Synopsis from Amazon:
My name is Alexi Sokolsky: blood mage, occult scholar, and hired killer.
Three things that should convey me some immunity in the dog-eat-dog
world of the Russian mafia.
Fat chance. In reality, I think too much, drink too little, and if there's one thing the underworld teaches you, it's that there's always a shark bigger and hungrier than you.
Life gets tough after a man turns up dead in our territory, his mutilated body scrawled with demonic sigils. It gets tougher when a key ally of my Organization is kidnapped by a secretive death cult... and I'm the errand boy sent to hunt them down and bring him back.
Then I get captured, nearly killed, and am immersed in a sea of cosmic horror the likes of which I've never known. The stakes are nothing less than the daughter of GOD Itself... and she's calling to me for help.
My name is Alexi Sokolsky: blood mage, occult scholar, hired killer... and hapless pawn in the great game between Everything and the NO-thing trying to destroy it.
Fat chance. In reality, I think too much, drink too little, and if there's one thing the underworld teaches you, it's that there's always a shark bigger and hungrier than you.
Life gets tough after a man turns up dead in our territory, his mutilated body scrawled with demonic sigils. It gets tougher when a key ally of my Organization is kidnapped by a secretive death cult... and I'm the errand boy sent to hunt them down and bring him back.
Then I get captured, nearly killed, and am immersed in a sea of cosmic horror the likes of which I've never known. The stakes are nothing less than the daughter of GOD Itself... and she's calling to me for help.
My name is Alexi Sokolsky: blood mage, occult scholar, hired killer... and hapless pawn in the great game between Everything and the NO-thing trying to destroy it.
>>>>>
My Review:
Well, here's what I can say: I am developing a keen sense of my own
tastes for the "paranormal crime solver" genre. From Grave Reports to
Supernatural to Dresden Files—I began to notice myself comparing things
to these others as I read Blood Hound. And it stacked up pretty well,
I'd say.
The hero is a surly Mage, living alone
in less-than-stellar conditions and few actual friends. He is forced to
work with people who happen to have more social influence and authority
(and money, I think) than he does, but they also have less
understanding of the parameters of magic than he does, either too afraid
of it, or passing it off as "woo-woo." His superiors want him to do
what no one else can and solve this problem they have in a very short
time, with no concern for his peril as the bad guys seem to have no
regard for him as a person, and this are willing to cut him down as
brutally as they like if he gets in their way.
These things
seem to be the hallmark of the genre, and Baldwin plays it up well.
Where he deviates here is in the culture of his Mage, and thus the whole
tone of the book. Where Harry Dresden had Western Catholic roots for
his magic system and his perspective, and Vince Graves displays more of
the modern Protestant beliefs and mythology (also espoused in
Supernatural)—Baldwin does something unique in actually choosing Russian
origins for his characters (the Russian Mafia of New York, in
particular) and Eastern Orthodoxy/Jewish Mythology for his magic system.
(That's, I think, where things got a little weird for my taste: any
time the storyline got too deep in the religious aspect, especially in
regards to re-constituting GOD—something I have never been comfortable
with—it seemed to lose a lot of the drive and appeal, but it always resumed itself once the "dogma" was out of the way) The dialogue and narration are
spattered with Russian terms (so fun!) and the social hierarchy and
interactions between the characters were so well-done that by the end I
think I was practically reading most of it in a slight Russian accent
(in my head.)
The mystery, the crime Alexi has to resolve, is a
very good one. I found just enough hints to keep me occupied with
suspicions as I read—then plot twists would come along and blow them
away with a single gasp! I very much sympathized with Alexi; that is to
say, I very much enjoyed the characters who were his friends, and very
much disliked the ones who were his enemies.
The magical
concepts introduced were very well-done, from the idea of Phi as a
magical substance and Phitometry as the working of that magic, to the
concept of the Gift Horse and the culmination of Alexi's mission—which,
in the interest of keeping this review spoiler-free, is all I will say
about that.
With a title like BLOOD HOUND, it
should be no surprise that this book is pretty violent. Lots of broken
limbs, exploding body parts, and gore in general; Alexi is a hit man,
it's part of the job. The deeply religious mythological aspect also
produces some disturbing images that did a rather effective job of
scaring me. But if you're the sort that doesn't mind that sort of stuff,
and you are in the market for a good urban paranormal series to follow,
BLOOD HOUND and the rest of the "Hound of Eden" series is definitely
one to follow! Baldwin does a very good job at evoking the right
emotions through his writing, and communicating the more crazy-twisted
parts of the story in the right words so that it is clear what is going
on.
That being said, I would give BLOOD HOUND a ****4 STAR****
rating. It's not the best I've read, but it's fairly decent in it's own
right, and delightfully unique in its treatment of the classic tropes.
Baldwin demonstrates himself as a very capable writer. I would
definitely be interested in giving further installments a try!
Further Reading: (Weird Tales/Horror/Urban Fantasy/Breathtaking Thriller)
-Grave Beginnings--R.R. Virdi
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