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Title: Wicked Bronze Ambition
Series: Garrett, PI #14
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 438
Words: 127K

Synopsis:

From Kobo.com

Garrett is a human detective in the fantastical city of TunFaire. And now he’s getting tangled up in the worst sort of laws...

In-laws.

Garrett is set to stow his wandering heart with his fiancée, Strafa Algarda. But for Garrett, even true love comes with its share of headaches—namely, the Algarda family.

Strafa’s family needs Garrett’s unique skills in the worst way. Rumors are spreading that someone is organizing a Tournament of Swords—a brutal contest that magically compels the children of sorcerers to battle until only one is left alive. The winner will absorb the power from those he has killed and thus become a demigod.

Strafa and her family want to protect her daughter, Kevans, from being forced to take part in the lethal contest...and they’ve asked Garrett to find out who is organizing the tournament and nip it in the bud. The only problem is that finding the culprit is most likely impossible. But the Algardas are used to getting what they want....

My Thoughts:

This is the final Garrett PI book and I have to admit, it wasn't good. Garrett's new almost-wife (they're going to be married in a week or so) is killed right from the get-go and then is returned/resurrected/whatevered right at the end. I really disliked her being killed, but to have her return was even worse.

Then Garrett is about the stupidest I've ever seen him in the series. Cook uses the old “I'm in shock, I'm stressed, I'm excuse, excuse, excuse” but it was total caca. He wrote Garrett dumb and then shut the Deadman out of the picture to make this last longer. Pile on that many other characters DO seem to know what is going on but are not telling Garrett because of “you have to figure it out on your own” caca and you had a LOT of caca in this book.

Everything in this book felt like a whimper instead of bang. A series shouldn't end like that. Bleh.

★★☆☆☆ ( )

I enjoyed it more than I expected to. I feel Cook jumped the shark with Angry Lead Skies with the "elves" and never quite got it back after that. That he finally dumped Tinnie Tate Gilded Latten Bones was a surprise and I thought he was going into new territory with Strafa. He did sort of. The story pulled me and I was a little disappointed that the book did meander a bit and the sentimentality at the end was good but very unlike previous Garrett books. You should read it if you are a completist. Otherwise stop with Faded Steel Heat just before Angry Lead Skies. ( )

I have not been a particularly devoted reader of this series, but I have found the four books which I have previously read to be fun and reasonably entertaining. The early books seemed quite obviously pastiches of Raymond Chandler – funny, affectionate, genre hopping send-ups of a genre that lends itself easily to such treatment.

This one feels much more ambitious, offering more nuanced world building and maturing characters. It builds towards an ending that seemed poised to leave you reeling like the Big Sleep or Farewell, My Lovely. Like a Chandler novel, many of the characters here ultimately prove to be monsters or victims or both, sporting dark undersides which drive their actions towards inevitable tragic consequences.

The book moves quickly but felt massive and sprawling--a long series of incidents from which we learn little or nothing. Our protagonist wanders around Tunfaire with little purpose, surrounded by a constantly evolving and often seemingly random collection of friends, rat people, mysterious hangers on, and tails of varying competence. For the most part it feels like Garret is more along for the ride than driving the story here. The penultimate concluding plot resolution felt so contrived as to be ridiculous.

Overall I would have to say that while I admire the ambition of the book, I can’t really say that Cook pulls it off; it is a book that requires lots of work that in the end didn’t really feel like it had been worth it. ( )

I'm a fan of this series, and pre-ordered this one, but it's a bit of a disappointment. The plot is straggly, and doesn't make sense, and Garrett keeps telling us he's not acting normally (not a good sign). It's a quick read though. ( )

I really enjoyed this one. Not sure how Cook has kept me interested in a series 14 books long, but he has. The bittersweet tone of the most of the story gave it a little push over the usual wise-cracking, and I enjoyed the fact that Nero Wolfe...err, the Dead Man...wasn't a major factor in this one. ( )