Wednesday, September 03, 2008

The Blade Itself

This one, by Marcus Sakey, wasn't nearly as good as the previous one, by Joe Abercrombie. But it was still good enough to read and enjoy. Abercrombie and Sakey clearly write in different genres, but Abercrombie is also a genius of sorts. So comparing Sakey to him wouldn't be right.

On it's own, Sakey writes a gritty novel about Chicago's North and South Sides and how two guys live on the wrong side of the law. When one bails on the other during a robbery gone wrong, he sets his life straight. That is until his partner gets out of jail years later and ropes him into doing something worse.

And that is what Sakey writes so well, a bad guy so bad you want to kill him. Sure, he made many of the classic mistakes of bad guys (like toying with his victim before killing him - thus allowing the hero to rescue the victim) but he's also one evil dude. Downright violent and damn near sociopathic.

While tings work out in the end (as expected) there were some weaknesses to Sakey's book. Mainly the predictability of it. Think about that classic television show or movie where the bad guy keeps winning and winning until the good guy comes back from the brink to win it all.

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