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Sweet Silver Blues | Rating | |
| B | |||
| Glen Cook | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| From the Files of Garrett, PI | Sweet Silver Blues, Bitter Gold Hearts, Cold Copper Tears, Old Tin Sorrows, Dread Brass Shadows, Red Iron Nights, Deadly Quicksilver Lies, Petty Pewter Gods, Faded Steel Heat, Angry Lead Skies, Whispering Nickel Idols | ||
Even in a world of wizards and elves, people have their own personal problems. Garrett is a confidential agent, the perfect sort to solve those problems - for a fee, of course. And when an war buddy dies, his heirs hire him to find the old flame that he left his money to. Problem is, the woman doesn't seem to want to be found. Worse, she was last seen down in the Cantard, a region that is currently the focus of a long and bloody war - bad territory in which to be roaming around. Worst of all, it's a lot of money, a veritable fortune in silver, and everyone from a spoiled sister to TunFaire's equivalent of the mob want Garrett to give up his quest and let them get their hands on the money. But Garrett is not about to abandon a case, unfortunately. Yet it may be most unfortunate for Garrett, himself.
One of the first things I noticed about Sweet Silver Blues was that the book doesn't actually feel very midieval. It's pretty much a direct transformation of a classic detective novel into a fantasy setting. Cook avoided using noir-type dialogue, thank goodness, and guns are apparently nonexistant there, but there's churches and street toughs, people use a good many eartly names, and in general it reads the same. The main differences are the inclusion of nonhumans and absence of technology higher than the 19th century level. Even magic itself, a standard of fantasy fare, is played down, wizards being almost entirely out of the picture.
But if the fantasy aspect of TunFaire has less relevance than one might hope for, the story itself isn't too bad at all. It's absolutely chock full of twists and turns, hidden motives and conspiracy upon conspiracy. The book uses the usual detective novel schtick of taking what looks to be an ordinary, harmless matter and turning it into the tip of an iceberg nobody wants to see exposed.
Also typical to the genre is Garrett's personality. His womanizing and outlook enhance the novel's appeal, making him a more interesting character to watch over and echoing classic detective fare. Garrett is tough without being mean, a romantic and a cynic, and good at fitting all the pieces of a puzzle together. He doesn't just happen across his leads, or have them handed to him. He elicits them, and if that fails he gets tricky. Cook knows how to write a competent investigator without turning the case into a simple, straightforward affair.
Besides not using the setting to its full potential, I do have one other complaint. Garrett keeps his cards excessively close to his vest. He will tell somebody something important, some revelation or secret or plan, and all the reader is allowed to see is something along the lines of, "So I told him what I'd figured out." This is fine if the readers already know the information, of course - it keeps the story from repeating itself and boring the audience - but if it is something he just realized, it would certainly have been nice to hear it said. As it was, several times I felt lost, entirely unsure why Garrett was acting as he was or doing what he did. Without the information, it either made no sense or seemed simply arbitrary.
This is nevertheless an interesting mystery in an interesting setting. Cook has built himself a setting that is peopled by some rich characters that truly feel like they have lives to lead, and not just plot points they need to hit to forward the plot along. Mystery readers will likely enjoy this story even if they're not big on fantasy, since the fantasy elements are, if not irrelevant, certainly of minor pertinance. Fantasy fans, on the other hand, of which I am one, may have a greater problem with its lack.
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