Customer Reviews

Too Many Curses

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Alex Martinez is a writer that I've enjoy for well over a year now, and in the interest of full disclosure I should say that I know him personally. He was the first person I interviewed after creating my podcast, The Dead Robots' Society, and we've stayed in touch ever since. I discovered him with his first novel, a funny horror story entitled "Gil's All Fright Diner." Since then he's written several other books, dabbling in both the fantasy and sci-fi genres, but all of his work has a comedic heart at the center of it, and I never fail to laugh.

With "Too Many Curses," Alex brings us the story of a lowly maid, Nessie, who works for a powerful dark wizard. We barely meet this wizard before he gets eaten when one of his spells goes awry. In the wake of that event, Nessie has to not only maintain order in a castle that is suddenly without a master, but also help the cursed denizens try and undo the terrible things that were done to them. Nessie is only a servant, but her shoulders are stronger than she thinks, and she has far more wit than she gives herself credit for.

Now, I think the real strength of this novel is in the rich cast of characters that fill out the castle. Each of them, no matter how small, has a clear and distinct voice to them, and as they accompany Nessie along her journey I enjoyed seeing them grow and evolve. Alex puts all of them to use in unique and humorous ways.

Unfortunately, these great characters also serve to highlight my one complaint about the book, and that is Nessie herself. Far too often she's a cipher, just accepting things with dogged determinism. And, while that might be what Alex intended, that doesn't make it easier to bond with her. We rarely get emotion from her, and it isn't until the end that we really see her become more than a vehicle for getting the story along. I think he could have crafted a more sympathetic, more endearing character in Nessie.

But, that said, I had a great time with the book. The world Alex has created is explained only so far as it needed to be, and it's consistent from beginning to end. Alex wastes few words, and that economy of writing gives the novel a brisk pace that many other works could benefit from. And, I'm happy to say, the ending is very well done. Not a cheat or deus ex machina in sight. Man is that refreshing.

And that's it! Alex has a great body of work for a writer still so fresh to the industry, and I highly recommend that people pick up his books. "Gil's All Fright Diner" is hysterical, and no one that I've lent it to has been disappointed. If you want a good fantasy, get "In The Company of Ogres," and if you're more a sci-fi guy like myself, you cannot go wrong with "The Automatic Detective." Alex is a bold voice in writing, and I look forward to seeing him go on to greater and greater success.

Margle's castle is perhaps not unlike the dwelling of any dark uber-wizard. It is a place of enchantment inhabited solely by the wizard's conquered foes - magical creatures, demons, ghosts, gargoyles, the undead, cursed heroes, and betrayed family members. And then there is Nessy, the canine-like kobold housekeeper who steadfastly endures her master's taunting and threats to honorably fulfill her duty to keep the castle in order. After Margle's death, however, his prisoners anxiously seek freedom from their magical bindings before someone perhaps even more sinister arrives to take over the castle... or destroy it.

In his debut novel, "Gil's All Fright Diner", A. Lee Martinez mentioned that it was not the first book he wrote, just the first published. I suspect "Too Many Curses" is one of those earlier works. It is vastly inferior to his debut and likely would have remained unpublished if not for the success of his other much more accomplished work.

A magical castle brimming with enchanted inhabitants was undoubtedly fertile soil for the author's imagination. But the story was not engaging. The action was recounted in a completely sterile and unaffecting way. Nothing gripped the reader. What the story lacked in tension or drama, it tried to make up for with silly gags (spin on myth - the Sword in the Cabbage; parody of fierce names - the Beast Which Annoys; even an alliterative owl - a real self-indulgence for an author). But the set-pieces are rushed, half-developed, and then clumsily discarded. Only one character has any depth at all, the aforementioned Nessy. The ancillary characters exist only to serve the plot or elicit a chuckle.

Beneath it all was a morality tale about power, insecurity, and cruelty. I applaud the sentiment but the execution was botched. "Too Many Curses" exhibits all the hallmarks of Martinez (quirky humor, fantastic elements, and light moralizing), but the story was not compelling.

Having read all of Martinez's books, I keep waiting for a dud.
I'll have to wait longer, because "Too Many Curses" is another great book from one of the most innovative fantasy writers working.

From soldiers who can't stay dead (and we better hope he doesn't) to a good ol' boy team of a vampire and a werewolf, to a not-so-ugly witch, to a killer robot turned pin stripped gumshoe, Martinez continues to produce interesting, funny, and likable heroes.

Who else has a kobold housekeeper for a hero.
Nessie proves that decency, level-headedness, and common sense outperform evil and wizardry every day.

For some reason, you wouldn't expect fantasy like this to come from Texas, but Yippie Ki-Yay.

Margle the Horrendous is an arrogant evil wizard who relishes his collection. His castle is loaded with his defeated foes who he has transformed into all sorts of shapes. His housekeeper Nessy the kobold detests the clutter since she wipes the dust off of her master's precious ensemble. She likes her job though some of the losers are pests, but would like a little adventure of her own.

However sometimes you get what you wish for; all hell breaks lose inside Margle's castle when he dies from one of his incantations. Suddenly his entire collection is free, but they are made up of monsters with a grudge; only Nessy is around as a target for their frustrations although they admit she was kind to all of them. Nessy the pragmatic struggles with lifting curses when she has no magical skills but has some insubstantial cursed allies who in lucid moments try to help her. Adding to her inability to clean up the growing mess is Tiama the Scarred wizardess has come calling initially to make Margle her slave, but now to take over his life's work.

This weird fantasy, reminiscent of Howl's Moving Castle, is a fun tale containing a wild bunch of support characters although too many so that few get explored beyond a brief description; even those who assist Nessy are never deeply described. The angst of consciously having a few body parts exist in a jar must be harrowing, but Lee Martinez never explores it. Still this is a fast-paced tale starring a likable competent housekeeper, Margle's damned, and the despicable new wizard trashing the castle. Young readers will especially enjoy Nessy's efforts to clean up her late employer's latest mess.

Harriet Klausner

Too Many Curses is a pretty straightforwards book. It takes a very simple concept and then runs with it as far as it possibly can... and it does so in a fun manner. Perhaps this is the fantasy book equivalent of the Urban Iditarod, zany fun and a warm fuzzy feeling by the end of the read.

A kobold named Nessy is the caretaker of the evil wizard Margle's castle. In the middle of one of his usual threatening spiels, he dies leaving Nessy essentially the one in charge of all the cursed and transformed people therein. Unfortunately for all of them, their curses did not lift when the evil wizard died and so Nessy has to deal with the fallout.

This is one of the better examples of a book that takes a simple concept and runs with it as far as it can possibly go. Nessy is not the most complicated of creatures, but even tempered, hard working and pragmatic. I found her ability to recognize and work around her limitations endearing. I loved how she looked at each new disaster more as setbacks that would have to be dealt with in due time. I found the castle's response to her perfectly appropriate. It was a very good play on showing who was the master of whom. The ending is just a little bittersweet, but I appreciate how it keeps its optimism.

The collection of cursed people around the castle and the castle itself make this a book to keep as far away from GM's and DM's as humanly possible. I found the side characters to be extremely good for laughs, especially the heroic fruit bat, the alliteration owl and of course, the one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater was ever so cute.

Things I didn't like... hmmm... ummm... I'm drawing a blank. It promised to be a delightful, funny read and it was. Mission accomplished, have a cookie.

I would happily recommend this book to anyone who wants something to lighten the day.

Nessy is the housekeeper for the wizard Margle the Horrendous and it is quite a job keeping up with a castle full of disembodied voices; fallen heroes turned into fruit bats and other things; parts of a wizard in a jar; and a door that should never be opened. Then the wizard Margle dies and Nessy must keep the castle together without having it taken over by other wizards. Worst of all a dark wizardess shows up unannounced and very strange things start happening.

Nessy does not have any magic powers she is just a short, furry creature called a kobold who is very sensible. She gets lots of help from a gargoyle; a ghost; a fruit bat and a nargle (a purple people-eater); and the monster who lives under her bed. Together they must fight the dark evil living in the castle and remind the castle of its goodness.

There are many adventures along the way and it is a fast read. It is well written and Nessy is a very enjoyable and likeable protagonist. There are some scary twists in the book but overall it's a fun book to read.

I like A. Lee Martinez's books. He has a nice, light touch with unexpected twists and turns. That said, though this is enjoyable, I think his best works are "The Automatic Detective" and "Gil's All Fright Diner." Oh well, not everyone hits a homerun evertime - this is a solid double.

This story is great for people that enjoyed "Talking to Dragons" (and others in the series)by Patricia Wrede as well as other tongue in cheek fantasies. It was very light and very easy to read. I enjoyed the matter of factness of the character and the practical sense that the main character, Nessie had I frankness that I love in characters. For example, Nessie fully believes that her death is imminent working for wizards, but still she so enjoys the work so it is worth it. She just accepts this fact as a hazard of her employment.

I always enjoy ingenius and creative stories like this one. I enjoyed that the main charactger was not a beautiful princess and the story was competely unpredictable and hiliarious at times. I would definately purchase other novels by this author.

I have been a fan ever since Gils all Fright Dinner and have never been disappointed in any work so far with this book being no exception. While perhaps a bit quicker read than some other books this fantasy about a Kobold housekeeper (Castle keeper?) who faces the largest challenge of her life when her master passes away in an accident. Normally one would expect this to be a salvation for the kobold but here we see a dedication to make sure that her charges don't get cast away into the void and the actions of her desire to do the right thing. This leads to an amazing cast of characters enrolling to help her keep up with the new demands and also ensures that the story never grows stale as you keep reading.
Perhaps my only complaint that I have in these stories is the lack of sequels which given the wide range of bad stories by other authors out there is a great statement of just how great these stories are.

I really liked this book for its quirky gentle humor. Once I started reading it I could not put it down. Not your average fantasy. Readers of Terry Pratchett will find this book well worth reading.