The proof of this novella was courtesy of Bad Moon Books, but I should say I had already ordered my copy because I was really looking forward to it.JD Enron is a monster wrangler, one of the rising stars of the business but that is before Box Hill. The first story in the novella is a sort of back story to Enron's character, telling the tale of Box Hill and how he ended up, 9 years later a lot more cynical and taking a case for a traditional noir style femme.
The second story is a little longer and is the tale of Enron's missing persons case in Monster Town. It gives a little more of an idea of who Enron is and goes further into the world. Hired by a concerned mother whose daughter has run away into Monster Town (effectively a prison town) Enron heads in, against his better judgement to find the girl.
Monster Town is a collaboration between Steven Savile and Brian M Logan. I really enjoyed it, easy to read, some great characters in the making and easy to visualise the action. I's quite like to see this one done as a graphic novel, the action has the sort of flavour that could do with more imagery. There are some great illustrations in the novella by Darryl Elliott who I think did a great job.
The collaboration has left this story with less depth than Savile's solo projects, he has a knack for characters that Monster Town lacks, which is a shame but overall not a problem. It touches on the issue of what makes a monster, but doesn't really explore it as much as i'd have liked, but again, it's a novella so I shall be forgiving.
Very entertaining, very easy to read, overall though, I think it could do with being fuller or a graphic novel. I'd have liked to see more of Steve in the writing too. It does have some great moments but it's not Silver, of course Silver does set the bar pretty high.
At the end of the day I am not at all sorry I have ordered it, I am sorry Steve isn't a stronger presence in the writing. I do love the final presentation as a flip book, so each story gets it's own gorgeous cover illustration.
2 comments:
They can't all be home runs, but sounds like an easy, enjoyable read.
it is Alex and from anyone else i'd be delighted with it, but I hold Steve to special extra high standards, which gives you some idea how awesome Silver is and London Macabre will be. :)
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