Trent Jamieson

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A lyrical, tender story about role models and growing into manhood that reimagines the elements of the vampire myth in a wholly original way . . . while never breathing a word about vampires.

They worship the Sun: the only god as cruel as they are.

The Masters, dreadful and severe, rule the Red City and the lands far beyond it. By night, they politic and feast, drinking from townsfolk resigned to their fates. By day, the Masters must rely on their human show more servants, their Day Boys, to fulfill their every need and carry out their will.

Mark is a Day Boy, practically raised by his Master, Dain. It’s grueling, often dangerous work, but Mark neither knows nor wants any other life. And, if a Day Boy proves himself worthy, the nightmarish, all-seeing Council of Teeth may choose to offer him a rare gift: the opportunity to forsake his humanity for monstrous power and near-immortality, like the Masters transformed before him.

But in the crackling heat of the Red City, widespread discontent among his fellow humans threatens to fracture Mark's allegiances. As manhood draws near, so too does the end of Mark's tenure as a Day Boy, and he cannot stay suspended between the worlds of man and Master for much longer.

With brilliantly evocative, hypnotic prose, Trent Jamieson crafts a fang-sharp and surprisingly tender coming-of-age story about a headstrong boy—and the monster who taught him to be a man.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Erewhon does very, very interesting SF stories, like this wonderfully realized take on vampirism. The story of Mark, the Master/vampire's Day Boy coming of age in a system that is grotesquely unfair, is handled with care and with respect for his genuine struggle to come to terms with his privilege. As this is a struggle many, if not most of us with levels of privilege similar to Mark's have yet to engage with/in, the story isn't a Young Adult one. In my opinion, anyway.

I'd like to call y'all's attention to the descriptive prose. It is very well-handled. It doesn't overwhelm the momentum of the story, and it doesn't veer into for-its-own-sake lyricality. I'd excerpt some or you but the fact is it's best appreciated in its context...anything I call out won't have the impact I'm describing to you. Author Jamieson is one heckuva prose stylist and that alone's a reason for fans of the vampire genre, the post-apocalyptic genre, and social-comment fiction to read it. show less

Steve crawls to shore… apparently free from the Death of Water’s eternal hell. This is unexpected – but not as much as being greeted by men with guns… or finally getting home to find that Lisa and Tim think he’s a monster.

And they have 3 other copies of him lurking in the basement. Each of which thinks they’re the real one.

When I first came across this book I was sceptical. The Death Works series had ended – it had ended rather elegantly, if somewhat tragically, and I didn’t show more see how another book would come out of the series, especially one that still involved Steve de Selby. Or even the universe since everything seems neatly resolved. I admit, I rather cynically expected a poor book that had stretched out a done concept.

And I was wrong.

This book continues on with the same fascinating world and excellent characters and does manage to keep the story going. Steve is still very true to what he was – so well meaning, more than a little inept, but so determined to do what is right. He’s still a little whiney, his optimism still rather expecting things to work out even when nothing owes him a happy ending. Tim and Lisa are the hard edged professionals they’ve always been with some added insight into some of the other entities around him.

The time gap has added some interesting elements – like it confirmed that Tim and Lisa are actually way better at the job than Steve ever was. But also seeing the Hungry Death through Lisa’s eyes, perhaps, gives a better sense of just what Steve was facing as Hungry Death. I also like how Tim and Lisa have grieved to an extent, but are still angry about what Steve did without telling them at the end of The Business of Death. He doesn’t get to come back and have everything be twee and lovely and he can just step back into his old role, his old relationships as if nothing had happened and no time had passed. It’s not that neat

I think that’s one thing that really made me like this book – along with some nifty action and some great world revelations. It resisted the urge to be twee. These books have never been twee, there’s always been an edge of grittiness, a sense that the world isn’t fair and an idea that the “good guys” weren’t really all that good. Just good in comparison. It was one of the things that made Steve stand out as the good, rather naïve, but genuinely nice guy in a sea of sharks. When bringing a character back as happened in this book it is easy to get all saccharine about it. This doesn’t – it’s not sweet, it’s not neat, it’s still rough and painful and difficult and there’s no shiny “love conquers all” fluffy ending. Especially since Lisa is far far too professional to let sentiment cloud her professional judgement

Read More show less

(Note: this review is primarily for the third book in the trilogy.)

Excellent read. I though the climax was particularly well played out (and well written!) and the ending had a certain satisfaction to it. My one complaint is that some of the set up was a little drawn out, but in the context of the plot, it was probably necessary.

I liked Steven's character development throughout the novel. It felt authentic and it was good to see him finally come into his own (after the ennui at the start of show more the second book).

Oh, also, the black humour was spot on, just as it was in the first two books. show less

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/06/review-death-most-definite-by-trent.html

It’s been a bad day for Steven de Selby. He has a hangover from a night of drinking with his cousin, and best friend, Tim, a dead girl is following him around (who he might actually be falling in love with), someone is killing his co-workers, and there’s already been an attempt on his life. Steven is a Pomp, or a Psychopomp, working for the family business (Mortmax), drawing the show more souls of the newly dead through to the Underworld. He’s been living quietly with his border collie, Molly, and moping over a break up that happened nearly 3 years ago, when all hell seems to break loose at once. His Regional Manager is missing, and Morrigan, family friend and higher up at Mortmax, can barely contain the sudden violence. Steven suspects that Stirrers are involved, who pretty much do the same thing as Pomps, but hunger for both the living and the dead, creating pain and havoc wherever they strike. Losing his co-workers is bad enough, but when the violence hits very close to home, Steven vows to get to the bottom of things, before it’s too late for him too.
I’m a sucker for male protagonists (I like kick-ass chicks too, but this is a soft spot, k?), so when I started Death Most Definite, I was full of hope that I’d discover a new fave. Well, I have. Steven de Selby is everything I love in a male lead. He’s sensitive, kind, and a bit vulnerable. He doesn’t have a tortured past, and except for a rather bad run with women, there’s no serious angst that he’s dealing with when the you-know-what hits the fan. He’s just a (taller than usual) guy, doing the day to day in the family biz (albeit an odd family biz), and trying to catch a bit of happiness wherever he can. See, I get that (except for the guy part), and his humanity is part of what makes him so damn likeable. The author puts Steven though the emotional and physical wringer in this one, and it’s almost more than one man can handle. De Selby reminds me a bit of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, but in Australia, instead of Chicago, and without as much of the snark , although there’s plenty of it for this snark fan. I thought the pacing was just about perfect, and I really enjoyed the little things, like the author’s references to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Firefly, and Mad Max. I love his world of inklings (tattoos that come to life), beautiful fig trees that ease the passing from life into death, and even zombies (of the non-brain-eating variety). Add car chases, explosions, some awesome twists, a chilling trip through the Underworld, and one of the funniest renderings of Charon I’ve ever read, and you’ve got a must read! I’ll definitely be back for more with Managing Death, book 2 in the Death Works series. show less