My apologies to the legion of Dresdenites who may be about to burn me in effigy...but Garrett's files are far more entertaining to peruse than those of Jim Butcher's more famous creation. And while I enjoy many aspects of the Dresden stories, Harry himself annoys the bejesus outta me and taints my happy when I read them. I had SO MUCH MORE FUN with this story and this character. Garrett is a hard-boiled, freelance Private Investigator in a world in which humans live and work alongside a variety...and I mean a VARIETY...of different fantasy races called "breeds." Garrett's a smart, sarcastic "ex-marine" who quips and comments his way through the narrative and had me laughing out loud on more than one occassion. He's the glue that holds the wild plot together and his tone is perfectly paired with the plot. Speaking of the plot...PLOT SUMMARY:Garrett is hired by a gnome business man to locate a mysterious woman, whose been named the sole beneficiary of his son's will. To complicate matters, solving the mystery will require Garrett to return to the Cantard, the front line of the ongoing war between the two main empires of the world, and where Garrett served his time as a marine. Prior to venturing into the Cantard, Garrett recruits some "help" in the form of (1) a legendary dark elf bodyguard/assassin and (2) a pair of HUGE "beer drinking" Grolls (see above quote by way of explanation) to act as muscle. In addition to the main thread, there are at least half a dozen sub-plots that will keep you on your toes, but the author does a nioe job of never letting the story get bogged down. The pace remains brisk while Cook still manages to provide a wonderful introduction to the larger world in which this story (and the sequels take place). I thought the balance in this regard was excellent. THOUGHTS:As someone who enjoys fantasy stories that contain a variety of different races shown in fresh ways, I had a lot of fun with Cook's original take on some standard fantasy tropes. Most of the "breeds" can mate with humans and other "breeds" and so you get a very cosmopolitan society. Here's a list of just a few that I thought were cool:Grolls: See above...this description gives you a good idea of Garrett's "tone" throughout the book. Vampires: these are the vicious, nasty version that are neither cute nor sparkly.Loghyr: A "living" corpse (possibly immortal). Killed 400 years ago and possessing a genius intellect and psychic powers. Dark Elves: fast, strong and deadly...Bruce Lee with pointy ears. Unicorns: Not your typical beauty as these are vicious, nasty meat eaters who kill without the slightest provocation...mostly just for fun. Centaurs: Liars, cheats and con-men. Plus, gnomes, witches, pixies, giants, shape-shifters,wizards and more. Bottom-line, I had a ton of fun with this book and can't wait to read the sequels, which I hope are just as good. 4.0 stars. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
I looked over to the upper right here at Goodreads and saw that Alex Bledsoe's "The Sword-Edged Blond" is hailed as comparable to this book. I'd agree with that to an extent... both stand out as fantasy noirish, but I liked Bledsoe's book a whole lot better than this one.First off... I don't get why people file this under "urban fantasy". There's no modern tech that I can remember. No guns, no cars, no planes, no helicopters, no computers, no phones, no engine driven boats/ships, no highrises, no paved highways, etc. Sure the heroes bounce between cities and war zones, but it felt more like Chaka Zulu than Harry Dresden. Quite frankly this story was three fantastical contraptions, one kicking suit of armor, and two hydrogen powered airships away from being steampunk-ish. Urban fantasy? Not in a modern sense. Felt more Holmes-ian with fantasy races.There is a lot to like about this story though. I loved the noir feel and Garrett's love/hate relationship with his door and the people on the other side. The characters are likeable and vivid. The plot is tight and unpredictable. The dialogue snaps back and forth without apology. The author expects you to keep up, and I will admit to rereading at times (more on this later).Usually part of the fun of a noir story is trying to figure out what is going on, but good luck here. You are along for the ride as there aren't any hints that do you, the reader, any good in ferreting out upcoming plot points. Their is also a great imagination at work here too.Where the book left me flat at times was the pervasively mystifying word choice by the author that had me picturing Inigo Montoya saying, "I do not think that word means what you think it means." I was kicked out of the narrative way too many times when I came across a word that seamed like it was left in the wrong place. About two thirds of the way through, I got pretty good at ignoring them and powering through, but until then I found myself going back and reading paragraphs over and over again, trying to see if I had missed something, to end the confusion. In most other books this would have led to a most ignoble "Did not finish", but Cook wrote well enough that I not only finished it, but felt comfortably satisfied at the end.My final thought: This might have been a great book for its time (1987), but I didn't read it then. I read it yesterday (2014). Solid three stars... maybe four stars if I hadn't already read "The Sword-Edged Blonde."
What do You think about Sweet Silver Blues (1990)?
**edited 12/15/13In any reasonably thorough exploration of the space of Urban Fantasy, the bizarre combination of hardboiled noir detective stories and fantasy, Glen Cook's Garrett, PI series is definitely a necessary read. From my understanding, Garrett is one of the first urban fantasies written. It certainly is a landmark in the genre.One of the things I loved most about the story was the world. Garrett's world is significantly more creative than the UF norm: a low-fantasy merging of our world with a secret society of individuals with special powers. Garrett lives on a totally original, fully-fledged fantasy realm where magic is the norm and dark elves, ratmen, ogres, and more coexist with humans in noisy, busy, and overcrowded cities. The atmosphere of cities themselves, especially TunFaire, where Garrett lives, feels a bit like Anhk Morpork: a cheerful, amoral chaos where mythical creatures rub shoulders with practical magical inventions. The world also has a complex history: there is an ongoing war between two of the human-inhabited countries over an area of silver mines, since silver is a necessary ingredient used by wizards in their spells. Cook does a fantastic job twisting common mythical creatures into new, creative, and realistic-feeling versions. For example, unicorns are vicious creatures that travel in packs and hunt humans....And that's all I'm going to post here. The rest of my (rather verbose) review is posted over here at Booklikes.Why? Because I disapprove of GoodReads' new policy of censorship, and will no longer allow my full reviews to be posted here.
—Carly
I actually stopped "reading" this about a third of the way in and skimmed through the rest of the book. The story just lost my interest. Not to mention it was overly convoluted, with names and places and people flying this way and that. I get that the author was trying to develop some sort of conspiracy, but it felt awkward and forced. There was just too much stuff. Perhaps I just wasn't in the proper frame of mind. When I started the book, I was reminded strongly of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and Simon R. Green's Nightside books. That said, I enjoyed the Dresden Files and Nightside books a hell of a lot more than I did Sweet Silver Blues. They weren't as complicated and, being an uncomplicated kind of person, that appealed to me greatly.
—Lolly's Library
I had been avoiding this series for years because of the cover art. I didn't want to know that Glen had done something silly and actually written a story with a PI in a trenchcoat talking to gnomes with Uzis.PHEW. What I got was a decent story with no trenchcoats, no uzi's, but still detectives and gnomes. Glen keeps it real with his gritty stylings and likable miscreant type characters (with hearts of gold no less), but writes in a much more lighthearted style. Think Croaker with a sense of humor.There's a reason that this book has been in publication and available on bookshelves for 21 years.Good, lighthearted reading. I recommend this at 3.5 stars.
—Nathan
