Mary Gentle

The Black Opera should have been a firecracker of a book. It's got a marvellously inventive premise: an alternate Naples in the early nineteenth century where the Returned Dead walk the streets and secret societies plot the supernatural eruption of Mount Vesuvius, where opera has the power to catalyse magical reactions and where the librettist Conrad is trying to dodge the Inquisition, his father's ghost, and the unwelcome side effects of being trapped in a love triangle.

But Mary Gentle show more seems to have become entangled in her own premise, and forgot the old adage of always starting as close to the end of the story as possible. I'm sure she was trying to induce the same feeling of disorientation in the reader as is felt by Conrad as various revelations happen, but instead the first half of the book reads like all preamble—"and then and then and then" storytelling, not helped by the fact that some characters and their motivations are frustratingly opaque throughout.

Gentle does have a way of keeping you reading towards the end, but sadly the big reveal of means and motivation, well.... doesn't reveal much. Some things remain frustrating cyphers, and the resolution of the love triangle both frustrating and farcical (Largely because Gentle keeps insisting that Leonora is amazing and that both Roberto and Conrad are rightfully obsessed by her without ever really showing us why. Quite honestly, the Roberto/Conrad relationship was much more appealing to me, and an ending in which they paired off and ditched Leonora would have been far more emotionally convincing). I shouldn't get to the end of a 700-page book and exclaim "Are you kidding me?", only with a rude word inserted between the 'you' and the 'kidding'. show less

This is an all-time favourite of mine; I acquired the paperback when it first came out and read it every so often. (I love playing spot the movie reference - not that I'm much good at it because I've never been much into movies, especially war movies.) . It probably has the most politically incorrect one-liner in a fantasy novel ever, but hey, what do you expect - they're orcs! Of course they're going to be politically incorrect!

Stealing a dragon's hoard is never a good idea, especially as show more dragons have a nasty habit of putting curses on their hoards, doubly so if they're killed in the course of that theft. However, order is orders and you don't disobey The Nameless Necromancer (in service of The Dark Lord) before the final battle in the conflict between The Light (a nasty bunch of self-righteous racist jerks) and The Dark (a disparate bunch of much-misunderstood races whose only desire is to be left alone so they can get on with what they do best).

It turns out that said dragon is a collector of militaria from other dimensions; not modern up-to-date stuff, but collectible items. What the orcs raid is the Earth collection, circa Viet Nam War era... The curse is to become what they stole - so the orcs become orc marines and in the process more or less respectable citizens (if you're prepared to overlook certain unpleasant habits).

As gross as Bored of the Rings, but to my mind far funnier.

Recommended. show less

These stories yank you into the dark alleys of unsavory cities, mug you and only occasionally leave you fit to walk away. There are a couple which should be labeled "Dead dove don't eat!"

When I first read 'Grunts', nearly twenty-five years ago, it was a delightful surprise. I'd never read anything that had such a deep understanding of the sword and sorcery novels that I loved and yet was able to see their limitations and pretensions clearly and gleefully vivisect them scalpel-sharp humour. It was one of those books that I pestered everyone to read.

I was already a fan of Mary Gentle. Her books 'Golden Witchbreed' and 'Ancient Light' had me in fan-boy heaven - real show more characters, difficult issues, anti-colonial politics and a Jacobean level of death and destruction. What I hadn't expected from her was effective comedy.

The humour in 'Grunts' is a joy. It tells the story from the point of view of a bunch of Orcs - yeah, the cannon-fodder of The Dark, the creatures that someone like Gandalf slaughters by the thousand without a qualm. Vicious. Aggressive. Canabilistic. Mary Gentle takes these guys and has them fall under a spell that, without making them any nicer, gifts them with the weaponry and fight ethos of the US Marine Corps. Suddenly, they're an effective fighting force with an agenda of their own that doesn't include dying at the hands of The Light because The Dark have no strategy.

'Grunts' is a stiletto to the ribs of all those 'The Last Battle Between the Light and the Dark' trilogies that went on for thousands of pages without humour and without once wondering what made The Light something special rather than just another bunch of fanatical warmongers trashing the homes of the poor. It presents the eternal struggle between The Light and The Dark as pointless destruction and instead of seeing only glory and courage, focuses on the blood and the fear.

I had a good time re-reading 'Grunts'. It was fun in an X-rated Terry Pratchett kind of way. I started to feel some sympathy for the Orcs and hoped that they'd rise up against both leaders of The Light and The Dark. I particularly enjoyed that the 'Grunts' analogue of Hobbits were treacherous, murderous, thieves and pimps.

Unfortunately, this time around, I found the book too long. I gave up after 250 pages. I didn't have the stamina for the rest.

I still recommend 'Grunts'. It is a unique read. show less