The Man With the Golden Torc
Apr. 12th, 2022 08:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearSimon Green's Secret Histories series is about a family of very secret agents, who battle supernatural, esoteric and other-worldly evil around the world. The protagonist of this first book, Edwin Drood, is sent on a dangerous mission, then abruptly declared rogue and hunted by his own family, without him knowing why.
From the cover, the title and the name of Eddie's alter-ego - Shaman Bond - I was expecting this to be a broad parody of James Bond, and I almost didn't read it, because I thought I wouldn't like it.
But I was very pleasantly surprised by it being tremendous fun, and highly entertaining. It was very silly, but not in the way I expected. I liked all the characters - the development of the relationship between Eddie and the infamous witch, Molly Metcalf was particularly good - and the progression of the story was very engaging. Some of the action scenes went on a bit too long, but overall, this was a great book.
(There was an awesome moment in the middle, where I discovered the founding members of a group who'd been running 24-hour orgies in the West End for decades, in order to gain power from tantric sex rituals, had the same names as my husband and me.)
The climax featured a literal deus ex machina, and quite a bit of monologuing, plus a bit of a cop-out in terms of the family's continuing source of power - but it was also an excellent setup for the rest of the series (eleven more books to enjoy!), so I can forgive that. Roll on the next instalment!
From the cover, the title and the name of Eddie's alter-ego - Shaman Bond - I was expecting this to be a broad parody of James Bond, and I almost didn't read it, because I thought I wouldn't like it.
But I was very pleasantly surprised by it being tremendous fun, and highly entertaining. It was very silly, but not in the way I expected. I liked all the characters - the development of the relationship between Eddie and the infamous witch, Molly Metcalf was particularly good - and the progression of the story was very engaging. Some of the action scenes went on a bit too long, but overall, this was a great book.
(There was an awesome moment in the middle, where I discovered the founding members of a group who'd been running 24-hour orgies in the West End for decades, in order to gain power from tantric sex rituals, had the same names as my husband and me.)
The climax featured a literal deus ex machina, and quite a bit of monologuing, plus a bit of a cop-out in terms of the family's continuing source of power - but it was also an excellent setup for the rest of the series (eleven more books to enjoy!), so I can forgive that. Roll on the next instalment!
