The Blue Blazes

Leave it to Chuck Wendig to write something sophisticatedly simple, showing his good taste through a reckless and enthusiastic lack thereof. The Blue Blazes is a turbo-charged urban fantasy with fists, guts, goblins and clever one-liners.

The richest part of this book is the setting. From the above ground streets of New York, to the subterranean Underworld filled with not only a plethora of ugly baddies, but a whole ancient culture. Its absurd and over-the-top enough to be thrilling, while still feeling real enough that its as though you could step right into it. Not that you'd want to. The violence in this book is at times at shudder-inducing gross-out levels, and the bad guys are creepy as fuck.

The characters are cut from a simpler mold, and I mean that in the best way possible. Mookie Pearl is a big angry brute, his daughter Nora is an angry teen of a much smaller size. They may be small-minded creatures, but their desires and hopes are far from insignificant, and their relationship is tragically complex. Their mistakes, their pride, and their sheer relentlessness are what drives the plot forward, along with a suave villain and a conspiracy to turn this supernatural NYC upside down.

This is a super fun, kinda crazy, splatterpunk fantasy noir. Going into this, I was looking for something messy and dark that revelled in its own absurdity and rage, and The Blue Blazes totally hit the spot.

I really enjoyed this mash-up of organized crime and Lovecraftian horror, but it's the characters that shine in this novel–Mookie Pearl, a big bad who loves his daughter Nora, no matter what; supporting characters with heart like Skelly, Burnsy and Werth; and some really nasty denizens of the Underworld.