Customer Reviews

The Dwarves of Whiskey Island

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I like this book better than its predecessor. I don't know whether that's solely because I've read far more urban fantasy since then and come to appreciate more about the genre, or whether Swann's writing has improved, or both. I suspect that a big part of it, however, is that this book is less fantasy, and more crime/murder mystery, which is a genre I like even better than fantasy. It's a very good mystery that happens to be in a fairly good fantasy setting, possibly an ideal combination for a genre-fiction junkie like me.

A lot has happened out in our world since the publication of the first book in the series, "Dragons of the Cuyahoga." It came out in October 2001, obviously written before 9/11. In "Dwarves" Swann has managed to incorporate some of the changes in law enforcement in the US fairly seamlessly. That some of our cops are elves does not change the fact that there's plenty of the traditional resentment and non-cooperation between local police forces and the FBI; Homeland Security has to deal with such things as dragons immigrating through the Portal, and the City Council has to deal with dwarven equivalents of labor unions - it's a nice way to make some of these conventions fresh within the mystery setting.

Within the fantasy elements of the story, I always appreciate it when fantasies have some sort of structure and rules, rather than the author assuming that since it's fantasy, nothing has to make sense or follow in a logical manner. Swann's magical creatures have rules and limits to their power, which is one of the things that helps the book play fair under the conventions of the mystery genre. In addition, I like the fact that Swann's Cleveland is a recognizable place. Some fantasy novels are set in real places but give you so little sense of place you wouldn't recognize it - Hamilton's St. Louis for example, doesn't seem to have any characters other than Anita Blake's circle and no other businesses but the vampire clubs; we wouldn't know it was St. Louis if she didn't happen to mention it. Swann's Cleveland, on the other hand, is definitely a real city - with politics, businesses, economic divisions between different neighborhoods, and lots of local color, including digs at professional sports.

The plot will look familiar to mystery readers: reporter Kline Maxwell gets a call from a potential informant, who is then murdered before he meets with Maxwell. From there, Maxwell must determine not only who killed his informant, but what the subject matter is that the informant was going to tell him about. (Have you ever noticed, in the mystery genre, that when someone says "I can't tell you over the phone; you'll have to meet with me," it invariably means that they should've gone ahead and said something over the phone, before it's too late?)

Swann has quite a way with a turn of phrase. Undeveloped suburban land attracts industrial parks "like a presidential campaign attracted unreasonable promises." And at the warehouses in those parks, "Semi trucks backed into loading bays -- industrial young sucking the teats of their mother." Isn't that a great image?

Other things to look for: the introduction of zombies into the existing cast of supernatural characters; a short dig at academic grant wrangling; the history of salt.

Anything more than that would be giving away too much of the plot. So I'll just end this review by saying that people who think they don't like fantasy, but who do like murder mysteries, probably will enjoy this book. Possibly more than people who prefer their elves with bows and arrows and their dragons in caves.

This is the second book about investigative reporter Kline Maxwell in a magic-soaked Cleveland (DRAGONS OF THE CUYAHOGA is the 1st). This time he starts with a political story, the suicide of the City Council President. A phone tip makes him curious about why the suicide was committed. But when the tipster turns up dead before being able to spill the beans Kline finds himself once agin in the middle of the police and FBI, both who are investigating different areas of the case. It seems there is some involvement with the local Dwarf population. But then things take on a more personal twist.

First Kline is the subject of some nasty visions. Secondly, his daughter is coming to the city and may be in big trouble. Now the forces behind the suicide are against Kline and his daughter. Kline has never been in more danger as it seems Hell itself is after him. But what does it want from him and how does he keep his family safe?

This one is even wilder than the last one and set about two years later. The hard-boiled detective aspect is still the heart of the story. This time we get to see some of the more unsavory aspects of magic. Once again the author does not stoop to using magic as a cheap out but he also pulls out all of the stops in this one. The story moves a little faster than in the first book and it is almost dizzying. If you liked the first one you will have to check this one out. I want more!

Two years after the events in DRAGONS OF THE CUYAHOGA reporter Kline Maxwell of the Cleveland Press is amazed to find that he has fallen into another Fuzzy Gnome story - this time about Dwarves.

Maxwell doesn't want to cover this story, but he soon realises that it has political implications and when the Feds get involved and threats are made against his family he doesn't see much choice but to go ahead with the investigation.

This story is well paced and an enjoyable read. Its good to read an urban fantasy that doesn't involve a hard boiled noir investigator. While this is essentially a mystery novel, Maxwell doesn't go out of his way to know about the supernatural that surrounds him on a daily basis and in these books we learn some the harder magical facts of life as he does. For a nice light urban fantasy mystery these are a good couple of novels.

The second in what hope is a series , by a writer that I think is under rated. The plot and setting are all standard stuff, but the way Swann uses them are the mark of a pro, you will want to read all his stuff.

The Dwarves of Whiskey Island is the second book in the Cleveland Portal series from S. Andrew Swann. I've read and reviewed the first book as well (The Dragons of the Cuyahoga) but the series is set up so that each book can be read individually. You don't need anything from the first book to follow or understand this second one.

And the second one is better than the first in my opinion. The first has it's interesting points, because the world he created--one in which Cleveland is suddenly inundated by dragons, elves, dwarves, etc because a portal to their world opens up in the middle of the city--was new and unique. Part of the problem with a series like this is that the second book can't rely on that "trick" to keep the readers reading. There has to be something new.

And there is in this. We still have the main character, Kline Maxwell, working for the newspaper and getting involved in the "fuzzy gnome" stories he hates when all he wants to cover is politics. In the first book, he gets assigned a "fuzzy gnome" story and the politics come in afterwards. In this one, he starts with politics and the "fuzzy gnome" gets interwoven into that. This time, it's dwarves. When they first came through the portal, no one knew what to do with them, so they were sent to the salt mines (where the magic was so high that no humans could live) and with the help of Mazurich, a politician, they became essential to the survival of the city after the portal by taking over construction projects and such.

And then Mazurich kills himself . . . and no one knows why. Kline receives a phone call that sends him search of the answers and leads him to the dwarves . . . and something much, much worse that threatens not only Cleveland, but his family as well.

I liked this book better because the writing felt . . . smoother. It was easier to read and the case itself flowed more naturally out of Kline's real job as a reporter on politics. Another reason I liked both this book and the previous one was become S. Andrew Swann is adept at giving you more and more information about the story without actually giving the real point/plot away. He sets all the cards on the table for Kline (and essentially us) and yet they still don't quite make sense until he reveals what's REALLY going on at the end. And then it makes perfect sense and you wonder why you didn't see it earlier. I also liked how this story got more personal for Kline. In the first book, it was just him against everything else. In this one, it gets personal, threatening his family, so in the end he's not doing this to save himself or to get the story for the paper. This personal stake in the outcome makes the book much more tense and dramatic.

I had some issues with the ultimate bad guys in the book, but I think my issues are more personal than anything else. I can't really say anything more about this without ruining part of the plot of the book. Suffice it to say that I wish S. Andrew Swann had chosen something a little new and different for the Big Evil. Don't get me wrong, he does do something different things with this Big Evil, but the Evil itself . . . he had an entire portal full of anything he wanted, so I wished he'd come up with something different.

But as I said, a good story. It has me wondering if he's going to do any more stories in the Cleveland Portal series. I hope he does.

Lack of intensity, superficial, compared to other of SA.SWANN I am disapointed.

You do not get "involved", you turn pages but without real fun....