Tuesday, August 3, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Paper & Blood by Kevin Hearne

 


Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on August 10, 2021 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Paper & Blood is the second book in Kevin Hearne's urban fantasy "Ink & Sigil" series, after the novel of the same name (Ink & Sigil, reviewed here) that came out last year.  The series is a stand-alone sequel series to Hearne's completed urban fantasy series, the Iron Druid series, and features a profane older Scottish "sigil agent" as its protagonist, as he attempts to use drawn sigils in special ink to enforce the boundaries of our world against the supernatural....and to deal with some curses that have been cast upon him.  Profanity, Vulgar Humor (of the profanity form, not the sexual form), and some clear silliness were very present in the first book, making it a bit different than the other urban fantasy series I read, but it was still very fun, so I was interested to see how the second book would turn out.  

And well, it's still fun, but the silliness gets ramped up to another level to a point that didn't quite work as much for me, and the plot here reintroduced the Iron Druid, which made it a bit less effective than it might have been otherwise.  It's clearly a second novel in what is meant to be a long running series, still introducing new characters and concepts that will play a role to come for sure, as well as carry the tone and long term plot arcs in the future.  So if you liked book 1, you'll probably like this, although I'm not sure if I like it enough to continue....let me try to explain better after the jump.  

-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Al MacBharrais, Sigil Agent, now knows he's on the clock: if he doesn't find a way to dispel the two curses upon him, in just a few months one of those curses will kill his latest contracted employee, the hobgoblin Buck Foi.  The problem is: dispelling the curses will require figuring out who cast them, and whoever did cast them is likely to be out of Al's league.  

But before Al can try and work on the problem, he gets a surprise call from across the world: two of the other Sigil Agents, who work in the Eastern Hemisphere, have gone missing when investigating a disturbance in Australia.  And so Al and Buck Foi head to the down under to search for Al's missing allies....and whatever was powerful enough to make them disappear.  

There, in Australia, Al will find himself confronted by gods, fae, meddling humans, and other unidentifiable monsters, and will be required to call for backup from one of the most powerful beings alive: the Iron Druid.  But even the Iron Druid's help may not be enough to get through this.....and may make all his worries about his curses academic, at best.
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Paper & Blood follows up on Ink & Sigil, by, as many second books in series do, expanding the world quite a bit, and not just in that the book leaves Scotland to spend most of its duration in Australia.  Notably however, the book expands the world in many ways just to setup characters and plot points for future books - so two new major characters are introduced: Roxanne, a goddess thought to be dead (under another name), and Gladys Who has Seen Some Shite, Al's receptionist who was a bit character in the prior novel but reveals herself to be far more important here.  Then we have the Iron Druid, star of the prior book series which I haven't read, which probably will make this book far more interesting for longtime Hearne readers, but still is developed enough here that I was okay without any foreknowledge of who he was.  And of course there's what we learn about the other Sigil Agents, particularly from the apprentice Ya-ping, who is dealing with the rough part of having to figure out how to live a double life as a young woman unable to tell normal humans...and boyfriends...about what she actually does.  These characters work fairly well, and are very enjoyable additions.....mostly. 

The mostly part comes because this book really leans into Hearne's sense of vulgar (again in ways other than sexually vulgar) and silly humor, like that in his collaborations with Delilah S Dawson that I found didn't work for me (Kill the Farm Boy, which I DNFed).  For some people this humor, like a character constantly referred to as Gladys Who has Seen Some Shite, Buck Foi's antics, and far far more, will be pretty funny - for me, it just feels silly and distracting to a story that I generally liked otherwise.  Sometimes these silly parts work - a story told by one of the Iron Druid's dogs about having to team up to take on squirrels is a really fun bit - but for the most part, the constant vulgar word play humor was wasted on me.   

Even so, I did like how things turn out, with the final conflict resolved in a way that's logical enough and fitting for Al's capabilities, and the book featuring a good bit of character growth on the part of Al, as he acts as the wise old mentor to Ya-ping and at the same time realizes he has to change his view on what to do about his curses.  Al's awareness of how Al has benefitted from systemic racism/sexism as an older White Man is played well, especially with him acting as a mentor to Ya-ping, who has none of those advantages, and the book also features a realization from another character on how unimportant to one's worth is disability, which is a nice theme....even if it does come a little out of nowhere.  

Again I enjoy this world in large part, I just wish the silly word usage would not be as big a part of it, which it seems like it very much is going to be.  As such, I'm not sure if I'll continue, although I'm tempted, but if you didn't mind or liked that sort of thing in the first book, or in Hearne's other works, then this series will be right on for you.  

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