Fade to Black

Fade to Black (A Rojan Dizon Novel) (2013) Francis Knight

This is a really dark and twisted book.

I tore through it, but I think I shouldn’t read two of these in a row, because, well, the main character is a pain mage, which means he has to hurt himself to generate power for his magic.

That is just as dark as you’d expect.

But it was also interesting. I was fascinated by the world building–a civilization that has built up so much that many of it’s citizens never see the sun except as a many time mirrored reflection. It’s been done before in SF, but I don’t ever remember coming across it in fantasy before. Although in this story magic allows for the creation of many things we have created by technology.

Rojan’s job is that he finds and retrieves things that have been lost, especially people. He’s good enough that he rarely has to use his magic, which is good, since pain mages are outlawed, and nothing good will happen to him if he’s outed as one.

However, Rojan is an asshole. Let’s just get that out of the way. He’s not a bad guy, just a complete dick. Initially, that makes him a little hard to stomach, although the fact that he’s completely up front about being an asshole does make it more tolerable.

Mind you, he’s an asshole in the way of the hard boiled detectives of noir, which is why I kinda liked him.

So, she ticked all my boxes. Over eighteen, female, still breathing, a challenge. Unfortunately she ticked the “not on your fucking life” box too.

And there were parts that were funny.

I’d long since come to the secret conclusion that the desk was alive. I’d get it level, go home, come in the next day and it would be more uneven than ever. We’d come to an uneasy truce, me and desk. I stopped trying to make it flatter than a flatbread, and desk made sure it wasn’t so tilted that my cup slid off when I wasn’t looking. I’d taken to taping my pens to the surface, none the less.

I too, have uneasy truces with many inanimate objects.

I can see why a lot of people would not like this, but if you can tolerate Simon Green‘s Nightside, or Richard Kadrey‘s Sandman Slim or Mike Carey‘s Felix Castor, you’ll be fine.

I do want to read the rest of the books in the series, but I think I’ll wait a bit before picking up the next one. I only need so much darkness in my life at once time.
Rating: 7/10

Published by Orbit

 
 

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