Customer Reviews

The Nimble Man: The Menagerie #1

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Bad guys, beware - The good guys (and girls) have gathered in Boston, and they will defeat you swiftly and nimbly.

The Menagerie is made up of legendary characters, each with his or her own powers and mystical, mythical origins. Christopher Golden and Thomas E. Sniegoski have taken various characters well-known from literature and mythology and made them their own. Eve is not only what readers assume she is, but also a vampire. She is a ferocious female who takes no prisoners - and happens to have a keen fashion sense. Ceridwen is elemental and strong, but vastly different from Eve in her speech and in her approach to situations. Doyle, the leader, is intelligent and powerful but also has human traits and flaws, making him more believable and likable than the foreman of other series.

The Nimble Man is a great introduction. It blends many genres together, sure to please fans of fantasy, action, science fiction, and mystery alike. The writing is rich in description, placing the reader right in the middle of the action sequences. The third person narrative permits the reader to get into the heads of these widely different characters, ranging from the immortal shapeshifter Clay to the confused changeling teenager Danny, from the specter of Dr. Graves to the shadowy hobgoblin (and chauffeur) Squire.

The Nimble Man starts The Menagerie series off with a bang. Fans of X-Men and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman will certainly love this team. Highly recommended.

Chris Golden has become a 'presence' on the horror scene. He has been a prolific writer of stories for the Buffy and Angel series, as well as having many successful efforts of his own. Tom Sniegoski is best known for his comic books work, where he has frequently collaborated with Golden. Now they have joined together to write the first volume a new series, The Menagerie: The Nimble Man.

The basic premise isn't particularly original - wizard and friends join up to save the world books have been around since Lord of The Rings. But the group that make up what is to become The Menagerie are unique in every way. Something one should expect from authors who have the temerity to make Arthur Conan Doyle the magic worker. Then there's Eve, whose second husband made her a vampire (after she proved that gardening wasn't her strong point.

Then there is Clay, the world's oldest shape changer, Len Graves, adventurer and ghost, Squire, the hobgoblin chauffer, Ceridwin, a princess of Faerie and Doyle's one time lover. And last, but not least, is Danny, a demon in the offing with a worried mother. All of these unite when Doyle's attempts to prevent Lorenzo Sanguedolce (Sweetblood) from being extracted from a living tomb backfire, and a deranged Queen of the Fay sets about trying to end the world.

What makes the book is the reality the writers bring to the characters. These aren't cut-and-paste heroes speaking overblown prose, but people who, if you didn't know who they were would seem like ordinary folks with both good points and issues. Or as ordinary as a 16 year old with horns is ever likely to be.

As much as I like him, Chris Golden is an erratic writer, who often falls short of his full potential. Teaming with Sniegoski seems to have done the trick, though, and The Nimble Man is that great rarity, an intelligent action story rich in both character and context. I was much delighted, and am looking forward to the next volume.

At first I was a little hesitant to pick this up, there is, in my mind, a ling line of collaborations with but a few shining starts among them, but Goldens prior work got the better of me. I am so glad I got this.

At first it was your run of the mill supra-natural super powered thriller, the end is known but in these it all about the journey. And then the writing came shining through. I meant to read a single chapter the night I finished this book! But alas I could not.

The chapters leave off like cliff hangers forcing you to read the next one and then the next and you have no choice but to keep plowing through and then Bam! You are done.

The characters could have used a little more, Clay would be a phenomenal stand alone as well as Doyle's love life. But all in all the mix is perfect, a perfect fit to eat a night of your life and leave you wishing and begging for the second, and a third and with luck a whole complimentary for many years.

The Nimble Man, Book # 1 of The Menagerie, was a great choice for me to read.

From the first page to the last, the action and adventure never let up. If you liked the League of Extrodinary Gentlemen comic or movie, then you will certainly enjoy this colorful novel.

Led by the sorceror Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Menagerie team battles awesome forces of darkness quite unique from anything I've read before. From vampires to elementals to hobgoblins to shapeshifters, THE NIMBLE MAN has that and so much more to offer for hours of reading enjoyment.

Fresh and ever-growing characters abound in this debut 1st novel, partly written from the author who wrote the famous and great Shadow Saga. These two writers seem to blend beautifully together, and I for one, will be looking forward to purchasing the next installment.

Hollywood, please make this into a movie!

An enjoyable pastiche, "The Nimble Man" is an fast-moving action-adventure pulp novel in the best tradition of Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Spider, Tarzan, et. al. While it may be said that "They don't write 'em like that anymore," the evidence is to the contrary, 'cuz there's one right here. Time and again I felt a grin spread over my face as I recognized where the writers were going. And they seem to be having such a wonderful time getting there. If there's a fault to the book, it's perhaps the authors may be overreaching just a bit beyond their capabilities in a few places. Still, I can't wait for the next adventure of this thrilling troupe!

This novel had all the elements of a great urban fantasy: a cast of colorful characters (the Menagerie) including a vampire, a shapeshifter and a demon, led by a familiar yet newly interpreted figure - Arthur Conan Doyle; an apocalypse complete with a downpour of frogs, zombies and bloody fog; a wicked faerie, goblins and an uber powerful wizard sealed in crystal; and a totally clueless humanity. Reminded me of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, with a fantasy element. And I have really enjoyed Christopher Golden's work before. However, something didn't meld right in this novel. It took me several days to finish the book because I kept putting it down. I'm not sure if this is a result of two authors working the story, or not.

The characters were great, and well crafted. I like the idea of Doyle as a powerful wizard, with an equally powerful ego, watching over humanity. I completely loved the character of Eve (yes, THAT Eve) who is the mother of all vampires. The goblin squire added a lot of humor and was very likeable. And how cool that he can travel through shadows? Clay was a mystery I'd love to unravel. There was a lot of witty, clever dialog amongst them all. I think the problem was the plot. Despite what seemed like a lot of action, the book plodded along. Doyle is searching for the world's most powerful wizard, Sweetblood, who locked himself away so others wouldn't try to use his power for evil. Doyle needs to find him to stop a coming apocalypse. An evil fey princess wants to find him as well. She needs him to release The Nimble Man - a mysterious menace that isn't even mentioned until 2/3 of the way through the book, despite being the title, and is promptly defeated. That's the plot in a nutshell. We find out the real danger comes later, now that Sweetblood is free, so this book almost felt like a set-up for the real novel to come later.

Though I can't pinpoint exactly what went wrong, I liked the characters enough that I'll try the next book, The Tears of the Furies (The Menagerie, No. 2). If you are looking for new dark or urban fantasy, this is worthwhile. It just didn't satisfy like I hoped.

A fun, guilty pleasure read. An engaging story, hopefully the first of many. The characters are the best part, from an intriguingly named "Eve" who may be the real thing, to "Doctor Graves", an obvious homage to Doc Savage. The authors have done a fine job combining elements of horror and magic with a good old fashioned action/adventure story. Highly recommended!

The Agents of the Menagerie fight to protect the world when a supernatural crisis occurs . The group includes Eve the mother of vampires, Clay the shapeshifter older than time, Squire the hobgoblin, Prince Ceridwen of Fey, and changeling teen Danny. Strange phenomena are happening as the dark rises under the power of the one calling them. Malevolent creatures roam free as a red mist surround the city cutting off communication with the outside.

The Menagerie led by enigmatic Mr. Doyle tries to locate the most powerful mage that ever lived Lorenzo Sangveloce before the enemy can gain access to unlimited arcane supremacy. The apostate fey Morrigan wants to bring THE NIMBLE MAN into the world so that they can jointly rule over humanity and faery. The battle between good and evil has begun.

Fans of Tanya Huff, Jim Butcher, and Mercedes Lackey will love this dark fantasy that is the first installment in a new series in which authors Christopher Golden & Thomas E. Sniegoski have surefire hit. Several revelations occur throughout the exciting story line so that the audience never has a chance to become complacent about the key characters especially the Menagerie or what will happen next. There is much to be learned about the individuals on the quest to save the world so stay tuned for more thrills forthcoming by two superb fantasists.

Harriet Klausner

For some reason, when I read the back of this book and looked at the cover, I thought it was a ripoff of The League of Extraordinary Gentelmen or more likely of Hellboy. Thankfully, I've only been exposed to one of the aforesaid titles so I could enjoy this novel.

Mr. Doyle is an extremely long-lived sorceror who in times of a mystical threat to the Earth, summons together a band of occult beings/superheroes to battle against evil. There's Eve, the original wife of Adam who also happens to be the mother of all vampires. She's changed her tune though since she wants to get into Heaven. So Eve has made it her mission to destroy every single one of her progeny. Clay is an immortal shapeshifter that can assume the form of any living thing and of a few that God threw in the trash heap of Creation. Squire is the standard midget sized wise cracking hobgoblin who reminds one of the character Leprechaun who can traverse the ways of shadow. Dr. Leonard Graves is a disembodied spirit with one foot of ectoplasm on our dimension and one in the spirit world who advises the Menagerie and also searches for his own murderer.

As The Nimble Man opens, the Menagerie is trying to track down Doyle's mentor, Lorenzo Sanguedolce, the most powerful sorceror that ever lived, who has been missing for a hundred years. Doyle has learned that evil forces are after Lorenzo to use his power for their dark plans. It's imperative that the forces of light reach them first.

I liked this novel in a comic book tongue in cheek type of way. I mean you can't take things too seriously when the character Eve, who has seen the face of God, and bears half the responsibility of our exile from Eden, is obsessed with fashion, and of buying the best clothes, and wanting to be sexy. I mean, really, after a millenia of immortality and creating vampires, would the mother of all life really be interested in following the current fads in fashion? And a lot of the bad guys and girls seem to have an affinity with black leather and sunglasses a la The Matrix. I mean when did all this dominatrix/gimp wear become cool? Bring out the whips!

I really felt that the authors should have just put costumes on these people and just been honest that this is a straight up dark superhero novel. I did think that a long lost love plotline of Doyle's past was well-done as he has to seek the help of Ceridwen, a fairy princess. I thought the characters were well crafted and seemed realistic, except for Eve and Clay. I just think that immortals would act a lot less human, and be a little more wiser about the world, more like the Elves in The Lord of the Rings than characters in Buffy.

All in all, it was a good read. Would probably make a good movie.

Wow! what a ride! Golden has outdone himself with this incredible cinematic style dark fantasy adventure depicting a group of unforgettable heroes who's job is to protect the world against dark forces of evil.Lead by the amazing Sir Arthur Conan doyle, a famous sorcerer.Ceridwen, powerful fey princess and Doyle's exlover.Dr. Leonard Graves, a ghost of a famous adventurer, Eve, the sexy and deadly mother of all vampires who seek redemption for centuries of evil and Clay-a powerful and immortal shapeshifter.They and Squire,
Doyle's hilarious and sharp-tongue hobgoblin manservant must combine all of their formidable powers to battle Morrigan-Ceridwen's evil fey aunt who seeks to resurrect a ancient terror:the Nimble Man, which is a terrifying and insane fallen angel! Golden pulls all of the stops in this gripping adventure and breathtaking in scope as our heroes must battle Morrigan's army of Corca-Duibhne, night people and other monsters
and menaces straight from celtic mythology and hordes of decaying zombies!!Another I love about this book is that resembles in style the movies: hellboy and League of Extraordinary gentleman and the witty dialogue between Squire and Eve is hysterical! I only hope this will be only a first in Doyle and his league of heroes adventures because this one was a classic!