A review by fandom4ever
Batman: The Court of Owls by Greg Cox
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Batman: The Court of Owls takes place about two months after the original two graphic novel volumes Batman: The Court of Owls and Batman: The City of Owls, along with the compilation The Night of the Owls; basically back when the Court of Owls was an interesting concept and not pilfered for all it was worth and became the only story element and villain Batman and his allies could go against.
It was a pretty good story, actual detective work happens on Batman’s part and we see how much his time with the Court and being tortured in the sinister Labyrinth affected him. I love the humanizing moments of Batman/Bruce Wayne. As for the Talons, I don’t remember them ever talking so much. It really took away from their menacing auras when they’re threatening like a punk kid.
The beginning half of the book is far stronger than the latter half; when it was setting up the characters and the mystery that needed to be solved. The 1918 storyline became more interesting than the current day. In the past the Court was still a force to be reckoned with, not the broken down thing they had become because Batman had succeeded in escaping the Labyrinth and knew the Court existed. But with the past storyline existing it takes away much of the mystery of the current day storyline. Batman is trying to figure out why people are spontaneously combusting but we’re learning more than he through our past flashbacks, instead of learning and uncovering alongside him. The story definitely feels padded out, if it could have been more concise, this would have been a far stronger book.
I couldn’t believe the amount of writing and grammatical errors that started popping up in this novel (at one point the wrong character’s name is even used!); an unforgivable sin in a published book. It wasn’t self-published, they used a publishing company, where was the editor? There’s nothing like reading a book and coming across an error that completely takes you out of the moment because you’re wondering why something you just read felt weird. Also, in many instances it felt like the author was telling not showing and the descriptions or dialogue felt wooden because of that. He also was very good at repeating many phrases and thoughts over and over throughout the novel. When I think ‘yes, I already know that, you said that pages ago’, an editor should have chopped that.
Overall, a decent enough read, I don’t regret having read it. I just wish the stakes had been more involved and that the curtain of mystery hadn’t been raised so soon for the reader while Batman himself was still working on the puzzle.
It was a pretty good story, actual detective work happens on Batman’s part and we see how much his time with the Court and being tortured in the sinister Labyrinth affected him. I love the humanizing moments of Batman/Bruce Wayne. As for the Talons, I don’t remember them ever talking so much. It really took away from their menacing auras when they’re threatening like a punk kid.
The beginning half of the book is far stronger than the latter half; when it was setting up the characters and the mystery that needed to be solved. The 1918 storyline became more interesting than the current day. In the past the Court was still a force to be reckoned with, not the broken down thing they had become because Batman had succeeded in escaping the Labyrinth and knew the Court existed. But with the past storyline existing it takes away much of the mystery of the current day storyline. Batman is trying to figure out why people are spontaneously combusting but we’re learning more than he through our past flashbacks, instead of learning and uncovering alongside him. The story definitely feels padded out, if it could have been more concise, this would have been a far stronger book.
I couldn’t believe the amount of writing and grammatical errors that started popping up in this novel (at one point the wrong character’s name is even used!); an unforgivable sin in a published book. It wasn’t self-published, they used a publishing company, where was the editor? There’s nothing like reading a book and coming across an error that completely takes you out of the moment because you’re wondering why something you just read felt weird. Also, in many instances it felt like the author was telling not showing and the descriptions or dialogue felt wooden because of that. He also was very good at repeating many phrases and thoughts over and over throughout the novel. When I think ‘yes, I already know that, you said that pages ago’, an editor should have chopped that.
Overall, a decent enough read, I don’t regret having read it. I just wish the stakes had been more involved and that the curtain of mystery hadn’t been raised so soon for the reader while Batman himself was still working on the puzzle.