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The Long Man (2010)

by Steve Englehart(Favorite Author)

3.45 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0765317303 (ISBN13: 9780765317308)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Tor Books

series

Max August

review 1: I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway anhave to say I enjoyed it more than I thought going in to it. Being the second book in the series I felt a bit lost for the first few chapters, but the backstory unfolds well and kept me interested. More than anything though, I enjoyed the unfolding, both the use and the explanation, of Max's magic system. That there are many paths from the same source, and the fact that having a greater understanding of multiple paths helps you to better understand your own, makes as much sense for magick as it does for religion. Finally, I think the Necklace make an excelent nemesis during this book, and for future books. Let's hear it for world spanning shadow organizations.
review 2: Max August is a timeless "alchemist... more" who manipulates gravitational forces and light. As part of his abilities, he has become Timeless, that is he does not age and has not aged from 35. He is off the grid. He was taught by Agrippa, another Timeless warrior.Max August has an enemy, Alexandra, a sorcerer, who killed Agrippa and Max's wife Valerie Drake a few years before the action in this novel.As the novel starts, Max August is called to the dying bedside of Fern, an old friend, who knew Max when he was a deejay. Fern who knows that Max does not age, asks Max to look in on a friend of hers -- a doctor who is in a hospital because she has been poisoned. As a favor to Fern, Max visits the hospital and finds Pam Blackwell, who seems to have a magical dart in her side. Max cannot cure her but he can arrest the progress of the dart. They have to find the maker of the dart to heal her completely. After he heals her, they are attacked in the hospital by a gunman and zombies. Blackwell has discovered a cure for a deadly nerve toxin, which is the main ingredient in the making of zombies. Apparently someone wants Blackwell eliminated and the nerve toxin cure destroyed.Max and Blackwell go on the run seeking to find out who sent the magical dart and in the process discover and seek to stop a conspiracy by a group of power hungry criminals who seek to take over a small country as a stepping stone, for (trumpets blaring") world domination.I thought this quest novel, with a unique "super hero" character who uses gravity and light to do things, was a really cool fast read. There are small interruptions in the main story, as the author digresses to some mysterious patient in a mental institution, who the reader will guess soon enough, and to Max's past activities with Agrippa and Valerie Drake, but these are plausible breaks to situations to fill in the big picture.I would recommend it for people who want to try a new thing. less

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