character and he's certainly the highlight of this series for me. As I said before, a definite must read for fans of both the series and Terrible. And despite this being labeled as a novella, it's almost a full length novel at about 250 pages. That's 250 pages of Terrible goodness that I didn't want to end. This was a nice bridge while waiting for the as-yet unpublished and untitled sixth book, which I really am looking forward to. Stacia Kane - please keep this series going for as long as possible. I'll wait as long as I need to between books, just please keep 'em coming :)
review 2: After reading a string of bad books, reading this one was like putting on my favourite pair of pajamas, comfortable and reassuring. These characters. I love them. Whereas the main books in this series are written from Chess’ point of view, this one was written from Terrible’s perspective and we had a lot of light shed on his back story, and got an inside look on his feelings for Chess. Stacia Kane is so good at writing emotionally messed up, complex characters, that it made my heart hurt, every time Terrible longed for Chess, but didn’t want her to run away from him, so he never acted on his feelings. I had to refrain myself from “aww-ing” out loud numerous times, when Terrible’s inner monologue voiced how deeply he felt for her, how highly he regarded her and how he looked out for her wellbeing, without her necessarily knowing he was doing it. He may be a badass on the outside, beating on people for his day job, but deep down he is truly just a big softy. The first few chapters took me a while to read, as I have been out of “downside” for a while, I forgot about the way they speak, but before long the story had me racing through the pages, barely even registering that the language is slightly different to what I am used to in everyday life. As is the case with all of this series, I finish one book and I have to refrain myself from bingeing on the rest, because I want to savour them and enjoy them for their greatness on their own, rather than mushing all of the storylines into my head at once so that I am unable to distinguish between them all.This is fast becoming my favourite series. 4 stars! less

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