Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Three Parts Dead

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone, 333 pages

Before I start my brief summary of this excellent novel, I'd like to direct your attention to the labels that accompany this blog post. That's a pretty crazy mix of stuff, right? Keep that in mind as I attempt to sum up a book and a world that's nearly impossible to describe in anything shorter than Gladstone's novel.

OK. Here goes nothing.

Shortly after her unceremonious "graduation" from the Hidden Schools of craft, Tara Abernathy is picked up by Craftwoman Elayne Kevarian to investigate the death of a god, Kos, on behalf of the clergy that leads the fire god's worshipers. But before they arrive, the man Tara and Ms. Kevarian were planning on consulting is found murdered with a blood-spattered gargoyle (hey, they're alive in this world!) standing over him. Soon, they're on a quest to solve the murders of both Ms. Kevarian's acquaintance and Kos, and, oh yeah, resurrect the god. To make everything even harder, throw in a powerful Craft rival, a vampire pirate, and a hardened agent of Justice who happens to be addicted to vampires.

That's a really poor description of the intricate world and characters that Gladstone created in this book. Suffice it to say that Gladstone's characters, world, and plot are all incredibly well conceived and realized and no secondhand description will suffice. It's just a great book.

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