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A review by chrisshorb
Kill City Blues by Richard Kadrey
3.0
This whole series, man... I like that it takes place in Los Angeles. Having lived there for 12 years, it's fun to hear about places I know. That said, a lot of stuff happens in not-real places - for example in this novel there's apparently a huge seaside mall in Santa Monica that isn't the Third Street Promenade and the Santa Monica Pier. Fiction.
The plots are ok, although something about them leaves me a bit flat. There's always a twist which doesn't quite land for me.
It is fun to be inside the head of James Stark aka Sandman Slim the protagonist. He's cynical and damaged, but also has a heart of gold for those who map to his idea of values.
I keep reading this series - especially because I know it has an ending after 12 volumes. So I'm looking forward to see how it ends. It definitely has an escalating storyline around the elder gods (not Lovecraft's, a different set) who were around before our current god somehow allegedly tricked them out of this creation. I'm thinking this will continue to be the focus.
The one thing that gets me, and it's the same as all urban fantasy - world-shattering events that focus on the protagonist's city. Dresden's Chicago, Stark's Los Angeles. If they know someone as badass as Stark/Sandman Slim lives in Los Angeles - wouldn't you go to ANY OTHER CITY to do your thing to take over the world? Hmmmm?
The plots are ok, although something about them leaves me a bit flat. There's always a twist which doesn't quite land for me.
It is fun to be inside the head of James Stark aka Sandman Slim the protagonist. He's cynical and damaged, but also has a heart of gold for those who map to his idea of values.
I keep reading this series - especially because I know it has an ending after 12 volumes. So I'm looking forward to see how it ends. It definitely has an escalating storyline around the elder gods (not Lovecraft's, a different set) who were around before our current god somehow allegedly tricked them out of this creation. I'm thinking this will continue to be the focus.
The one thing that gets me, and it's the same as all urban fantasy - world-shattering events that focus on the protagonist's city. Dresden's Chicago, Stark's Los Angeles. If they know someone as badass as Stark/Sandman Slim lives in Los Angeles - wouldn't you go to ANY OTHER CITY to do your thing to take over the world? Hmmmm?