I had a small amount of trouble truly getting into this book. I'm not sure if for whatever reason my brain just could not grasp all the different characters, or if there was just too much going on at once for me to follow properly, but I found myself constantly having to refer back to the 'Character List' in the front in order to remember who was who. Who was beholden to who, who held what position, etc.

There was also the matter that other then Tycho and Guiletta, the characters all seemed to have the same 'voice'. Its told in third person limited, but there wasn't much to distinguish one viewpoint from another. They all sort of bled into each other in a confusing manner.

Moving back to the confusion I felt regarding the characters and remembering their various allegiances, some of that stemmed from the fact few of the characters seemed to be truly tied to one faction or the other. Everyone was running so many agendas and schemes, most of which crossed each other and interfered with each other, it was hard to keep the lines straight. I eventually resorted to keeping a running list of everyone's actions, but even then it became a long winded chart.

Where Grimwood really shone was in his depiction of Venice and the time period. Many times I could almost feel the decadence and filth that Grimwood meticulously details of the canals, streets and palaces. The intrigues of the families and parishes, the various types of people and stations of life, they came alive. The narrative though doesn't let the reader figure out very much on their own. A mystery, or secret, is introduced, some clues are strewn about, but almost immediately things become obvious. There's very little sustained tension. ( )

The Fallen Blade Stephanie Meyer and Deborah Harkness need a lesson in what a vampire really is and that lesson is "The Fallen Blade". Jon Courtenay Grimwood has taken a step back (thank God) towards the more traditional vampire myth. However, what really drew me to this book was its setting in 15th century Venice - a historical novel with vampires, witches and werewolves and plenty of political intrigue? Sounds pretty damn good to me!Although the plot was sound and kept me reading, the characters fell short of what I expected. To me it seemed as though the characters were underdeveloped and jumps in time within the plot really didn't help with that. I also found the relationship between the characters Giulietta, Tycho and Leopold rather confusing, although this was balanced out, in some ways, by the intricate political plot line.The writing style was also a little confusing in some places in that I had to read over the dialogue several times before I could understand what was going on and who was speaking.Overall I'd rather give this book 3.5 stars - I'd like to give it more but the characters were a let down and prose could have been more clear. However, Grimwood redeems himself by creating a powerful plot line and I'll definitely be picking up the next book. ( )

Complex & dark fantasy book ( )

Meh.

Actually, this is an interesting book to try and talk about, because my emotional response when reading was "this is just lacking" but once I actually try and think about "how to fix it", I become puzzled as to why it doesn't work. It seems to have everything it should - a pretty tight story focused around a collection of interlocking characters with high stakes. Also vampires, werewolves, magick and swooning maidens.

Why doesn't it work?

For me, it's because I'm just not feeling it, and that's probably down to a couple of big factors about the way it's told. One: the story is tight, but the telling of it is all over the place. It jumps between narrators without balance (one guy's only used in the first third of the book, one guy only used in the middle third, the final third is almost exclusively from the "hero's" POV without break). It jumps around in time without giving you any clear indication until you get a couple of pages into the new chapter, and thus confusion abounds (not assisted by his drama-over-clarity style, especially in the meta-story patches). And Two: it talks a lot about the big emotions the characters are feeling - which drive their actions - but I rarely saw or felt the justification for them. This was especially bad for love, which all of the characters feel passionately for one or more of the other characters, usually not the one who feels that way about them - I had no idea what any of them were talking about, because there rarely seemed to be any basis for that love, and certainly few of them acted like they genuinely cared about that person. (Particular extra-special face-pulling for Tycho and Giulietta, who meet for scant moments and are bound by love henceforth. Bleurgh.) In general, I just didn't care much for any of the characters (a little for Atilo; a little for Desdaio; both of these withered as the book progressed) and thus I just plain didn't care.

Anyway, when you have a vampire and a werewolf duelling with magical swords atop a Venetian tower and I'm BORED, you're doing something wrong. ( )

Imprisoned in a Mamluk ship, Tycho arrives into a parallel Venice, ruled by a simpleton Doge, and populated by mages, girls fleeing unwanted betrothals, streetwise thieves, scheming assassins and witches and beset by supernatural enemies. He has come though fire from a land of ice, and must find himself soon, or perish...... John Courtney Grimwood delivers in 'The Fallen Blade'. First of a trilogy. ( )