The Man with the Golden Torc (Secret Histories, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "It started out as just another everyday mission..." (more)
Key Phrases: spatial portal, living armour, atomic brain, Manifest Destiny, Blue Fairy, Oath Breaker (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers who recognize the pun on Ian Fleming's James Bond title, The Man with the Golden Gun, will find the secret agent in question has more up his sleeve than a fancy car and some high-tech gadgets in this first of a new fantasy series from bestseller Green (Deathstalker). Meet Shaman Bond, aka Eddie Drood, scion of the ancient Drood family, devoted to protecting humanity from the forces of darkness. Protected by the secret weapon received at birth by all members of the Drood family—a magical gold torc (i.e., a neck ring) that turns into a suit of nearly impervious golden armor—Eddie faces arcane dangers with healthy doses of wry self-confidence and sarcasm. Then the family matriarch sends him on a mission that turns out to be a deadly setup. Declared a rogue, Eddie teams up with short-tempered witch Molly Metcalf to find out why he's been betrayed. This spy yarn is packed with enough humor, action and plot twists to satisfy fans who prefer their adventure shaken, not stirred.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Green pulls out all the parodic stops to introduce supernatural field agent Shaman Bond, aka Eddie Drood, black sheep of an ancient, superpowerful family that protects humanity from its nightmares. And a good secret agent he is, partly because he has the best toys, from the golden torc that becomes impenetrable armor to a souped-up classic car. Called home for the first time in years, he comes to suspect there's a traitor within the family and discovers he has been declared a rogue. Fortunately, he has bolt-holes his family never suspected and tricks to stay alive while he investigates. He goes to former enemies, who know him as Bond, for help and discovers possible common ground with a few. For there's a bigger enemy to deal with, amid the truth behind the Droods' power, the family traitor, and the nasty things the Droods' major opponents do. Green sustains a good spy thriller's breakneck action with lots of magic, strange creatures, and even some character growth and romance. His new series star is one fun character. Schroeder, Regina --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Roc; 1st THUS edition (June 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451462149
• ISBN-13: 978-0451462145
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #52,671 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The Secret Histories Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just call me Bond--Shamus Bond... , June 7, 2007

By	R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Man with the Golden Torc (Secret Histories, Book 1) (Hardcover)

That's Eddie Drood's code name. All his family has them. You see, all the stories are real--from the monster under the bed, to demons, and what these creatures can do to humanity is a lot worse than we could ever imagine.

The only thing that stands between us and ruination is the Drood (Druid) family. Eddie (aka Shamus Bond) is one of the younger members. He wears the Golden Torc in order to truly see through the veneers of creatures.

The Drood family knows everything. They have to in order to do their jobs. As Eddie says, you don't want them mad at you.

The problem is--they are worried that Eddie's got too much power and he's going to be dangerous. He's got to get away from them and use whatever he can to keep away....

"Torc" is a brand new series for Green that brings his "Nightside" elements into the mundane world. You've probably picked up on the fact that the series is a take-off on Ian Fleming's James Bond series.

The book's well-written with that 'insider gossip' feel that's going to draw readers in. In the first few pages, Shamus-Eddie has to abort a demon pregnancy in the President, who got shagged by a demon 'ladything' on a foreign mission--"no, not the one you're thinking of," he says. Still, I couldn't help laughing as I let my imagination play through the scenario.

I think this series is going to be a lot of fun for everyone from young adult readers on up. Green's 'voice' as Eddie is one of his deft and he knows how to keep us amused and reading.

While the parody seems a bit heavier-handed than his "Nightside" stories, I'd give this book a solid 4.5 and say it's well worth getting in the hardcover edition.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Typical Simon Green Storyline., August 8, 2007

By	Adrian - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Man with the Golden Torc (Secret Histories, Book 1) (Hardcover)

This book rates 3 1/2 stars if you have read many Simon R Green books, or 4 stars if you havent. The reason for the difference is that although the book is well written (and the hardback book I received has a good quality jacket), it is typical Simon Green. The setting is a bit different, but that is all. All his books tend to revolve around the following storyline:

There's the rebellious white male in his late 20's with powerful magical abilities who is suddenly victimised for no apparent reason. This forces him to join forces with a powerful, attractive yet psychotic woman, and together, they beat the bad guys and fall in love. Along the way, there are some fantastic scenes and characters.

I Like Simon Green's book, I really do. But it's becoming a bit of the same ol' thing. Not a bad read, but I hope the next one's got something a bit different in it.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I still serve, but in my own way.", July 30, 2007

By	H. Bala "Me Too Can Read" (Carson - hey, we have an IKEA store! - CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Man with the Golden Torc (Secret Histories, Book 1) (Hardcover)

With THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TORC, it looks like British sci-fi/fantasy author Simon R. Green is set to embark on yet another tremendous and nutty series. With the sequel to this one being tongue-in-cheeked titled DAEMONS ARE FOREVER, we easily note the Ian Fleming connection. But the James Bond ties are tenuous, at best. True, the lead character is a superspy, but that's about the only thing Edwin Drood and 007 share in common. Oh, and the cool gadgets. But no matter. Going by this first entry and by how consistently demented and fertile Green's imagination is, this series (dubbed The Secret History) is going to be a wild ride.

Plot SPOILERS begin:

Edwin Drood, known to the outside world as Shaman Bond, is the maverick son of the powerful, very secretive Drood family. For centuries, the Droods have made it their clandestine mission to protect humanity from the monsters of the world. Equipped with an arsenal of arcane gadgetry, mystical and scientific (mostly provided by the Armourer, or "Uncle Jack"), the family's most invaluable asset is the golden living armor bonded to the souls and nervous systems of its many agents. When not activated, the armor becomes a golden torc fastened around the bearer's neck.

Edwin, or Eddie, has been the only Drood member to somewhat break away from the family and gain a measure of independence. Still, he winds up undertaking missions for the Drood Matriarch now and then, which he doesn't mind. After one such mission, he's urgently summoned to the Hall, headquarters and bastion of the Droods, a place Eddie hasn't seen in ten years. There, the Matriarch (Eddie's grandmother, in fact) tasks him with playing courier to a very potent artifact.

But, en route, Eddie ends up having to go thru a gauntlet of malevolent phantoms, magicians, and otherworldy creatures, all bent on kicking the crap out of him. Somehow, Eddie survives the all-out assault, only to discover, to his shock, that he's been branded a traitor to the family and declared a rogue agent. He now finds that he's become a target for pretty much every wicked, would-be-world-ruling faction and cabal out there, who desperately craves the secrets of his personal armor. His family, however, just wants him dead. And, with the Droods' connections, it's only a matter of time.

In urgent need of answers, Eddie is forced to forge alliances with the oddest, most dubious of ilk, from the unkillable serial killer, Mr. Stab, to the luck-pilfering Subway Sue, to the wild witch Molly Metcalf, his bitter, longtime enemy. But, in a world where you don't know what to believe in anymore and you've lost faith in your own flesh and blood, how much can he really count on his new friends? And how long can he beat the odds? Because, seriously, everyone's gunning for him...

SPOILERS end.

Simon Green. Simon Green. Simon Green. Just persists in shying away from moderation. He bludgeons you (willing victim that you are) with rampant and often disturbing images culled from the dark, horrific pathways of his noggin. His twisted imagination continues to conjure up crazy cool ideas and weird concepts (I really like the sentient meat-eating cars, the Colt Repeater, and the very fabulous Confusulum). What is it with British fantasists, anyway? Some of my favorite authors are Brian Lumley, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling, and Green himself. Pratchett and Gaiman are just terrific and are very literary, while Lumley and Green have a certain boldness and vividness in their prose which grabs you by the throat and then rams your skull into the nearest wall (seems like). Oh, and Rowling? Well, she gave us Harry Potter.

Green's dabbled in urban fantasy before. Witness his pretty cool Nightside series, starring P.I. John Taylor. But the Nightside series seems to be darker in tone than this one, if you could believe it. Green reminds me of E. R. Burroughs in the sense that, much like the creator of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars, Green isn't considered to be a polished, literary writer but more of a pulpy, adventure writer. He dwells in the realm of luridness and excess. Here, Eddie faces off against such an endless wave of supervillains (and beasties of Lovecraftian proportions) that it tends to get a bit ridiculous at times. But if you like nonstop, widescreen mayhem and brutal, epic brawls, Green's your man. True, his characters aren't exactly steeped in depth, being more cardboard than not. But, they're universally interesting and are written with panache. Okay, every now and then, I did cringe at the sometimes melodramatic, ponderous and stilted statements made by his characters ("Something Big is coming." or "I still believed in fighting the good fight." or "Family was the one thing you could depend on in an untrustworthy world."). I got used to it, though. At least, he wasn't dropping any "Forsooths" or "Hark!" Not here, anyway.

So much goes on in this book, I almost worry that Green hasn't enough new ideas saved up for the sequels. Almost. This is Simon R. Green, after all, who, in the first chapter, dispenses with one character who could've been an ongoing plot device for the rest of the novel (the Karma Catechist). This author excels in myth-making, in stamping his characters with that larger than life aura and making them indelible, epic figures in the eyes of the reader. He did that in other books, as well, with Prince Rupert and Princess Julia, and with Owen Deathstalker. Looks like Eddie Drood, torc and sarcastic sense of humor intact, is well on his way. But since Shaman Bond won't return until June of 2008 (in DAEMONS ARE FOREVER), why don't you give Green's other books a try? Anything he's penned is worth eyeballing, but his best two, if you ask me, are BLUE MOON RISING (his best book, in my opinion) and SHADOWS FALL.