A hard-boiled pirate detective story seemed like dinosaurs on a birthday cake or a ninja punk band: nothing could stand in the way of it’s awesomeness.
I’d open the book and my hair would be blown back as if a 1980s music video wind machine were tucked in the pages. My heart would race and I’d fall into bed all sweaty from how badass the book was (and also because it’s been humid.)
Didn’t happen that way.
Turns out “hard-boiled pirate detective” can fall into face palm territory pretty easily.
WHO KNEW????
Apparently, that’s the ticket for a lot of people, though. Wake of the Bloody Angel is the fourth book in this series.
Eddie Lacrosse is the hard-boiled pirate detective in question. Except he doesn’t call himself either of those things. Instead, he’s a sword jockey, which is silly a detective (with a sword) who sometimes brings people in. Every time the term “sword jockey” came up, I wanted to yell, “Bounty hunter. SAY BOUNTY HUNTER.”
Lacrosse’s case is pretty simple: his landlady hires him to find the pirate Black Edward Tew. We’re talking pirates, so there’s a treasure in question, too. And we’re talking genre detective, so it’s fairly formulaic in terms of getting hired, getting in tight spots, getting in fights, and getting to the end. If you’ve ever read a detective story, you know how this is going to go.
Wake of the Bloody Angel isn’t the most offensively bad thing I’ve read (I’m looking at you, Tribulations). The writing is competent. The characterizations are competent, if not particularly interesting. It is, however, another book I wanted to like and was ultimately disappointed by.
But, I guess that’s my own fault for expecting dinosaurs on a birthday cake.
Cheese Rating Scale: American. Recognizable as cheese, but with none of the depth, complexity, and richness that marks a good cheese.
Review copy provided by Tor.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
