Customer Reviews

Angry Lead Skies

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is the 10th in Cook's Garrett series ("Sweet Silver Blues," "Bitter Gold Hearts," "Cold Copper Tears," "Old Tin Sorrows," "Dread Brass Shadows," "Red Iron Nights," "Deadly Quicksilver Lies," "Petty Pewter Gods," "Faded Steel Heat," "Angry Lead Skies," and "Whispering Nickel Idols"). I don't know who really wrote this, but Glen Cook should track him down and take him to court. Well, perhaps I exaggerate. However, from all the gaffs in this book, it looks like Cook didn't bother to review his notes from the rest of the series before he wrote this one. Here are some of the problems that leapt out at me:

- First of all, where did Garrett's love interest, Katie, come from? Usually, he finds these women as part of his cases (either the principal or a player). In this case, we start out the book with her already there. She has no background and plays no part in the book. He doesn't even mention Tinnie (whom he had gotten back together with at the end of the previous book -- a couple of weeks in Garrett time) until half way through the book.

- Second, Playmate is way out of character. In all the other books, he's a simple, honest person. In this one, he's essentially a walking Dead Man or a more honest Morley Dotes: a sophisticated, educated, smooth talking, cynical person. Plus, Cook specifically notes that he's NOT really 9 feet tall. Yet, in all the other books, he IS 9 feet tall. A couple of books ago, Cook graphically portrayed him in a situation at Morley's restaurant as being bent over to fit inside. My guess is Cook needed some way to work a specific type of character in as a principal and a 9 foot tall, simple guy wouldn't work. So, he just changed him.

- Similarly, Singe has miraculously graduated from a smart, though barely articulate, rat woman into practically an Einstein.

- Ditto for the Rose triplets. Specifically, Doris and Marsha. In all previous books those two grolls were dumb as stumps. Even more importantly, only Dojango spoke "English" (that was why he was around -- to translate). Doris and Marsha ONLY and SPECIFICALLY spoke grollish.

- And, finally, near the end, Cook mentions that the Tates have DWARF blood somewhere back in their line. That's not correct. Again, specifically, in all previous books he's mentioned that they have ELF blood in them.

Then, there are the "logic" errors (I know, it's fantasy, but still...). For instance, in one case Cook has Doris hold Garrett up to a fourth floor window. AFAIK, that should be at least 40 feet up. Yet, Doris and Marsha are 20 feet tall. Even with very long arms, they couldn't reach above 30 feet. Then there's the fact that the "Visitors" are described as ugly, yet everyone thinks they might be elves. In all of these books, elves are alway extremely handsome/beautiful: it's an elvish characteristic. There's no way anyone should consider these "Visitors" to be related to elves.

Another BIG problem is the problem itself. It might be a spoiler, but since it's implied in the official write-ups and becomes obvious at the very start of the book, I'll bring it up: there are space aliens in this book. I'm sorry, but aliens just have no place in a fantasy/detective novel. It's just silly. Even worse, Garrett plays the two-backed beast with them. Repeatedly. Often. Ugh.

And finally, Cook seems to have lost the detective part of his fantasy/detective mixture the Garrett books are supposed to be. Outside of some minor leg-work during the first half of the book, there's no real mystery and no detectiving. In fact, the last half of the book doesn't really do anything at all. It's just Garrett doing his alien experments, setting up some personal stuff, getting back at Morley, and the aliens finalizing things. That's it. All done. What a waste.

If you're still reading this, by now, you'll probably guess I'm not happy with what Cook's done to the series with this book (and I LOVE this series -- it took me years to find all the books again to re-read them). So, I have to give this book a sadly well-deserved 1 star out of 5. If you've been following this series since the beginning, the book will give you nothing but grief. If you've never read a Garrett book before, you might get a few giggles out of it, but you won't have any of the history (even though Cook's "modified" it) to understand what's going on. There's really no reason for anyone to read it.

This does not read like the previous books in this series. I have been checking Amazon constantly for a new book and pre-ordered this as soon as it was available. If you are a big fan of the series, you will likely be disappointed. I would guess that Cook did not write this book. Too many contradictions (mentioned by other reviewers, whose comments I agree with). But, if you really are a fan, you are going to buy this book anyway, just don't get your hopes up. The interaction between the characters feels strained and not natural. I wanted to wait until the end, thinking it would get better, but it didn't. Cook has done a great job with the series until now. I eagerly await the next book, with the hopes that it gets better. Worse than anything, there was not enough of Morley Dotes, my favorite character in the series. I think there must have been a book before this one and somehow Angry Lead Skies was accidently published before it (sarcasm). I never thought I would say this but, there is too much sex in the book, not that that is a problem, but it just doesn't fit. It's as if it were thrown in because there was nothing else, so why not go with something that sells. Singe wants a turn with Garrett? Perhaps it has been too long between books? I look forward to the next one, if there will be a next one. Hopefully Cook will read the series for a refresher, (if he wrote this one). I can't say don't buy it, because I want to see another one, but if you are new to the series, pick up the earlier books (which I have read several times each).

I expected more....and I hate to think that Cook does not have it anymore.

Peace,

MD

Angry Lead Skies, the latest title in the Garrett P.I. series, doesn't have the same cohesive structure of the preceding works. In fact, the book is extremely dark from the first page. I think this might be due to the ending of the Black Company series and the writing styles have merged a bit. I have just finished reading the Black Company series from beginning to end (now that it is finished and I have recollected all of the books) and am currently reading the Garrett novels and can deffinately feel a lot more of the Black Company formula in this novel. The most disappointing feature of the book is the lack of consistency with the earlier titles. This book has a wonderfully convoluted storyline that keeps you wondering where Cook is leading you, but Garrett seems to have merged a bit with Croaker and many of the secondary and tertiary characters don't follow the same attitudes as they did in earlier books (and it has only been a few weeks since happenings in earlier titles according to time references made in this book). Overall, I truly am enjoying this novel due to Cook's amazing ability to keep a rolling narrative that leads you in so many directions at one. As most people do in their heads as they think, you get to see inside of Garrett's cynical, over-sexed mind. Deffinately a great read for fans of the series, but newcomers to the series would be better off starting with a couple of the earlier titles that are still in print. As with earlier works, it is really Cook's amazing storytelling ability that makes you want to read through the night.

This is book#10 in the Garrett PI series, and it really helps if you have read the first nine. By now, Cook is telling linked episodic stories, which was not so much the case with books 1-5 or so. Other reviewers have mentioned the plot, so I dont need to, really.

Garrett is a noir PI in a grimy fantasy city - kind of like if Lankhmar was populated by Tolkien, and to top it off a generations long war strangely like Vietnam has just been won by the good guys - well, Garrett's guys. Kinda. Garrett tells his stories in the first person, and you know, I think he's a little bit of an unreliable narrator from time to time.

Into this crazy backdrop we have little grey men (and, notably, women) poking around for reasons of their own. Its a gutsy call to throw sci-fi into what is already a blend of fantasy and detective genres, but Cook makes it work. Really though, the story swirls around Garrett - there is no real central villian to be defeated, more a mystery to solve - and this mystery is really insoluble, given we have a magical society trying to understand alien technology and psychology. Even the Dead Man never really gets it, but we as readers do, to an extent.

For the last hundred of so pages of the book, we have Chodo Contague's 60th birthday party hanging over our heads too, as a not so subtle reminder that there are other troubles in the water besides the current case.

The story is really about TunFaire, Garrett's home, and how it is changing with the rule of law (well, of Deal Relway) and the integration of non-human refugees and ratpeople. Garrett's role in that change is significant, something he rarely realises himself, but when you look back over 10 books, he seems to have a genuine role as a catalyst for change.

This is Glen Cook writing, so there is humour, crackling dialogue, and weapons-grade fun. If you like either fantasy, or Raymond Chandler, you could do a lot worse than pick up the whole lot of Garrett tales (#13 coming out in November 2010 or thereabouts) and read them through in turn.

I wanted to write this review after I'd had some time pass since reading it. But now I have nothing to add that other fans of the series haven't already said.

Indeed, this is Cook's weakest, darkest and most inconsistant book in the Files of Garrett PI line. Did he lose the will to write it, and only did so because he had a contract with the publisher? Did Mr. Cook lose his notes and didn't know who or what his characters were anymore (I was waiting for Morley Dotes to chow down on a steak any moment)?

More's the pity becuase the events could have been the basis for Garrett's biggest adventure yet. Instead, it feels like the author needed to cram what seems like his own deepest dark outlook in our own world into this novel.

For whatever reason, Cook takes the series in a new direction, with the addition of aliens to the cast. Unfortunately, it doesn't blend well with his universe, though some of the aspects of the integration are quite funny. Also, the heavily convuluted subplots and large cast of characters made it rather confusing, especially towards the end. All of the other books in the series are great, though.

"Angry Lead Skies" is another wild, weird, wonderful ride up and down the fertile hills of Glen Cook's imagination. In this most recent of the Garrett Files, we meet again nearly everyone with whom we've become familiar. And it's a pleasure to see them again. The plot is astounding in its strangeness. What starts out as a simple favor to a friend quickly becomes an adventure unlike any other in the Metal Series. What a shame we had to wait so long for this one. (This was not the author's fault; blame the publisher.) Unlike the previous books, "Skies" does not feature an mystery to be solved, and only minor feats of detection to be performed. It is sheer adventure in wacky weirdness and fans of the series will break speed-reading records. Let's hope the next book (already written) will not be the last in the series, as Mr. Cook has hinted. Clearly, his interest in the characters has not waned and his imagination remains unmatched.

Note: Newcomers might be better served by reading one or two of the previous books before this one.

After reading what had been posted here, I was expecting to be disappointed by the latest Garrett novel. 'Petty Pewter Gods' was the weakest in the series to date, in my opinion, and the trend toward ever more far-fetched storylines made me nervous. However, in spite of an initial "Oh, no...." reaction to what is afoot in Tunfaire this time, (which will be obvious to the reader early on) I forged ahead in spite of my misgivings. Ultimately, this is far from being one of the darker entries in the series. Instead, it is both satiric and romantic in outlook, with a surprisingly upbeat denouement.

Part of me worried that this might be a final installment, since it seemed throughout to be heading for a conclusion in which loose ends are tied up and the hero goes riding off into the sunset. And having finished it, I can still see that. At the same time, there are enough potential new set-ups that a new addition to the series would fit in quite smoothly.

I seriously doubt that fans will be disappointed, as long as they can indulge the author in an admittedly over-the-top storyline. While the book is largely without the gritty, harsh realism of the Black Company novels (which is exactly what I love about Cook's work), it works quite well as a sort of opera buffa a la Chandler-- in its own way, it's the most loving tribute to hard-boiled fiction to emerge from the series. It's all in good fun, and most highly recommended to those already familiar with the series-- especially those who don't object to a playful take on the characters.

all the 3star and less reviews are fairly accurate.. this book just cant be written by glen cook. there are way too many inconsistencies in character and fact from prior books. all the other books in this series i just couldnt put down. this? im having a hard time getting through a chapter at a time. i wouldve guessed this to be cook's first stab at writing had i not known better. suffer through it if you really like the series, but dont waste your money on it new. i wouldnt pay more than a buck for this one... pew!

I loved this book! I did not know it was the one which got 'bad' reviews (which reviews I had read months ago). I am extremely grateful to the author.
Now to be objective I'll say that every village in America should have a statue of Glen Cook in the village green.