"Cook brings a dose of gritty realism to fantasy.""Lively homage to Chandler and company, with plenty of suspects, sex, and corpses."About the AuthorGlen Cookused to work the assembly line at a General Motors plant, writing in between helping to build cars as they came down the conveyor belt. He has written extensively in the science fiction and fantasy fields, and is the author of the Garrett, P.I., novels and the Black Company alternate history series. what is a good fantasy book Bitter Gold Hearts (Garrett, P.I., Book 2)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. another enjoyable adventure for Garrett and crewBy Sneaky BurritoThis book is a little less of an adventure and a little more of a detective story than the first book in this series. As such, I think the detective story is pretty good. Glen Cook has dreamed up quite a few suspects, all with realistic motives. I could not predict the eventual culprit, and there were a few things even Garrett (the POV character) didn't figure out (or guess) on his own. It ended up being pretty complicated, but I thought the resolution of the mystery was done well. All the pieces fit together in the end, and the motive turns out to be pretty universal. And nothing felt "out of the blue." The seeds were planted early on, so the eventual conclusion made sense.Regarding the characters: the Dead Man returns (this is complicated, and best explained by reading book 1 in the series as it would take up too much space here) as an adviser, only now he's situated under Garrett's roof. He occupies his days using insects to replay battles in a distant war but occasionally exerts his powers to defend the other occupants of the house. Garrett now has a cook/butler named Dean who is excellent at his job but who behaves, perhaps, with a little too much familiarity. Dean and the Dead Man are good for occasional comic relief. Morley Dotes and Saucerhead Tharpe provide backup, much as they did last time. We learn a bit more about Saucerhead in this book, but not a lot. There are also a few characters -- mostly women -- who show up for this book but who are pretty neatly tied to this particular story and who will probably not be around for future cases (Amiranda Crest, Amber daPena, Stormwarden Raver Styx, Willa Dount, Donni Pell). There are quite a few characters, but they're either easy to tell apart, or else they're hired muscle and their individual identities don't matter so much. No one is particularly well-developed except for Garrett, but that's not so unusual for a first-person POV hardboiled detective novel.With respect to Garrett, he's basically the same as before. He has something of a sexist streak, but he's also protective of women. He's decent in a fight, and likes to keep his last few tricks close. As with the past book, he receives some spells from a witch and he uses them at convenient times. It does kind of read like Cook didn't plan this out too well, because Garrett doesn't tell us what the tricks are until he uses them. So it smacks a little bit of deus ex machina -- the perfect spell is ready just when Garrett needs it (even though he has no magical ability of his own). Minor spoiler follows, but I'll try to be really generic so as not to really give anything away. There's an opportunity for Garrett to make a choice at one point during the book. None of the options look good, and then someone intervenes with a third option that lets the "good guys" off the hook and means Garrett doesn't have to get his hands dirty. While this is a bit too convenient, I do like the implication that Garrett associates so much with the underside of society in his city that sometimes the obvious answer doesn't occur to him, especially in times of crisis. So Garrett is developed a little more in this book.The entire story takes place in the city of TunFaire and the surrounding countryside. We didn't see a ton of the city in the previous book because of Garrett's travels, but only a few specific locations are referenced here -- mostly business establishments. It's never described in a lot of detail, but we get clues as to the level of technology (people ride around in carriages, for example, and travel long distances on ships) and we picture it as a standard sort of fantasy setting. We get a sense that there's a governing/ruling structure, but Garrett doesn't run in those circles, so we get only passing clues about how the city is run. The setting is really not the focus of the story, though -- the mystery is.The writing style is pretty classic Glen Cook. I like that it's not heavy on the unnecessary detail (we might hear a word here or there about something Garrett eats, but there are no long descriptions of feasts or women's clothes or the weather). The pace is quick and the action scenes are well-spaced out. There's some degree of telling as opposed to showing, but this fits with the story -- Garrett is a detective and he has to interview witnesses. (I do like it that when Garrett passes information on to the Dead Man, we're just told that Garrett filled him in. We don't have to read the same stuff a second time.) For the most part, the prose is terse.I don't feel like there's much of a series arc unless something is going to happen in the war that's been going on for ages. This element is present in this volume only in the Dead Man's games with insects and a few comments about the prices of silver and gold (since silver is a focus of the war). Right now, these books are still episodic continuing adventures for me -- though that could change as I get further into the series.Overall, I enjoyed reading this, though I felt there were a few moments where events were too-conveniently resolved for Garrett (see above). I'm eager to start on the next volume! 3.5 stars.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Garret comes across as smart, though not infallibleBy Orotund VowelGlen Cook deserves more attention for his work in the fantasy genre. His Black Company series is groundbreaking. Garret, P.I. similarly strips down fantasy and creates a gritty world for the smart-mouthed Garrett to work in. The noir-style narrative engages the reader and the plot and pacing make for a real page-turner.Bitter Gold Hearts fleshes out Garrett's home town. The plot revolves around the class distinctions in the city while naturally evolving the mystery. Garrett is just the tough guy with a brain (and heart) to work it all out, with the help of his resident Dead Man, Morely Dotes, and some other shady characters. Garret comes across as smart, though not infallible. He is a man of action, and the action is well-paced.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Another Fun OneBy Christopher CookWhat can I say? I enjoy the entire Garrett P.I. series. Glen Cook (no relation) has written and funny, fun, and fast moving series that never fails to entertain and this installment is no exception. If you've read book 1, then you're right on track with Bitter Gold Hearts (book 2). If you haven't read the first book yet, be sure get it and start there. You'll soon be grabbing up every Garrett P.I. book you can get your hands on.