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flajol's review against another edition
3.0
I loved [b:Shovel Ready|17834909|Shovel Ready (Spademan, #1)|Adam Sternbergh|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1367256679s/17834909.jpg|24954891] so was looking forward to the second book about Spademan. I'm not a big fan of crime thrillers, so was surprised to be swept away by this series and by the noir style. It's not something I would normally choose to read, but the apocalyptic setting hooked me in and I'm glad it did.
It's a year since the events of Shovel Ready, and Spademan has taken responsibility for Persephone and her daughter. He's also still taking on jobs, and as the book opens he's hunting down his next target.
Near Enemy kicks off with a big question hanging over the limnosphere - can people be killed from within the limn? It's supposed to be impossible, but Spademan is starting to suspect that someone has found a way.
Action-packed, but with quite a bit of character-development for Spademan as he struggles to juggle his work with his concern for his 'family'.
It's a year since the events of Shovel Ready, and Spademan has taken responsibility for Persephone and her daughter. He's also still taking on jobs, and as the book opens he's hunting down his next target.
Near Enemy kicks off with a big question hanging over the limnosphere - can people be killed from within the limn? It's supposed to be impossible, but Spademan is starting to suspect that someone has found a way.
Action-packed, but with quite a bit of character-development for Spademan as he struggles to juggle his work with his concern for his 'family'.
forsakenfates's review against another edition
4.0
"The far enemy is the one you hate, the one you're sworn to fight against. The near enemy is the one you're close to, who you trust, but shouldn't."
Near Enemy is the sequel to Shovel Ready. You have Spademan, your garbageman turned contract killer living in post-dirty bomb NY. In this book, Spademan is attempting to figure out how to stop another potential plot against an already decimated NY. With all this going on, he still has to deal with protecting his “family” and keeping Persephone and Mark safe.
I really enjoy the writing style of these books. Sentences are very short, choppy, and to the point. It adds to the noir, hard-boil detective genre. It is action packed and fast-paced. Once I got into the book, I flew through it, plus these books are short at around 300 pages. Spademan is this dark brooding character that you cannot help but love, even though his choices are morally ambiguous.
In this installment, we find out a lot more about the dirty bomb and the initial terrorist plot. We also get a larger glimpse at how the city has moved on from the attack through the limn. The limn is this dreamlike state that allows someone to go to a different world to live their days. This book focuses on the idea of the terrorists attacking from inside, specifically from within the limn rather than overtly.
I definitely enjoyed this installment more than the first due to the faster plot. I think I connected more with stopping an imminent terrorist plot than the corrupt minister of Shovel Ready. The one thing I didn’t like was that from the beginning the villain was plotted as being Muslim. While this fits with current ideas on who terrorists are, I think it perpetuates the growing mistrust of all Muslims. I think it is unjustified that from the beginning, they are targeted as the bad guys. I’m currently in a class that focuses on US policy post 9/11, so I do have a certain lens that I’m reading this through. I just think it is unfair to have the initial terrorist attack in the limn be carried out by a woman in a Burqa.
Other than that, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to future books by Adam Sternbergh.
*I received a copy of this book through BloggingForBooks in exchange for an honest review*
Near Enemy is the sequel to Shovel Ready. You have Spademan, your garbageman turned contract killer living in post-dirty bomb NY. In this book, Spademan is attempting to figure out how to stop another potential plot against an already decimated NY. With all this going on, he still has to deal with protecting his “family” and keeping Persephone and Mark safe.
I really enjoy the writing style of these books. Sentences are very short, choppy, and to the point. It adds to the noir, hard-boil detective genre. It is action packed and fast-paced. Once I got into the book, I flew through it, plus these books are short at around 300 pages. Spademan is this dark brooding character that you cannot help but love, even though his choices are morally ambiguous.
In this installment, we find out a lot more about the dirty bomb and the initial terrorist plot. We also get a larger glimpse at how the city has moved on from the attack through the limn. The limn is this dreamlike state that allows someone to go to a different world to live their days. This book focuses on the idea of the terrorists attacking from inside, specifically from within the limn rather than overtly.
I definitely enjoyed this installment more than the first due to the faster plot. I think I connected more with stopping an imminent terrorist plot than the corrupt minister of Shovel Ready. The one thing I didn’t like was that from the beginning the villain was plotted as being Muslim. While this fits with current ideas on who terrorists are, I think it perpetuates the growing mistrust of all Muslims. I think it is unjustified that from the beginning, they are targeted as the bad guys. I’m currently in a class that focuses on US policy post 9/11, so I do have a certain lens that I’m reading this through. I just think it is unfair to have the initial terrorist attack in the limn be carried out by a woman in a Burqa.
Other than that, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to future books by Adam Sternbergh.
*I received a copy of this book through BloggingForBooks in exchange for an honest review*
dave_white's review against another edition
3.0
If you like books without endings you will love this. Or villains without real plans.
kgs339's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
beardedbarista's review against another edition
5.0
Not sure what I am going to do now other than just wait patiently for the next Spademan book to come out... freaking cliffhanger ending!
I love action novels and this one is top notch. I really took to Shovel Ready (the first book) and not sure what took me so long to finally read this one. Now that I am done though I feel empty. I need more!
This futuristic world seems like a very real future in real life with VR becoming so popular.
Read this book series if you are afraid of the VR revolution... it will make you more afraid ha
I love action novels and this one is top notch. I really took to Shovel Ready (the first book) and not sure what took me so long to finally read this one. Now that I am done though I feel empty. I need more!
This futuristic world seems like a very real future in real life with VR becoming so popular.
Read this book series if you are afraid of the VR revolution... it will make you more afraid ha
cameron_butterfly's review against another edition
5.0
I did not read the first book, because I found this book randomly at a store, but the book is a great stand alone book. This book is easily one of my favorites. It was hard to put down. The ideas are intriguing but the form of the story is kinda hard to follow at times. Somethings are left unanswered but the overall book was amazing.
tommooney's review against another edition
2.0
Poor compared to his other books. Spademan didn't need another outing.
winterpirate's review against another edition
5.0
“It’s better to kill someone who wants to shake your hand than it is to shake someone’s hand who wants to kill you. Important lesson.”
Twisted, sarcastic, sassy, disturbed, and different, just like the first novel in the Spademan series. Link to my Shovel Ready Review.
Spademan used to be a garbage-man, but now he’s a hit man in a New York where people are tapped into virtual reality beds, ignoring the corrupt city around them. When Spademan sets out to take down a mark, what he discovers instead is that someone may have discovered how to hijack and kill people while they’re tapped into their twisted dreams. The limn may no longer be a safe place for people to live out their disturbing fantasies of rape and violence.
This author is my new favourite thing. Definitely one to watch out for if you like noir, sci-fi, dystopia, thrillers, mysteries or books that don’t neatly fit into one specific genre.
Twisted, sarcastic, sassy, disturbed, and different, just like the first novel in the Spademan series. Link to my Shovel Ready Review.
Spademan used to be a garbage-man, but now he’s a hit man in a New York where people are tapped into virtual reality beds, ignoring the corrupt city around them. When Spademan sets out to take down a mark, what he discovers instead is that someone may have discovered how to hijack and kill people while they’re tapped into their twisted dreams. The limn may no longer be a safe place for people to live out their disturbing fantasies of rape and violence.
This author is my new favourite thing. Definitely one to watch out for if you like noir, sci-fi, dystopia, thrillers, mysteries or books that don’t neatly fit into one specific genre.
richardrbecker's review against another edition
4.0
Spaceman used to be an anti-hero. But as his job as a hitman begins to take a much more noble tone, Spaceman feels more like a dark night than the sarcastically deadly loner we knew him to be in Shovel Ready. He is also much more likable as he begins to attract a team of eccentric characters — people whose loyalties range from unwavering to questionable — as they navigate the post-apocalyptic urban noir that Sternberg has aptly drafted here.
If you want something different, dive right in. But before you do, it might be best to start with the darker introduction Shovel Ready. The story is a but less cohesive but contains significantly more grit.
If you want something different, dive right in. But before you do, it might be best to start with the darker introduction Shovel Ready. The story is a but less cohesive but contains significantly more grit.
chukg's review against another edition
3.0
If you liked the first one, you will probably like this one. Short sentences, no quotation marks and has a very noir kind of feel, but it's set in a near-ish future dystopia where anyone who can afford it spends all their time in a full-sensory VR called the limn. Not all the action takes place there. Also one of the 'twists' was telegraphed so hard that it seemed like the characters were actively pretending they hadn't figured it out.