A review by strawberryfrog666
Tex and Molly in the Afterlife by Richard Grant
5.0
This soared onto my favourites list like a crafty erstwhile Raven deity taking it's rightful place in cultural relevance. The characters genuine, idiosyncratic and relatable, but they're also likable in their realistically flawed personalities. Even the "villains," or the ones with more dubious morals are compellingly human, their motivations and driving forces are clear, and the reader is even made to empathize with them. Perfect pacing, there is always something interesting happening, and something even more interesting imminent.
This book's portrayal of female personalities is gratifyingly good. There is a passage in which the titular Molly observes a scene of chaos and conflagration, and remarks that it is just so "patently male," which I found both accurate and hilarious. While I disagree that anything can be "patently male" (because gender is a passe social construct), the idea behind the quote is clearly that "a violent fire around which people are running like headless chickens is a typical patriarchy-produced mess." This resonated with me on such a deep level when I read it that I actually had to put the book down, laugh, and restock my mental store of respect for male-identifying folk who truly understand the often boorish nature of their fellow men.
Beyond a solid theme of strong women with excellent ideas in leadership positions, this book deals with magic and the supernatural in a wonderful way, touching on it but never fully articulating the details (soft magic system rather than hard magic system, if you're familiar with [author:Brandon Sanderson|38550]'s First Law of Magic Systems (http://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/). The method can be tricky, but Grant executes it perfectly. Tex and Molly simultaneously invokes the school of "well of course there are naiads and elves and Sun and Moon God(ddesse)s" as well as the attitude that "hard facts, science, Laws of Nature are my God," complete with detailed scientific interludes about the biological makeup of trees and slime mold DNA!
This book's portrayal of female personalities is gratifyingly good. There is a passage in which the titular Molly observes a scene of chaos and conflagration, and remarks that it is just so "patently male," which I found both accurate and hilarious. While I disagree that anything can be "patently male" (because gender is a passe social construct), the idea behind the quote is clearly that "a violent fire around which people are running like headless chickens is a typical patriarchy-produced mess." This resonated with me on such a deep level when I read it that I actually had to put the book down, laugh, and restock my mental store of respect for male-identifying folk who truly understand the often boorish nature of their fellow men.
Beyond a solid theme of strong women with excellent ideas in leadership positions, this book deals with magic and the supernatural in a wonderful way, touching on it but never fully articulating the details (soft magic system rather than hard magic system, if you're familiar with [author:Brandon Sanderson|38550]'s First Law of Magic Systems (http://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/). The method can be tricky, but Grant executes it perfectly. Tex and Molly simultaneously invokes the school of "well of course there are naiads and elves and Sun and Moon God(ddesse)s" as well as the attitude that "hard facts, science, Laws of Nature are my God," complete with detailed scientific interludes about the biological makeup of trees and slime mold DNA!