Recent Reads: Three Parts Dead

Not blogging for a month gave me more time to read, so I actually managed to finish a couple books instead of my usual one per century. The last one I finished was the delightfully clever Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone.

This is a difficult one to explain. On one hand, it's solid fantasy, with a lot of the usual--magic (Craft), fantasy creatures (gargoyles, vampires, "blacksuits" in service of the city's justice system), and the extraordinary (resurrected gods, ancient skeletal sorcerers, shadow monsters). But it's also an atypical setting--not quite modern, not quite urban fantasy, but definitely not the traditional medieval European. The main characters are lawyers for the firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao. The magic is intimately associated with contracts, clauses, and legalese. Characters might smoke cigarettes or do drugs behind bars. The priests are actually technicians, who manage the steam pipes that provide the city's energy with the fire-god's power.

Apparently, this is the first book in a set of five, which all take place in the same world, but not necessarily with the same plot/characters. Amazon has this to say about the second book:

Set in a phenomenally built world in which lawyers ride lightning bolts, souls are currency, and cities are powered by the remains of fallen gods, Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence introduces readers to a modern fantasy landscape and an epic struggle to build a just society.

There's also a good twist at the end. I can't tell you my opinion about it, because the reason I bought the book is actually because I read an article on how to write good plot twists--so I already knew what was going to happen before I even read it. I should thank the article for making me say, "Ooh, that book they're talking about sounds pretty cool." Read at your own risk, because it contains major spoilers: Five Steps to a Great Plot Twist