Vicious Circle review
Sep. 15th, 2010 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearVicious Circle is the second Felix Castor novel by Mike Carey, and Carey now really hits his stride after the rather pedestrian first book in the series. Mulitiple plot strands are woven together with consummate skill into an intriguing and well-crafted whole. Castor's character is developed further and put through the wringer, both physically and mentally, as he has to make difficult choices, losing friends along the way.
However, the structure of the first book is reflected in this one, when the plot grinds to a halt towards the end and we get 20-plus pages of exposition once Castor has tracked down the guy with all the answers. It's a really odd thing to do, dumping huge amounts of information ont he reader without any actual action, and it really destroys the pace of the story. The subsequent climax is certainly exciting enough, perhaps too much so after the massive info-dump directly before it, and the conclusion packs a punch as Castor has to screw over an old friend in order to save someone else's soul.
This book is longer, more involved, and much better than the first one, and I'll definitely be buying the rest of the series. It's just a shame Carey's plot reveals are so heavy-handed. I wonder if it's a hang-over from his work in graphic novels, where exposition can be presented visually through flashback, which would make it more interesting but obviously doesn't work so well in plain text.
However, the structure of the first book is reflected in this one, when the plot grinds to a halt towards the end and we get 20-plus pages of exposition once Castor has tracked down the guy with all the answers. It's a really odd thing to do, dumping huge amounts of information ont he reader without any actual action, and it really destroys the pace of the story. The subsequent climax is certainly exciting enough, perhaps too much so after the massive info-dump directly before it, and the conclusion packs a punch as Castor has to screw over an old friend in order to save someone else's soul.
This book is longer, more involved, and much better than the first one, and I'll definitely be buying the rest of the series. It's just a shame Carey's plot reveals are so heavy-handed. I wonder if it's a hang-over from his work in graphic novels, where exposition can be presented visually through flashback, which would make it more interesting but obviously doesn't work so well in plain text.
