Customer Reviews

Heavy Metal Pulp: The Bloodstained Man: Netherworld Book Two

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"The Bloodstained Man" is the second in the Netherworld Series, and if you haven't met Plesur, the Pammy, you owe it to yourself to meet this genetically grown gorgeous girl in Volume l, when she had the mentality of a 4-year-old, and the sweetness of a sex-kitten with an urge to please. Now, thanks to an earback, she's a savvy killa, but miraculously, the sweetness remains.

This is very easy reading, yet full of linguistic twists that enhance the turning plot. There is everything in here, from basic, completely comprehensive sex to sex based on one of those twisting turns, from blow-by-blow descriptions of fights with almost-alien humans, to fights with almost-human robots. These are not battles with armies of thousands, but hand-to-hand combat with monsters, and if your heart can't take it, don't come to the party, because you become the fighters. You think with them, fear with them, feel with them. You don't want to die with them. Not these deaths.

It is rare that illustrations match the story, but the illustrations of the pleasure model, the Dominatrix, and Rook Venner enhance, rather than destroy your own illusions. The illustrations of the city make you feel as though you're there.

I am quite taken with the format of these books. They're chunky, but light, there's a lot of white space on the page, and the pictures add a welcome dimension. They read very quickly, yet they impart a tremendous amount of information, so you know the world and the people in it as if you have been there for years, rather than a few hours. It's an enveloping experience that stays with you till the next book comes along - there will be one more in this series, and you will be compelled to read it if you read this one.

A lot of writers' visions of the future seem arbitrary, but Rowley has worked out a world that feels real - a frightening view of how it will be.

This is great summer reading. Take it to the country and read it on the deck. Take it to the beach and read it on your blanket. But do not read it on the subway - people will look over your shoulder at the illustrations, and you could be arrested for disruption. And one more thing - make sure you are alone when you read the last scene. Your screams might attract unwanted attention.

In the beginning God created the prose novel and He saw that it was good. The prose novel was lonely though and so God put it to sleep, tore out a page, and created the comic. The prose novel and comic lived together happily in the library of Eden and bore fruit that they named 'Graphic Novel'. Thousands of years later and a bastard hybrid of the graphic novel and the prose novel has somehow been born and it was not a day too soon.

'The Bloodstained Man', as you may have guessed, is a midway meeting point between a prose and graphic novel. Almost every page has a picture that ranges from about an eighth of the page space to about a quarter. Some pages have a couple of drawings. However, the pictures are the side salad whereas the prose is the meat and potatoes of this literary dinner. That dinner was easily digested and it tasted good with the cover and inside artwork making it pleasant on the eyes also.

From the back cover of the book...

"...Detective Rook Venner, Mistress Julia, and Plesur are on the run from the government troops trying to kill them and from a shadowy group that wants to capture Plesur alive for its own purposes. What secrets have been planted in Plesur's head - and why are they worth killing for?

Caught between these two powerful rivals, the trio hides out in the lawless New Jersey territory. Betrayed by gang members looking to collect the bounty on Plesur's head, the three are separated, and Rook and Mistress Julia find themselves in mortal danger. Julia, given as a prize to a gang member, finds herself in chains, but not without her own means of fighting back. Rook, forced to fight for his life in the gang's bloodthirsty gladiatorial games, must stay alive long enough to rescue Plesur, but time is running out."

I have to admit that I couldn't get into this book when I first picked it up and sat myself down. Something just wasn't right. You see, the day was warm and sunny with the smell of freshly cut grass in the air. Children were playing outside, laughing and giggling, enjoying the sunshine and the whole ambiance was just wrong for a book like this.

Out came the stereo.

In went the 'System of a Down' CD.

Up went the volume.

Down the throat went a cold beer.

Now, this was more like it!

"Oh baby, baby

How was I supposed to know

That something wasn't right here

Oh baby baby..."

WHOA!!!! HOLD ON!!!!! WRONG FRICKIN' CD!!!!

With the setting turned from a wrong to a right I tried again to read the book and, in the correct state of mind, thoroughly enjoyed it. Think of this novel as the equivalent of an action packed, exploitation movie with more explosions and guns than an episode of the A-Team and as much sex and nudity as a bachelor party at the Playboy mansion. Make no mistake about it 'The Bloodstained Man' doesn't pretend to be anything other than an all action, in your face, kickin' your teeth out, high octane, roller coaster ride of sex and violence. Also, make no mistake about it this book succeeds in what it wants to be and I for one found it a refreshing change from the norm and hope that it has great success.

I read and loved Pleasure Model and was hoping for the next books to be bigger and badder. Wish granted! The Bloodstained Man is jam packed with action and not one page was boring. The explosions were enormous and so fun to imagine. Plesur really came into her own as a well written character and one kick-ass chick. There are some killer robots, or shall I call one a Cat-bot that deserves its own full page illustration. In this second installment, we're introduced to some new characters which happen to be new p-mods and some nasty bad guys running a fight club. Like I said, everything is bigger and badder in this second book. If you liked Pleasure Model, you are going to love The Bloodstained Man. Highly recommended for fans of sci-fi and pulp stories.

Cop-on-the-run Rook is back in this second installment of Christopher Rowley's "Heavy Metal Pulp" series. This time we find out (slightly) more about what makes Rook's Pleasure Model, Plesur, tick, and like any good scifi pulp novel this one's packed with non-stop action, violence, and a couple of intense fight scenes when Rook is captured by a New Jersey gang lord. Add a plus here for a wickedly cool 8-foot long robo-cat sent to collect our heroes as they attempt to discover what top secret info. the government is hiding inside Plesur's memory.

Like the first in the series, THE BLOODSTAINED MAN is testosterone-fueled thrill ride that will appeal to fans of the long running illustrated Heavy Metal magazine (note this is a "regular" novel with some graphic novel quality artwork scattered around each chapter courtesy of Justin Norman). This one ends on a cliff hanger that'll surely bring any reader back for the promised 3rd novel, "Money Shot."

The Bloodstained Man, Netherworld Series book #2 picks up where Pleasure Model leaves off without missing a beat. SIO Rook Venner and Pleasur are on the run and in Bloodstained Man, Mistress Julia teams up with them after a rather "coincidental" meeting. Turns out at the end of Pleasure Model, an ex-President with some rather sick, perverted and sadistic sexual desires is a former client of Mistress Julia's. Mistress Julia is seeking answers of her own and maybe able to get them out of former President Marion if he's properly "stimulated". All she has to do is lure him in with a white virgin who's never been beaten before to help get him off. Turns out white, unbeaten virgins are difficult to come by until Pleasur, while having intelligence upgrade surgery is kidnapped via shady characters who have contacts in the p-mod upgrade biz. Pleasur ends up in Mistress Julia's hands via those shady characters to be used as a tool in her plan to put former President Marion in a talkative mood. Prior to Pleasur's kidnapping Detective Rook Venner who has some shady contacts of his own via a madam discovers where he can get Pleasur upgraded in the hopes that upgrading her intelligence will help extract the info the murdered General Sangacha, Pleasur's owner planted in her, thus helping to solve his murder. Naturally our hero cop, Rook Venner won't stand for Pleasur's being kidnapped and sets out to find her. She's his only link to solving the General's murder in addition to the fact that he not only feels genuine compassion for her but has fallen for her. Pleasur is the common link to the separate but related answers Mistress Julia and Rook both seek and why the government can't allow her to live. Our heroes are in constant peril while being pursued by the government, or being captured by the most vile criminals in "uninsured" New Jersey. (Not really sure yet what the author means by uninsured, but must be related to "The Emergency" that the characters allude to from time to time but don't describe in much detail.) Lot's of interesting good guys and truly evil to the core, pure scum bad guys along the way in their quest to solve the General's murder and blow the cover off of a government conspiracy. Our heroes have just enough time between action packed life threatening situations to mend wounds, wash, eat, change clothes, catch a bit of sleep, while two get to enjoy the first and perhaps last sex they'll ever enjoy together before their tormentors have picked up their trail once again trying to kill them. Primarily Pleasur and Rook. All the elements that made Pleasure Model such an entertaining read continue in The Bloodstained Man. I found the ending in this book interestingly surprising. Finished it the other night and wasted no time ordering Money Shot. (Love the title.) Can't wait for it to get here so I can see what happens next to both our heros and our villains.