lewis_fishman's review against another edition
5.0
Having loved 'The Corpse-Rat King', I loved its sequel just as much. The characters old and new were exciting, the plot was tight, and the humour was as dry and hilarious as the first. Now, hopefully Lee can write number 3...?
sarah1984's review against another edition
3.0
23/12 - I can't believe it's been over a year since I read The Corpse-Rat King (I also can't believe it's only a day till Christmas, but that's another story). When I saw this at the library I was sure I'd read the first book in the series earlier this year, thank goodness for GR and BL or I'd always be under-estimating how many months/years had passed since my last interaction with a particular series or author.
Not quite as hilarious a beginning as The Corpse-Rat King, but I am loving not-dead-enough Granny. She looks like she could provide a similar level of hilarity as I found in the first book. To be continued...
24/12 - I still don't get how this 'being dead' works in this world. If you don't need to breathe, eat, drink, sleep, poop, and you are 'dead' why on earth do you feel any pain? I mean, earlier in the book Granny stuck her hand inside Marius' fatal sword wound a number of times, and the only reason Marius protested was because it was weird and disgusting to see a hand stuck in his chest, not because it hurt or anything like that. So why now, does having every bone in his body broken cause another dead man to experience excruciating pain? It doesn't make any sense. To be continued...
27/12 - After a promising beginning, partially spurred on by my own expectations from the first book, I was a little disappointed with the middle and end of The Marching Dead. It just wasn't quite as funny as The Corpse-Rat King, and considering my thoughts on how high (or low, depending how you look at it) the bar was set with that book that's saying something. I mentioned loving Granny when I first started reviewing? She didn't get nearly enough one-liners and then got kidnapped for a chunk near the middle. She was definitely an underutilised character who could have provided a lot more laughs if given the chance. I really do hope, and think it would be right if, this is the last book in the series. This wasn't as good as The Corpse-Rat King and I believe that if a third book was written it would be even less funny, below three stars. Battersby should quit while he's (sort of) ahead.
Not quite as hilarious a beginning as The Corpse-Rat King, but I am loving not-dead-enough Granny. She looks like she could provide a similar level of hilarity as I found in the first book. To be continued...
24/12 - I still don't get how this 'being dead' works in this world. If you don't need to breathe, eat, drink, sleep, poop, and you are 'dead' why on earth do you feel any pain? I mean, earlier in the book Granny stuck her hand inside Marius' fatal sword wound a number of times, and the only reason Marius protested was because it was weird and disgusting to see a hand stuck in his chest, not because it hurt or anything like that. So why now, does having every bone in his body broken cause another dead man to experience excruciating pain? It doesn't make any sense. To be continued...
27/12 - After a promising beginning, partially spurred on by my own expectations from the first book, I was a little disappointed with the middle and end of The Marching Dead. It just wasn't quite as funny as The Corpse-Rat King, and considering my thoughts on how high (or low, depending how you look at it) the bar was set with that book that's saying something. I mentioned loving Granny when I first started reviewing? She didn't get nearly enough one-liners and then got kidnapped for a chunk near the middle. She was definitely an underutilised character who could have provided a lot more laughs if given the chance. I really do hope, and think it would be right if, this is the last book in the series. This wasn't as good as The Corpse-Rat King and I believe that if a third book was written it would be even less funny, below three stars. Battersby should quit while he's (sort of) ahead.
thiefofcamorr's review against another edition
Katharine is a judge for the Sara Douglass 'Book Series' Award. This entry is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
bent's review against another edition
2.0
Not a terrible book but beyond the premise, not that original. The story starts out light and lively but soon loses the light tone. I found some parts too earnest and other parts too cute. The protagonist is not a character that you really care that much about and the whole plot seemed a little weak and ill-conceived at times. The whole backstory with his parents and his evolving relationship with his girlfriend really provoked nothing in me beyond a "who cares?"
This is a sequel to a book that I haven't read so it's possible that if I had read the original, I might have got more out of this one. With that said, I found the book to be competent but unspectacular. A good concept that fails due to poor execution and a lack of imagination.
This is a sequel to a book that I haven't read so it's possible that if I had read the original, I might have got more out of this one. With that said, I found the book to be competent but unspectacular. A good concept that fails due to poor execution and a lack of imagination.
kateofmind's review against another edition
5.0
had a lot of love last fall for the first novel in this series, The Corpse-Rat King. So much love I almost gave it five stars. Really, the only reason I didn't was because I was pretty sure the best was yet to come.
And I was right. With this sequel, The Marching Dead, Battersby kicked up everything I loved about the first novel by a notch or two -- world-building, storytelling, hilarity, and most of all, characters who just made me punch the air over and over again, usually while laughing. Gerd, the trusty dead bumpkin sidekick on whom our hero Marius relied on last novel, comes into his own as a bona fide second hero, for one... but there's more. For instance, Gerd's newly dead Granny, who could go toe to toe with Lady Sybella and the awesome cranky biddy gang of the Lymond Chronicles, but who, ultimately, would shock them speechless with her command of bawdy songs. And Alno the dead bastard cat. And Arnobew, aka Warbone, the crazy cardboard warrior. And Marius' parents, who are both real pieces of work. And...
See what I mean, here? Generally, any book that finds me giving lists of characters in the first paragraph or two of my blog is one that has made me very, very happy.
But wait, there's more. Like plot twists that actually surprised me. Like genuinely grounding the bizarre, over-the-top story in the hero's character, past and present and making it work. Like featuring lines of dialogue like "It's not necrophilia if we're both dead" and having it feel completely natural, tasteless absurdity and all. Like a stupendously badass order of nuns with whom no sane would ever want to tangle. Really, the only way I could have been happier would have been if Battersby had managed to throw in some kind of awesome Busby Berkley cockroach scene or something. My only complaint is that, well, this seems like an awfully small world; Marius do keep running into every (impressively bosomed) woman he's ever slept with and winding up needing something from her years after leaving on messy terms.
Which is to say that, yes, I could have done without the love rhombus.
But that's a small matter, really. And it's the big matters that, well, matter. Because amid the violence and the guffaws, The Marching Dead has a thing or two to say about belief and religion, about life after death (obviously) and about responsibility, which not even Marius can run away from. There are some poignant moments between the scenes of slapstick carnage and smartassery. As there should be when the subject is death.
As soon as things look to be getting too serious, though, Battersby always comes out with a send up. Because ultimately, he seems to want to tell us, death and fear of death are laughing matters, if anything is. It's just that the joke is on us. As is the vomit, blood, other body fluids....
Battersby is one messed up dude. Delightfully so. We should all be so lucky. All the stars.
And I was right. With this sequel, The Marching Dead, Battersby kicked up everything I loved about the first novel by a notch or two -- world-building, storytelling, hilarity, and most of all, characters who just made me punch the air over and over again, usually while laughing. Gerd, the trusty dead bumpkin sidekick on whom our hero Marius relied on last novel, comes into his own as a bona fide second hero, for one... but there's more. For instance, Gerd's newly dead Granny, who could go toe to toe with Lady Sybella and the awesome cranky biddy gang of the Lymond Chronicles, but who, ultimately, would shock them speechless with her command of bawdy songs. And Alno the dead bastard cat. And Arnobew, aka Warbone, the crazy cardboard warrior. And Marius' parents, who are both real pieces of work. And...
See what I mean, here? Generally, any book that finds me giving lists of characters in the first paragraph or two of my blog is one that has made me very, very happy.
But wait, there's more. Like plot twists that actually surprised me. Like genuinely grounding the bizarre, over-the-top story in the hero's character, past and present and making it work. Like featuring lines of dialogue like "It's not necrophilia if we're both dead" and having it feel completely natural, tasteless absurdity and all. Like a stupendously badass order of nuns with whom no sane would ever want to tangle. Really, the only way I could have been happier would have been if Battersby had managed to throw in some kind of awesome Busby Berkley cockroach scene or something. My only complaint is that, well, this seems like an awfully small world; Marius do keep running into every (impressively bosomed) woman he's ever slept with and winding up needing something from her years after leaving on messy terms.
Which is to say that, yes, I could have done without the love rhombus.
But that's a small matter, really. And it's the big matters that, well, matter. Because amid the violence and the guffaws, The Marching Dead has a thing or two to say about belief and religion, about life after death (obviously) and about responsibility, which not even Marius can run away from. There are some poignant moments between the scenes of slapstick carnage and smartassery. As there should be when the subject is death.
As soon as things look to be getting too serious, though, Battersby always comes out with a send up. Because ultimately, he seems to want to tell us, death and fear of death are laughing matters, if anything is. It's just that the joke is on us. As is the vomit, blood, other body fluids....
Battersby is one messed up dude. Delightfully so. We should all be so lucky. All the stars.
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