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C'mon, spring, you can do it
Feb. 22nd, 2009 09:01 pmEnough, already. Plunging down into single digits again tonight. March is almost here, time for an end to this nonsense.
Finished Barking by Tom Holt. This is a very amusing book, which of course is the intent. Almost as funny as Terry Pratchett in places. If you'd have asked me whether I could read a "lawyer" novel from beginning to end, I'd have told you no. Of course, it's about as serious about being legal fiction as Charlaine Harris or Christopher Moore are about being dark fantasy. Very British, full of allusions to other well-known British fiction. Protagonist says his boss has the management style of Lord Voldemort, for instance, or remarks that a competing law office is "furnished in Early Mordor with a late Dalek influence." Main character Duncan Harris is a mediocre solicitor specializing in wills, probates, and related issues. An old school chum offers him a better position with his own firm, Ferris and Loop. The name should be a giveaway. Duncan is reluctant at first because he felt overwhelmed by Luke Ferris in school, but after he is fired from his position he accepts the offer. Of course, Ferris and Loop turn out to be a team of werewolves. The pack that runs together stays together.
Their chief competitors and enemies are all females, the firm known as Crosswoods. And... they're all vampires. You can see where this is heading, but there's more. All three firms keep passing around a very wealthy client, heiress to a huge estate that has proved difficult to settle. Bowden Allshapes, as we quickly learn, is in fact not dead at all but rather undead. Yep, zombies too. It's silly, it's funny, and had only one weak point in my opinion. The ending was too predictable and conventional. Still worth reading, though.
Finished Barking by Tom Holt. This is a very amusing book, which of course is the intent. Almost as funny as Terry Pratchett in places. If you'd have asked me whether I could read a "lawyer" novel from beginning to end, I'd have told you no. Of course, it's about as serious about being legal fiction as Charlaine Harris or Christopher Moore are about being dark fantasy. Very British, full of allusions to other well-known British fiction. Protagonist says his boss has the management style of Lord Voldemort, for instance, or remarks that a competing law office is "furnished in Early Mordor with a late Dalek influence." Main character Duncan Harris is a mediocre solicitor specializing in wills, probates, and related issues. An old school chum offers him a better position with his own firm, Ferris and Loop. The name should be a giveaway. Duncan is reluctant at first because he felt overwhelmed by Luke Ferris in school, but after he is fired from his position he accepts the offer. Of course, Ferris and Loop turn out to be a team of werewolves. The pack that runs together stays together.
Their chief competitors and enemies are all females, the firm known as Crosswoods. And... they're all vampires. You can see where this is heading, but there's more. All three firms keep passing around a very wealthy client, heiress to a huge estate that has proved difficult to settle. Bowden Allshapes, as we quickly learn, is in fact not dead at all but rather undead. Yep, zombies too. It's silly, it's funny, and had only one weak point in my opinion. The ending was too predictable and conventional. Still worth reading, though.
