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Ragnarock | Rating | |
| B | |||
| Stephen Kenson | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Shadowrun | Never Deal with a Dragon, Choose Your Enemies Carefully, Find Your Own Truth, 2XS, Changeling, Never Trust an Elf, Into the Shadows, Streets of Blood, Shadowplay, Night's Pawn, Striper Assassin, Lone Wolf, Fade to Black, Nosferatu, Burning Bright, Who Hunts the Hunter, House of the Sun, Worlds Without End, Just Compensation, Black Madonna, Preying for Keeps, Dead Air, The Lucifer Deck, Steel Rain, Shadowboxer, Headhunters, Stranger Souls, Clockwork Assylum, Beyond the Pale, Blood Sport, Technobabel, Wolf and Raven, Psychotrope, The Terminus Experiment, Run Hard, Die Fast, Crossroads, The Forever Drug, Ragnarock, Tails You Lose, The Burning Time, Born to Run, Poison Agendas, Fallen Angels, Drops of Corruption, Aftershock, A Fistful of Data | ||
Tommy Talon has been working hard ever since he returned to his hometown to run the Boston shadows. He's put together a competent tea, and they're been making a good name for themselves. Good enough that he's hired by Saeder-Krupp at the orders of Lofwyr himself. It seems that someone has stolen an acient artifact right off an archaeological dig. The dig's patron wants to know why. It should be a simple job, but Talon should know that when a run invovles dragons, however peripherally, simple is the one thing it will never be.
Kenson included a big, big twist in this story. It sends the plot off in a completely different direction from where it had been going, where it could have been predicted. I'm sure it will take a good many readers pleasantly by surprise. While clearly there was more story to tell - it happens with a good many pages to go, not near the end at all - for things to proceed as they did was extremely unexpected. And that's a rare enough thing in stories for it to be cherished when it happens.
On the other hand, the bad guy's plot is a bit too intricate. It relies on everything happening exactly as he expected, everyone reacting as he needs them to. Had he overlooked one thing, or misjudged one person, his plan would have immediately gone awry. And the villain is just too smart to have done that.
I also had a problem with the author's unfortunate tendancy to indulge in exposition. The personal histories of Val and Seren, a teammate and an ally of Talon's, along with what happened in Germany after the Awakening, all get several pages devoted to their telling. And while it's a good idea to flesh out the characters and setting, the way Kenson does it here immediately kills the flow of the story.
This is still a good tale, mind. But it is a flawed telling of it. I just had a few too many problems with its execution, both by the author and by his main villain. This is one of those stories that can be left on the shelf without any consequences - you won't miss much. But you likely won't regret it if you pick it up, either.
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