Steve crawls to shore… apparently free from the Death of
Water’s eternal hell. This is unexpected – but not as much as being greeted by
men with guns… or finally getting home to find that Lisa and Tim think he’s a
monster.
And they have 3 other copies of him lurking in the
basement. Each of which thinks they’re the real one.
When I first came across this book I was sceptical. The
Death Works series had ended – it had ended rather elegantly, if somewhat
tragically, and I didn’t see how another book would come out of the series,
especially one that still involved Steve de Selby. Or even the universe since
everything seems neatly resolved. I admit, I rather cynically expected a poor
book that had stretched out a done concept.
And I was wrong.
This book continues on with the same fascinating world
and excellent characters and does manage to keep the story going. Steve is
still very true to what he was – so well meaning, more than a little inept, but
so determined to do what is right. He’s still a little whiney, his optimism
still rather expecting things to work out even when nothing owes him a happy
ending. Tim and Lisa are the hard edged professionals they’ve always been with
some added insight into some of the other entities around him.
The time gap has added some interesting elements – like it
confirmed that Tim and Lisa are actually way better at the job than Steve ever
was. But also seeing the Hungry Death through Lisa’s eyes, perhaps, gives a
better sense of just what Steve was facing as Hungry Death. I also like how Tim
and Lisa have grieved to an extent, but are still angry about what Steve did
without telling them at the end of The
Business of Death. He doesn’t get to come back and have everything be
twee and lovely and he can just step back into his old role, his old
relationships as if nothing had happened and no time had passed. It’s not that
neat
I think that’s one thing that really made me like this
book – along with some nifty action and some great world revelations. It
resisted the urge to be twee. These books have never been twee, there’s always
been an edge of grittiness, a sense that the world isn’t fair and an idea that
the “good guys” weren’t really all that good. Just good in comparison. It was
one of the things that made Steve stand out as the good, rather naïve, but
genuinely nice guy in a sea of sharks. When bringing a character back as
happened in this book it is easy to get all saccharine about it. This doesn’t –
it’s not sweet, it’s not neat, it’s still rough and painful and difficult and
there’s no shiny “love conquers all” fluffy ending. Especially since Lisa is
far far too professional to let sentiment cloud her professional judgement
It’s not a long book, but it’s nicely concise. It’s as
long as it needs to be to introduce everything, remind us of everyone, show the
world and include some really nicely written action. It doesn’t need to be
longer and ends up feeling neither rushed nor padded – just long enough.
And despite all the grimness, it’s still really funny –
not just Steve’s antics, thoughts and behaviour, but little world building
quirks. I particularly like the dread eldritch force known as “The God Who Is
Not Named Because We Have Forgotten It.”
I do, unfortunately, have to continue my ongoing
criticism that this series is really lacking in any kind of minority
representation
This book leaves us with two routes. The foundation has
been laid for a full series after this, there are plot lines, bits of the world
revealed, new possibilities, factions and forces all of which could be followed
– all of which I’d quite like to see followed. But, the book also ends in a way
that could be the end of the series – kind of a little add on to The Business of Death to bring the
series to as close without being THAT depressing. It may not end with twee, but
it ends positively with hope.
In both cases it works – as a precursor for more to come
or as a more hopeful ending to the Deathworks series, it’s a really great book
and just what was needed.
