Chris Horne

The anti Abercrombie.

I am not the target audience for this book. I love Grimdark, I love grey characters and i love cynical humour.

Bookshops and Bone Dust is none of the above, the characters are good, they do good things and are rewarded for their efforts. Boring right? Wrong! The author executes the story so well that the characters, rather than being sickly sweet, feel like real people who make real decisions. They just choose to be kind to each other.

There are two plots in this book, a low stakes and a higher stakes one. I found myself caring about the low stakes plot and found the higher stakes an unnecessary distraction. I can go to thousands of other fantasy books for life and death situations. I come to this world to spend time with a wonderful bunch of characters being nice to each other in nice places and that is when this book is at its best. Oh and when it describes the cake. Do not read when hungry.

Over the course of the Dresden Files series Jim Butchers writing ability has improved from book to book, especially when it comes to action. One of the best things about each book is the fun ways in which Harry and his friends go about beating the variety of bad guys that Butcher comes up with…..however this book is one long action scene from start to finish and no matter how good the writer is this becomes one note very quickly. Large parts of the book were a slog for me.

Positively there are a few very powerful moments in the book, a couple of which could be the best in the series, you just need to get through characters hacking through endless, faceless, henchmen to get there.

Classic Pratchett, featuring characters who go on to become fan favourites. This book is a great way to start the series for new readers. The trade mark wit is there and the plotting and characterisation is improved from early books. Granny Weatherwax deserves to be included in any list of beloved literary characters.