Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I thought this was a rehash of the his Deathstalker series. Same protagonist fighting the good fight against both his enemies and his friends.

His style remains unchanged, one of the most fertile minds writing in SF today. He may not have any breakthrough concepts but he must have the greatest number of antagonists per page of any author.

If you liked his other books, you will like this one. But that said, if you read his other books, don't expect any new ground.

I prefer his Haven and Nightside series. They seem to be written in more of an intimate, Chandler style. The Epics such as this series are almost frantic with all the ideas and characters to stuff into a mere few hundred pages.

This book is worth reading, particularly if you don't spend any money on it, or fairly little.

Others have summarized the novel, others have pointed out the similarities between this series and Nightside. Imagine that I said those things.

Now, moving on, I think that it is hilarious that the main character is named after Edwin Drood, from Charles Dicken's titular character. Similarly, there are family portraits by the incomprable Boz, along with more characters than you can shake a stick at making guest appearances.

The plot is fairly straightforward, and there is nothing surprising about it. This is not a horrible thing, as this is the best kind of book to be predictable; the goal is amusement, not surprise, and Simon Green does not fail to amuse.

The worst thing about this, as with Green's other works is his penchant for saying rather that showing. We are told, innumerable times, of the Drood clan and their proclivities: How they make their enemies suffer, how they are mean, how they are isolationist, how they protect the world, how their armor is so kewl, etc.

Rather than having the first novel involve this rebellion against the family, Simon Green ought to have made the first novel about something else, so that when the family turns on Shaman Bond, we would have a sense of forboding and concern, rather than merely his word to go on that this is a bad thing. Emotional payoffs work only after emotional investment, not after hollow repetitions of how cool the Family Drood is.

Nothing groundbreaking or overly intelligent here, but certainly it is entertaining, provided you don't want something incredibly original. Worth reading.

B

Harkius

The title and name (argh! Shaman Bond!!!) is meant to slap one in the face to bring it to your attention that this is some sort of supernatural take-off on the Bond/Spy thing. It was almost enough to make me stop reading, but not quite. Like the Bond films, we meet our hero in the midst of a mission... lots violence and gun-toting action that pretty much continues non-stop, facing greater and greater odds and organizations out for world domination.


But Bond is just an alias for Edwin Drood (a borrowed name almost as bad, but at least bringing in a different literary reference). Eddie is a bit of a maverick to his Family, but he hasn't been leaving sexy, shady ladies scattered amongst the body-count. He's been brought up by the Family to be a field agent against supernatural bad guys but his past is more the rebellious teenager and grieving orphan than cool hero. And he has a glamorous uncle who is more the James Bond-type. Plus, it seems as if his Family isn't really the defenders of the Realm as he was taught to believe. Furthermore, he is mysteriously declared Rogue and his family is out to kill him.

The lone hero against the world was an enjoyable scenario and worked well with Green's penchant of throwing even the kitchen sink into battles and other confrontations with endless enemies. Like James Bond, Eddie does acquire a female companion--but no sex and barely a kiss, although there is a relationship growing (rather obviously).

I think the story doesn't need the James Bond hook, and things veer off enough to make such a tie-in awkward during most of the book. Although I admire the author for the silly gutsy-ness of just using Shaman Bond as an alias to begin with (even if it still makes me groan and doesn't really go on much beyond that spy reference... and some supernatural gadgets he gets to use... and Penny, passes on communications from his home base).

No new ground here (with the author boldly claiming its derivative bits, how can it be?), but the writing is sound, the characters engaging enough to make me care, the action just insane and the overall experience fun enough for me to be happy that there will be a sequel.

Anyone who enjoyed his Nightside series will definetly get a kick out of this new helping. Some truly unique plots to take over the world and a host of interesting characters.

The bad news: the frenetic pace and the author's need to be clever at every opportunity can leave you confused and overwhelmed at times. He even stuck in an old Airplane joke!! This could have been 2 books, easily, and it needs more room to grow. They broke open the Armaggedon Codex in book 1!!! What do you do for an encore?!?!?

I am disappointed at the decision to release in hardcover. While entertaining, these types of books are not deep life-altering works of Literature, or even complex works of fantasy. This is a fun, sarcastic, and thoroughly irreverant diversion.

Take James Bond, add a pinch of James Dean, sprinkle in a bit of irony, enrobe in impregnable living armor (the Golden Torc) and you have Eddie Drood - the hero of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TORC.

The Drood Family has been charged with protecting humanity from ill-intentioned supernatural creatures. Eddie, the black sheep of the family, just wants to do his job as a field agent. He couldn't care less about power or family intrigues. Unfortunately, the latest family intrigue involves him: Someone has convinced the family he is a traitor.

The Matriarch of the Drood clan sends Eddie on a mission certain to end in his death. Eddie survives the wave of attacks-for the time being. Unfortunately, an arrow laced with "strange matter" penetrates his "impenetrable" armor, and is gradually poisoning him (reminiscent of that old Dennis Quaid movie, D.O.A.). But Eddie isn't going down without a fight. He's determined to learn why his family wants him dead. In the spirit of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," he teams up with the wild witch Molly Metcalf, an ardent foe of the Droods. Eddie finally closes in on the awful secret at the heart of the Drood's power - The Heart. This entity from another dimension provides the Droods with their Torcs, their living armor. As Eddie uncovers the terrible price The Heart demands in exchange for Torcs, the Droods learn that a man with nothing to lose is a dangerous man indeed.

Fans of Green's "Nightside" series will feel right at home in the world of Eddie Drood. Several elements from the Nightside books make cameo appearances, including a Hand of Glory and sentient, meat-eating cars.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TORC provides a deeply satisfying read. Green does a wonderful job of world building without too much back story and has endowed Eddie Drood with a dry wit that leavens even the darkest moments of his journey. Green also gets bonus points for naming Eddie after the title character in Charles Dickens's last, unfinished work. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TORC is the first book in Green's new series, and readers will look forward to rejoining Eddie Drood in DAEMONS ARE FOREVER.

Reviewed by Deb Gross
07/11/2007

First off, let me just say that I am a fan of Mr Green's work, and have been for a number of years. I'm a particular fan of the Deathstalker series, and therein lies the problem. Let me explain...

In the Deathstalker series, the hero is Owen Deathstalker, member of a powerful family, who is declared "outlaw". He is cut off from all that he knew as a member of the aristrocracy, and is forced to reevaluate the system that he had always believed was for the good of the people. He allies himself with other outlaws, people he had always thought of as the lowest of the low, in his mission to bring down the Empire he had always fought to defend.

In "The Man With the Golden Torc", the hero is Edwin Drood (aka Shaman Bond), member of a powerful family, who is declared "rogue". He is cut off from all that he knew as an operative for the family who has defended normal people from all threats, supernatural and alien. Edwin is forced to reevaluate the system which he had always believed to be for the good of the people. He allies himself with other rogues, people he had always thought of as the lowest of the low, in his mission to bring down the Family he had always fought to defend.

Do you see my problem? In reading this book, I found myself constantly drawing comparisons between characters in each series (Valentine Wolf to Mr Stab, to name just one). I'm not saying that this is in any way an inferior book, it's just the same book in an "urban fantasy" as opposed to "science fiction."

Pick one of the above named series, but do yourself a favor and don't try reading them both. Repitition is great when you're trying to learn a new skill, but not so much when you're a best selling author.

I just want to start out by saying that this is the first Simon Green book I've read and I say this because a good number of reviews of this particular book are made in comparison to his previous works. So this book is my only exposure to him as an author. At this point, I would only read another book of his because other reviews claim that this is least impressive of his works, not because I'm so impressed I'm left wanting more.

**Review may contain some spoilers**

Overall I thought the book was a good try but really didn't have anything keeping the story a cohesive whole. The story had well detailed events with plenty of action, but the events didn't have anything connecting them. As the reader, I found it very difficult to relate to the main character, or to feel like I was in his shoes, because the decisions that were made were done so without a rational reason, there were no clues to follow, it was just the author saying the character goes here because he thinks it's a good idea or because his love interest tells him to. On top of which, just about every place that Eddie went was a fruitless endeavor. 80% of the time he went somewhere, he would get no answers, no useful information and nothing to keep the story going or keep the reader interested. If you read the first and last quarter of the book you wouldn't really miss much by not having read the middle portion.

The author's imagination is somewhat lacking. The armor does...everything, it makes him fast, makes him invincible, makes him strong, makes him invisible to cameras, makes it so you can't poison him, etc etc. And how does he stop the bad guys? Why, with his special gun that has unlimited ammo and magically hits the target without having to aim it. And if crap does happen well, not to worry, he'll just use his magic do-hickey to make time go backwards so he can fix whatever went wrong. I mean, you read through the book learning just how technologically and magically advanced his family is and how powerful and impenetrable their house defenses are and they get in because of some goo from another dimension just magically teleports them onto the property and hides them from all the security measures.

This is literally like watching Tiger Woods win the PGA tour because he's using a magic golf club that knows just where to hit the ball and a magic ball that will roll itself into the hole...where's the fun in that? Getting into the protagonist is understanding who he is and what his limitations and weaknesses are, and then watching him beat the odds because of how he's growing as a character. Eddie Drood is not a dynamic character, he's as static as a character can get. Hell, even at the end of the book all he wants to do is go back to how things were at the beginning prior to the conflict. I don't think that at any time during the book I cared whether or not Eddie lived or died.

To conclude, I gave the book 3 stars because it was entertaining and kept me engaged but otherwise the story was too simple and the characters lacked any sort of depth. I'd recommend "The Dresden Files" by Jim Butcher before I'd recommend this book. However, like I said above, this has been noted as one of the least impressive works by Green, so I'll probably give him another try on a different series before I dismiss him as an author entirely.