Jeff Somers
Author of The Electric Church
About the Author
Image credit: Barbara Nitke
Series
Works by Jeff Somers
Writing Without Rules: How to Write & Sell a Novel Without Guidelines, Experts, or (Occasionally) Pants (2018) 34 copies
The Inner Swine Vol 7, #3 1 copy
This Was Education 1 copy
Idolator 1 copy
The Inner Swine 11(3) 1 copy
Oldest Bastard On the Block 1 copy
Associated Works
Life Is Short and Then You Die: Mystery Writers of America Presents First Encounters with Murder (2019) — Contributor — 76 copies
Hanzai Japan: Fantastical, Futuristic Stories of Crime From and About Japan (2015) — Contributor — 41 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1971
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
- Short biography
- Born in Jersey City, New Jersey but no one believes it because I am not very tough-looking; went to public grammar schools where I learned to curse extravagantly and a private Jesuit High School where I learned, well, Latin, mainly; was an Eagle Scout though my main memories of the Boy Scouts involved being dirty most of the time, drinking cheap blackberry brandy in the woods, and living life on the edge of a Lord-of-the-Flies situation any time we went camping; majored in English during college because I suspected (rightly) that this would allow me to sleep in and skip most of my classes; have been writing since I was about nine when I crafted a ninety page exercise in Tolkien plagiarism titled The War of the Gem; married above my station in life and am living peacefully with stronger-than-she-looks wife and three cats.
Members
Reviews
This series has bounced between terrible and really fun, usually several times within each volume, but it seems to have finally bottomed out. Action was dull and often incoherent, story nonexistent, and the climax was a major let down.
I still enjoy the character, but this entire novel felt like filler.
I hate to be so hard on it, but it really wore thin.
I still enjoy the character, but this entire novel felt like filler.
I hate to be so hard on it, but it really wore thin.
If the whole series had been like this ...
The book probably only deserves three stars, if only because it still has many of the problems that plague the series and has a totally useless epilogue (although it was labelled "Appendix, so I guess its uselessness was known).
Still ... a very satisfying ending to a very hit-or-miss series.
The book probably only deserves three stars, if only because it still has many of the problems that plague the series and has a totally useless epilogue (although it was labelled "Appendix, so I guess its uselessness was known).
Still ... a very satisfying ending to a very hit-or-miss series.
I'm not sure why I keep reading and increasingly liking these books. They're pretty dumb, painfully affected, and are only as stylish as joyless repetition of "fuck" can make them.
But they truck along nice and violent-like at such a good pace, with enough spectacle and action to apparently make me a committed fan of the series.
But they truck along nice and violent-like at such a good pace, with enough spectacle and action to apparently make me a committed fan of the series.
Lists
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 29
- Also by
- 9
- Members
- 1,748
- Popularity
- #14,714
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 67
- ISBNs
- 67
- Languages
- 2
- Favorited
- 5
Except that it is extremely will written. I approched this expecting to have to ignore some cringe-worthy dialogue or preposterous plot twists. The plotting is tight, believable and really engaging. The main charcter - Cates - is likeable and witty and the supporting cast is strong and interesting.
For a shorter novel - the scope is quite broad and it looks like the next on the sequence - rather then just being more of the same - really moves the world and characters forward. There isn't a huge amount of worldbuilding - certainly not the level I am usd to in a hefty space opera a la Alistair Reynolds but that works well - keeping the atmiosphere gritty and dark and keeping the reader grounded in the plot without distraction of understanding new technology or geography or social strata.
A thoroughly enjoyable and extremely well contructed novel with a dimension that lifts it above the standard pulp sci fi fayre - looking forward to reading the sequel.… (more)