Pentapod reviewed The Domino Men by barnes-jonathan
Review of 'The Domino Men' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Apparently this is a follow up to The Somnambulists, but pretty much an independent story and reading the first isn't required - which is good, because I didn't know that when I read it. The book was a random gift to me from someone who'd never read it and only picked it up because of the title, but after about 2 years gathering dust I figured I should try it.
Meh.
I'm torn between 2 and 3 stars, 3 because at least the author appears to be able to write grammatically and literately, but in the end I give it 2 because the story itself just isn't very redeeming. It's supposed to be a modern urban fantasy with cthulhu-esque elements (heavy ones); the protagonist Henry is thrown into the work of The Directorate, a secret branch of the UK government that's been at war with the royal family since Queen …
Apparently this is a follow up to The Somnambulists, but pretty much an independent story and reading the first isn't required - which is good, because I didn't know that when I read it. The book was a random gift to me from someone who'd never read it and only picked it up because of the title, but after about 2 years gathering dust I figured I should try it.
Meh.
I'm torn between 2 and 3 stars, 3 because at least the author appears to be able to write grammatically and literately, but in the end I give it 2 because the story itself just isn't very redeeming. It's supposed to be a modern urban fantasy with cthulhu-esque elements (heavy ones); the protagonist Henry is thrown into the work of The Directorate, a secret branch of the UK government that's been at war with the royal family since Queen Victoria made a deal with a sinister dark power called Leviathan that would keep the Empire safe in return for giving them London and all residents of it a century later. That time has now come and Henry's grandfather was right in the middle of the fight until he slips into a coma, throwing Henry into the middle of it all as he tries to figure out what's going on, romance the girl, find the hidden secret to stopping the Leviathan, and all with a heavy dose of dismembered bodies, vomit, and drug abuse thrown in for extra grit. Or something.
Henry is the most boring type of protagonist there is, being completely lacking in redeeming features of any sort and having apparently no initiative, backbone, or intelligence; he just gets dragged around from confusing situation to confusing situation while passively narrating what's happening and being actively described by other characters in the story as boring, stupid, and unattractive. The entire plot turns out to be controlled by characters you never really get to understand or see the perspective of, and in the end there are almost no characters at all that you care about enough to be interested in or grieve for if/when they reach their probable gory demise.
