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Damned Nation | Rating | |
| B | |||
| Nick Pollotta | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Bureau 13 | Judgement Night, Doomsday Exam, Full Moonster, Damned Nation | ||
When Abraham Lincoln is attacked in his study by a werewolf, it is only by luck and the quick thinking of those nearby that he survives. Afterwards, it will be up to newly-minted Marshal Joshua Witherspoon to determine who the assailant had been and whether this was a Confederate plot. But that won't be easy, and Witherspoon is going to be undergoing some serious on-the-job training regarding magic and monsters. And there's signs of something else, something worse, involved as well. Something immune to guns and silver and anything else they can think to throw at it.
This is a very different book than the first three, in almost every way. First, it is half again as long as those, which was a pleasant find. After all, a nice quick read is all well and good, but a nice long read is even better! It is also set during the American Civil War, instead of modern times. And written in third person, as well, not first.
That last is more important than at first is sounds. Part of the fun of the first trilogy was the wry humor and offhanded jokes of the storyteller, and third person forced Pollotta to take a more neutral style. Damned Nation has its moments, but it never achieves the humor, the breakneck pace, the sheer outright fun of those volumes.
There is also a collecion of more tangible problems within these pages. A larger-than-usual count of typos, to start. Points of view seesawing back and forth during a conversation without warning. Speech that is a bit too modern is a mixed blessing, as it diminishes the sense of reading something set in the 1860s but makes the story more comprehensible in the bargain. Not to mention the question of exactly what the Drell are, or how Team Tunafish can be astounded by sentient werewolves in Full Moonster, claiming this is a new thing on Earth, when here they are way back when.
On the good sides, this was at its heart a pretty good story. Something of a cross between a mystery novel and something that Indiana Jones might have gone through. And, of course, there's the fun of seeing the origins of both Bureau 13 and its first agent. It clears up several mysteries, such as why the base is called "Bangor, Maine," of all things, though it carefully doesn't reveal everything. Perhaps in future books.
I must say I was a bit disappointed that this wasn't a continuation of Team Tunafish's exploits. And the book doesn't get as fun, much less as funny, as the first three volumes. Still and all, it's a decent continuation of the series. And because it stands outside that initial trio, it rests quite nicely on its own, thank you.
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