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A review by litwrite
Already Dead by Charlie Huston
3.0
Well, I finished Sandman Slim and said I wanted something lighter and ended up with another noir, this time with a vampire protagonist named Joe Pitt who has to find a missing rich girl and track down the source of a mysterious and deadly zombie virus carrier all while in the middle of a clan turf war.
I hesitate to give this a 3 because I feel that I'm being unfair, comparing it to Sandman Slim since I read the 2 so closely, but altogether I think that Sandman Slim was a much more ambitious novel with much stronger and interesting world building. Joe Pitt's world was more workmanlike, much more anchored to reality but at the same time I found that Joe was a much more likeable and less whiny protagonist which is very important in a first person novel. I enjoyed his pragmatism and found it refreshing after Stark's constant whininess.
As a first novel I felt this world held a lot of promise, and I'm interested enough to continue the series. Huston does a good job with the noir tone without hammering it into your skull repeatedly with a giant mallet like Kadrey, which meant for a much easier read.
I'd recommend this for urban fantasy fans who want something a little grittier.
I hesitate to give this a 3 because I feel that I'm being unfair, comparing it to Sandman Slim since I read the 2 so closely, but altogether I think that Sandman Slim was a much more ambitious novel with much stronger and interesting world building. Joe Pitt's world was more workmanlike, much more anchored to reality but at the same time I found that Joe was a much more likeable and less whiny protagonist which is very important in a first person novel. I enjoyed his pragmatism and found it refreshing after Stark's constant whininess.
As a first novel I felt this world held a lot of promise, and I'm interested enough to continue the series. Huston does a good job with the noir tone without hammering it into your skull repeatedly with a giant mallet like Kadrey, which meant for a much easier read.
I'd recommend this for urban fantasy fans who want something a little grittier.