This was sort of a supernatural James Bond book. Very much like the old James Bond books, and the Sean Connery movies. It was fun and a good read. I've not been in the mood for much serious stuff lately. Summer has taken over my brain and I'm not up for much serious thinking. ( )

There’s no way getting around it. You’re going to see this as James Bond with Daemons, which is probably the point, especially if the cover and the pun-riddled title are anything to go by. That isn’t to say that is a pale pastiche. Green has created a hero and an adventure in its own right.

Bond, Shaman Bond is in fact Eddie Drood a protector, along with the rest of the Drood family, of humanity from the forces of darkness and through him Green shows an alternative world where all the things that you thought were just myth and mystery are in fact real.

Green does takes this idea slightly too far in places but overall he gets the tone and mix and reality about right. So that the creatures he introduces fit quite well. Ironically it was the aliens that didn’t quite fit in as they seemed, well alien, and out of place.

What at first annoyed me about Eddie Drood turned out to be his greatest weakness - his golden armour. It makes him, super-strong, invincible and arrogant. That is until he’s shown that he isn’t as invincible as he’s always thought. It’s also a lesson he teaches a few others along the way.

Green keeps the pressure on Eddie and the reader and doesn’t stop for breath as the action takes us from a Harvey Street Hospital, to a devastating chase along the M4 and the hidden areas of London amongst many other places. It isn’t just the solving of a mystery. It’s the journey of Eddie as he learns more about himself and gets closer to someone he’s tried to kill on more than one occasion.

Green keeps up the laughs so it’s closer to Austin Powers than 007. The ideas flow from an imagination that seems far from running dry. I’m looking forward to where Green takes Eddie Drood after he’s built up and destroyed so much in The Man with the Golden Torc. ( )

Simon Green starts out what is sure to be another series with a bang. The world seems to be related to the Nightside (there's a hint that the main character, Eddie Drood, out-cheated John Taylor at poker, which is how he ended up living in his office) but takes place in the "real world". Eddie is part of an ancient family who, with the help of their golden armor, send agents into the world to save it. Or so they are told. Eddie has always been the black sheep of his family, but he never sees it coming when they declare him rogue. Eddie goes on the run, looking for answers and finds far more than he expects, as well as winning the heart of a wild witch.

Once again, Green is the master of fantastic settings and bizarre characters. He manages a worthwhile tribute to James Bond and yet something that is quite original. SPOILERS in the end, Eddie brings down the corruption at the heart of his family and finds himself in charge of rebuilding, now with the help of silver armor and an alien creature. Because someone needs to keep saving the world. ( )

Not a bad book. Started a little slow, but got better as it went. Wrapped up a little quick for my taste, with a lot of enemies left on the table. I suppose that will make for sequels down the road. ( )

The Man With the Golden Torc - Simon R. Green

Yes, an obvious Ian Fleming reference, and, in fact, the secret identity of the main character is actually Bond, Shaman Bond. Certainly a better name than his real one, Edwin Drood.

This is the start of what appears to be another series of Green doing what Green does bet, which is making up all sorts of bizarre and outre characters, even when you thing he can't possibly come up with any more.

There are hints here of things that happened in the Nightside, too, so linking this to that particular universe.

Shaman Bond is a similar sort of character to John Taylor, an outsider, a loner, and someone with a hate/love relationship that develops with the main female character, and not so much getting along with his own family, or what is left of it.

Eddie Drood is a fair bit more Captain Britain than 007, however, as the title reference is to a device that give shim a suit of golden power armour, super strength, speed, invulnerability, all that sort of super power stuff, without the flag on the chest.

There are many such Droods, acting as supernatural enforcers, taking out the bad guys, supported by their own family fortress, research teams and other staff.

However, something in rotten in Droodmark. Arsekicker Eddie, minding his own business is declared rogue by his own mob and slated for termination.

Cue Green craziness and conflict from thereon in and he goes hunting for what is actually going on, and other rogues, while trying to avoid being killed by his own family, elf lords, mercenaries, Manifest Destiny cults, trolls, other weird Green characters, and more. With more than a few pop culture jokes of various badness thrown in, of course.

http://superprose.blogspot.com/2008/0...
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