Book Review: A Man of Shadows

A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I stumbled upon Jeff Noon’s Vurt at a local library when I was living in Houston. Intrigued by the cyberpunk world, I read it, and its second, Pollen.

I wasn’t super impressed.

So, I didn’t bother with the 3rd book, Automated Alice, and promptly forgot about Jeff Noon and his books.

Then, I got a book from my “wish list” on Netgalley.com, called The Body Library, and I immediately started reading it. Something told me that this was a second, so I did some digging, and yep, it’s the second of the “John Nyquist” books by Jeff Noon.

Long story longer, I bought this one, and tried to power through it quickly so I could get to the other. Worth it.

A Man of Shadows carries Noon’s signature weirdness when it comes to world building: Dayzone–where it’s never night, Nocturna–where it’s never day, and the ever-encroaching Dusk–which according to the stories, is full of monsters, demons, and mist. The year is 1959, and the time? Depends on who you ask and which timeline they’re following, because there’s a ton of them. Experts are predicting a time crash, people are getting time sick, and amidst it all, there’s a serial killer on the loose, named Quicksilver, who somehow murders without being seen.

Confused yet?

It takes a while for the story to get going, and ends up being a sci-fi-crime noir-dystopian-fantasy unlike anything I’ve read. The main guy, Nyquist, is a broken PI, and his character isn’t fully-fleshed out, but you get more of a sense of why is is who he is towards the end.

So read this for the trippy world-building and the twisty-turny mystery, not the rich and storied people in it.

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Book Review: Paramnesia

Paramnesia: The Deadish Chronicles, Book #1 by Brian Wilkinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Paramnesia provides a new and interesting twist on the urban fantasy genre, while introducing readers to a strong and fearless female protagonist, Nora, who discovers that she can see the dead after she and her boyfriend (who just happens to be one of the dead people she now sees…not a spoiler, it’s in the description) get into a tussle with a Revenant.

I have to admit, at the beginning, I was having a hard time getting into the story. There were several pop culture references which were somewhat outdated. Example: Nora, refers to herself as a “…Buffy, not a Cordelia…” which for me, a 45 year old “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” nerd, total got, but the target audience, may not. Most of the pop culture references arose during the first several chapters, and once the action got going, those dropped off and the storyline was more action-driven, rather than trying to character and setting-build.

So, Nora deals with her parents and BFF-Vee, who seems to be the best person on Earth, thinking she’s loony, a dead-“ex”-bf (ex, because, well, he’s dead) that she’s still pining for, her new friends in the “Deadish society” and a Revenant (who is working for forces that are much more deadly than the Revenant itself) all while understanding her new normal. Once we get to that part, the characters are more relatable, the action quicker and more action-y, and I’ll admit, I did shed some tears during a few places at the end–so it made me feel some feels. I was actually bummed when it came to an end, and if it wasn’t for the choppy beginning, this would probably be a 4-star review.

Disclaimer: I received this from Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

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