Customer Reviews

In the Company of Ogres

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3 star:		(4)
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He may not be as famous as Stephen King or John Grisham, but A. Lee Martinez is a writer to watch. His first novel _Gil's All Fright Diner_ is a hilarious romp that combines pseudo-Lovecraftian menace with Joe R. Lansdale styled blue collar humor. So I waited and waited for his next novel _In the Company of Ogres_ to arrive at my local Barnes and Noble. The wait was worth it.

While _GAFD_ pretty well parodized horror, _ItCoO_ parodizes fantasy. I'm not really a fantasy fan (nothing against it, it's just not for me), but I couldn't resist giving Martinez another chance even if the genre is one I don't normally read. Even though I consider myself much more of a horror fan, I found _ItCoO_ to be the more enjoyable of the two. It's funnier and has a more complex and thought out plot.

The main character here is an average person named Never Dead Ned, a man who is unexceptional in every way except for the fact that he dies repeatedly, and comes back to life shortly after. He's a soldier with a perfectly average job of balancing the books for Brute's Legion. Just when he finds his niche in accounting, he is immediately transferred to Ogre Company. Ogre Company is a rowdy band of orcs, goblins, trolls, elves, treefolk, humans, and obviously ogres. It also happens to be the most undisciplined, and hardest drinking, unit in the whole Legion. He now has six short months to whip these sad sacks into fighting shape. This task is further complicated by the fact that Ned isn't that great of a soldier himself.

However, his poor military bearing is not his only problem. Every Commander before him has perished in clandestine circumstances. And once he learns the reason for his multiple deaths and resurrections, he has to try harder than ever to stay alive for not only himself - but the whole universe. Once he learns this secret, he is pursued by a vengeful wizard and a power-hungry pint-sized demon.

Having read a couple of interviews of Martinez, he says that his two novels are not so humor fiction as they are fiction with humorous elements. Be that as it may, I found both books extremely funny. Let me give you a couple of examples of the humor you'll find in _ItCoO_. There is a blind oracle, who claims he can't read minds, who can somehow answer questions even before the whole question has been uttered. This would of course create a paradox. The second is an instance in which the morning bugler can't put enough oomph, pizzazz, or shebang into the morning wakeup call. That's just two examples. There's much more where that came from.

As it happens so often, I find myself playing the waiting game again. Martinez has a third novel due out sometime in 2007 entitled _The Nameless Witch_. There's not I can tell you here, except that the humor will take a more subtle direction. Yet if one truly likes an author, one appreciates the fact the author has to do different things now and then.

BRING ON THE THIRD BOOK!!! AND THE FOURTH!!! AND THE FIFTH!!! AND...

In the Company of Ogres is the second A. Lee Martinez novel I've run into. Gil's All Fright Diner was the first, and I quite liked it as a new look at the generally-tired vampire/were-wolf genre. He does the same thing with ogres/orcs/magical animals in Company of Ogres - he comes up with a new way of approaching it.

The first fifth of the book is a bit standard, as it has to be. Mostly introductions to the scene, the characters and a bit of back-story. And the rest of the book falls generally into the "Fish Out Of Water, With Diverse Motley Friends" category. The same thing as the Doc Savage books of 60 years ago, as the Mad Scientist Club, a zillion live-action 70s Disney movies (e.g. Bad News Bears), any movie placed at a summer camp (e.g. Meatballs), "Up Periscope", the Ebenuzum books by Craig Shaw Gardner, Friends/Cheers/Night Court... it's again not unique, but heavily used.

And yet, despite all this, the book is still filled with surprises and is a very fun read.

Compared to other books in this genre, this one is a bit longer than most (although it certainly doesn't feel long - it feels just right), and is a breezy fun read. It doesn't have the puns and literary references of Terry Pratchett, but then again, neither did Pratchett's first few books. I am eagerly awaiting the next Martinez book.

I called Gil's All Fright Diner an excellent debut novel in my review of that book, and it is. But In The Company of Ogres is simply an excellent novel, period.

A passive main character is exceedingly difficult to write and keep interesting, but Mr. Martinez handled it with great aplomb. The other characters are equally intriguing, from the suicidal, yet perpetually cheerful goblins to the two-headed ogre who is always exceedingly polite with itself. Like Gil's, Mr. Martinez throws many fantasy conventions to the wind and creates a world that is both unique and familiar.

Even if you aren't a huge fan of fantasy fiction, In The Company of Ogres is a wonderful tale sure to delight anyone.

The following review originally appears on myspace.com/dorkgasmllc

A. Lee Martinez wears the influence of pop-culture on his sleeve. In his first novel, Gil's All Fright Diner , he names his protagonists after the song Duke of Earl, and in In the Company of Ogres, Martinez takes this a step further. Think of them as Easter Eggs for the Gen-X reader. Ogre twins Martin and Lewis, a tree-warrior who is not allowed to call himself an "Ent", and even the walking hut of legendary Baba-Yaga all are dropped in for flavor and texture in his second novel. Finally, we have a fantasy-writer who hasn't forgotten that his readers live in the real world!

The story follows a lovable loser who finds himself in charge of rag-tag group of misfits. Though he would rather be an accountant than a soldier, Ned is ordered to whip Ogre Company into shape within six months or face being turned into a mindless berserker. Martinez complicates this situation by giving his hero a propensity for resurrection and a pair of relentless super-villains who want to harness that power for themselves. Were this strictly a fantasy novel, much of the meat of this story would likely be a build up to some great final battle that critics would inevitably see as a Christ allegory, but in this authors hands, it is more like Stripes with swords.

In fact, the entire book feels like the best episodes of M*A*S*H* dressed up in the trappings of a traditional fantasy world. To say "traditional fantasy" is somewhat misleading, however, as no archetype is safe from the gleeful pen of Mr. Martinez. While he uses creature-types familiar to fans of fantasy, he twists them into objects of comedy gold. Ogres, Amazons, Goblins and Demons all look as we might imagine, but Martinez grants them a depth typically reserved for the subjects of BBC comedies. As Ned discovers who he is and why he cannot stay dead, the secondary characters all evolve in unpredictably humorous ways.

Martinez weaves the construction of this fictional universe he has created into his characters and, as such, we get the impression of a world as complicated as our own, but infinitely funnier. While he does not go far enough for us to consider In the Company of Ogres a satire, Martinez certainly takes a few potshots at bureaucracy, sexism, and racism. The story and its humor are very straight forward, and Martinez is obviously attempting to entertain us, not berate us with politics.

My only complaint about this novel is its brevity. While this keeps in tenor with the author's previous work, it still leaves a sense of promises unfulfilled. Like an interrupted act of coitus, there is a sense that what we got was good, but there could be so much more. Beneath the jokes and action lays a world full of intriguing characters and a mythology with which Martinez only teases us. The only fathomable reason not to extend the world of Never Dead Ned into a series is to avoid further comparison to writers like Robert Aspirin or Douglas Adams. In fact, the potential is there for a collection of books more akin to Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, where the mythology continues in each installment even if the characters do not. Alas, Mr. Martinez is still a young writer, and any extension of this universe will have to wait.

Like a good popcorn movie for smart people, In the Company of Ogres sets out to give us a few thrills and giggles and accomplishes it swimmingly. Don't look too deeply for meaning, but pick up the book anyway for its entertainment value and see if you can spot all the fantasy and pop-culture references the author makes. You might burn through it in a day or so, but it is the kind of book you go back and reread on a lark. I also would not be surprised if we saw this adapted as an animated series or even a motion picture down the road, so grab it now and your "early adopter" status will be secure.

I hesitated at whether to give this three stars or four - and decided on 4 as much because the book is better edited than most paperbacks are these days, as much as any other reason. The plot is really only a 3-star plot, extremely derivative. That is, this same book has been written by many other authors. There are a few original touches here, but nothing that would make this one stand out from the pack of humorous incompetent-military-unit-stays-alive books.

Martinez' first book, "Gil's All Fright Diner," was different - it was not real similar to anything else. That one was set on more or less our Earth, with ordinary people except for some supernatural characters cluttering up the landscape. And some of those characters were unique; the werewolf was not like other werewolves in other books, for example. But "Company of Ogres" is entirely a fantasy, not set on our Earth. It's a standard sort of medieval landscape, populated by the usual cast of ogres, elves, and humans, with humans generally being incompetent. There are a few things that are not completely standard, though:

*the rocs, used as flying couriers, though unreliable and vicious

*Ace, the goblin pilot who regularly survives roc flights, to the point where he's become famous (he's three years old, and goblin lifespans are usually measured in months; although sentient beings, goblins are treated as disposable, edible fodder.)

*The polite ogre conjoined twins (who bet against each other frequently)

Compared to these unique characters are the stereotyped ones: exciteable, short demons who talk too much; smartalec talking crow/raven; Ned himself, whose only useful property is being repeatedly raised from the dead. Ned changes personality and manner so often in the course of the book that he's difficult to work up any sympathy for. Even at the end where he triumphs, more or less, it was difficult to work up enthusiasm. I never could see why Miriam and Regina would be that interested in him. And the Red Woman who raises him from the dead was also not very interesting. The lack of plot other than "keep Ned from dying" adds to some of my dissatisfaction. There's not any noticeable amount of military action or strategy, either; if you're reading this because it's supposed to be military, you'd be disappointed.

That said, though, it's a funny book, with amusing moments; it's not a complete waste of time to read it. It's a light read, and fairly quick, so it's a book that you could finish and pass along easily. If you just generally like lightweight fantasy that features ogres and goblins and gargoyles, then this will fill that bill.

And Seamus the shape-shifting leprechaun is definitely a one-of-a-kind character; he might be what redeems the book from ordinariness for some people!

Never Dead Ned has spent eternity dying, but he never stays dead as he always returns to life. As a soldier that is a pretty good trait to have as your superiors are grateful for saving the cost of mortuary bills; but as a person it is annoying to return. You never know where your next tour of duty will end up as you are unable to argue the assignment while you are dead.

Ned's latest comeback sends him to the pits at Copper Citadel, Commander of Ogre Company, the unruly out of control monsters whose superior officers don't just mysteriously die, they stay dead. The brass figures if anyone can come back to life after being killed by subordinates, Ned can; he has done so seemingly a zillion times. Of course someone want him dead and this person assumes Regina the Amazon, who believes she should be in charge of the unit of losers, will do the job. If not her there are orcs, ogres and goblins ready to kill their boss without a second thought at a time that Ned knows why he returns and must stay alive until he finishes his otherworldly assignment.

IN THE COMPANY OF OGRES is a wild military science fiction tale that grips readers once they learn about Ned's ability to return from the dead and never slows down as he has a cosmic task to accomplish while trying to survive six months with Ogre Company. The tongue in cheek story line is fast paced with a strong cast who argues and bickers over anything and everything. Ned is terrific as the anchor that the rest of the crew gravitates towards. Fans of way out satires in outer space like Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker tales will appreciate this fun thriller and seek out A. Lee Martinez's previous novels (see Gil's All Fright Diner).

Harriet Klausner

Never Dead Ned, the protagonist of this book, should be called "Dying Often Ned." He's the everyman- a drudge not particularly skilled at anything- who keeps dying and being brought back to life by a goddess. Why does she do this? That is, of course, the key to Ned's existence and the driving force of the plot.

When Ned's transferred from accounting to being in charge of a company of misfits like himself, it's inevitable this motley crew will all rise above their definitely minimal standards of previous ability and stand together against evil. There are some hints of Douglas Adams (Hitchiker's Guide to the Universe, Dirk Gently novels) and a few passages are remniscent of Monty Python humor, the banter becoming even funnier if read with a British accent.

Good fun is poked at the idiocy of bureaucracies- even if it's in a place inhabited by orcs, ogres and Amazons- with a budget that will try to bite you and Rocs, a 3 ton bird prone to eating its pilots, passengers and handlers, but ordered to be used because they look intimidating. The overall plot was predictable,albeit amusing. A.Lee Martinez dazzled with "Gil's All Fright Diner" and his talent is something to be watched.

At the beginning of the book, Ned is an accountant for Brute's Legion, an army of skilled and fearsome warriors. We get the impression that, while Ned isn't extraordinarily good at being an accountant, he isn't awful at it, either. He is transferred from this position to a command position in Ogre Company, which is a motley assortment of undisciplined characters that include a fire-breathing salamander, a shapeshifting goblin, several ogres (for which the company is apparently named), a promiscuous siren, and a bloodthirsty Amazon.

Ned isn't quite sure how to handle this command position, and he is fairly disinterested in being a commander in general. As the story progresses, we learn more about Ned's past, which leads to a confrontation that could ultimately destroy universes (yes, plural!). Ned is also the subject of essentially two female crushes, although he is oblivious to both of them. This situation adds humor and a bit of frustration to the novel. Frustration is felt by the reader (at least by me) on behalf of Ned's two lovers' feelings going not only unrequited, but unacknowledged. Add to this a plot to destroy Ned as a commander (in normal terms, this would mean killing the individual, but since Ned doesn't stay dead, this becomes quite a conundrum), and there is a whole avenue of ridiculous humor to be explored.

Overall, I was pleased with the novel. I thought that the protagonist, in this case, Never Dead Ned, was interesting and developed in an unexpected way over the course of the novel. The novel was fairly funny, and it kept me interested throughout the book. I only have two criticisms about the book in general. One is that I thought the idea of the Mad Void - the supposed all-powerful demon asleep in Ned's mortal shell - was somewhat hard to swallow, given that he had (some) difficulty defeating Rucka (a supposed smaller, or less-powerful demon). The Mad Void is introduced as a character that literally destroys universes for entertainment - that's how powerful he is. On the other hand, he was somehow bound into a mortal form and trapped, as well as (almost) being defeated by Rucka. This sort of boggles my mind, and it might have been interesting to have a chapter on the back-history of the Mad Void either when he is first introduced, or perhaps at the beginning of the novel. Something that makes it clear how he was trapped in that shell originally, and why the Red Woman was assigned to watch him (rather than one of the magicians that originally trapped him).

The only other criticism I have of the novel is the idea of Ned's autonomous left arm. I don't think the idea is bad - in fact, I think it was a great idea that just wasn't pushed quite hard enough. In the beginning, it's introduced that Ned doesn't have complete control over this arm, and my first reaction was "Oh boy, this is going to be funny later in the book." There are some scenes where it enters in, such as in the pub when Ned first arrives at Ogre Company, but other than that, this plot device isn't used much until the end of the book. I think it would have been really funny if it had gotten him into some strange troubles. I can see all kinds of jokes, especially given that there were two women chasing Ned, but Ned was somewhat oblivious to both of them. If the arm wasn't oblivious, and had a mind of its own in situations like this, it would have been hilarious to see the reactions from Regina and Miriam as they get multiple signals from Ned - one of disinterest from Ned himself, but one of innate attraction from Ned's left arm.

All in all, though, the book is definitely worth reading. I'm excited to see Martinez's development as an author, and I'm looking forward to reading his other novels soon.

Not as good as his first book. Reasonably entertaining if you have a rainy day, or long flight to endure.

a. lee martinez is a very clever author. the characters in ogre company are richely detailed and colorful. they interact with each in a chaotic splash of humor and high fanasty. the story itself is compeling and deeply creative.