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kebrent's review
5.0
Couldn't put it down in a lost sleep and missed meals kind of way - thoroughly enjoyable
johnwillson's review
4.0
Modern supernatural tale. It's tense, but I wouldn't call it horror. Several characters develop magical powers, they never really figure out why. Magic is personal, almost psionic, definitely powerful. There's no greater metaphysics beyond that.
theartolater's review
4.0
Ultimately closer to a 4.5.
Matthew Rossi, if you know his writing, is best known for his work on World of Warcraft information. For me, it was his weird essays on alternative histories and cultures (Bottled Demon being my favorite, but his three previous reads were all great). He had hinted on Twitter about the novel he was working on, and it got released and I finally got to read it.
And how do I sum it up? It's like a mainstream weird horror novel... and then Santa Claus shows up in a major battle.
I'm kind of glad I approached this from having read Bottled Demon and the like, because the conceits behind the good versus evil mindsets here are absolutely established in this sort of skewed look at genre the way Rossi has taken a skewed look at history and noteworthy events in his previous books. The pacing allows for the story to move along, and the number of true curveballs that Rossi throws from both main characters and major events alike means that the book is a page-turner in a different sense. It's not so much that you want to know what happens next (because you do), but because you end up wondering what craziness is happening next.
In that it doesn't really fit in well with the current weird and is perhaps a little too reliant on those curveballs is the one negative, but it's far from anything resembling a dealbreaker for how solid this book truly is. It has something for fans of horror, of the current weird fiction trend, of urban fantasy, and of slight absurdism. In the end, you really can't go wrong on this one.
There is apparently a sequel planned, and the best praise I can think of for this book comes from that fact. The ability of this book to surprise me over and over again is what will get me coming back to what's been established here as soon as possible. It's just a lot of fun in a genre that is often lacking it, and that's worth the time to take part.
Matthew Rossi, if you know his writing, is best known for his work on World of Warcraft information. For me, it was his weird essays on alternative histories and cultures (Bottled Demon being my favorite, but his three previous reads were all great). He had hinted on Twitter about the novel he was working on, and it got released and I finally got to read it.
And how do I sum it up? It's like a mainstream weird horror novel... and then Santa Claus shows up in a major battle.
I'm kind of glad I approached this from having read Bottled Demon and the like, because the conceits behind the good versus evil mindsets here are absolutely established in this sort of skewed look at genre the way Rossi has taken a skewed look at history and noteworthy events in his previous books. The pacing allows for the story to move along, and the number of true curveballs that Rossi throws from both main characters and major events alike means that the book is a page-turner in a different sense. It's not so much that you want to know what happens next (because you do), but because you end up wondering what craziness is happening next.
In that it doesn't really fit in well with the current weird and is perhaps a little too reliant on those curveballs is the one negative, but it's far from anything resembling a dealbreaker for how solid this book truly is. It has something for fans of horror, of the current weird fiction trend, of urban fantasy, and of slight absurdism. In the end, you really can't go wrong on this one.
There is apparently a sequel planned, and the best praise I can think of for this book comes from that fact. The ability of this book to surprise me over and over again is what will get me coming back to what's been established here as soon as possible. It's just a lot of fun in a genre that is often lacking it, and that's worth the time to take part.
nearit's review
4.0
I've been reading Matthew Rossi's work for a while now but this was something quite different in its form, if not ultimately in what it's doing.
Rossi's previous books packed a load of ideas into a series of compact forms. Full of short, speculative essays, they were works of alchemy, transforming the undeniable or the commonplace (the red and white stripes of a barbers pole, say) into something improbably outlandish (blood rituals designed to protect western civilisation).
Nameless, meanwhile, is a modern fantasy novel full of compelling characters and action beats that don't so much borrow from popular culture as invoke it as a weapon. The perspective flits around with the same sort of ease as it did in Rossi's earlier works, but instead of jumping around history and possibility, it leaps from one character to another in a boundlessly inventive action adventure story. There's romance too, a great deal of tenderness in the interactions between Thomas and Thea, and in the mess of family at the heart of the book. There's an acceptance of the power of ideas to help or bind us. There's an understanding of both the vulnerability of our bodies, and the pleasure they can allow us. There's a refreshing lack of worry about the different configurations this might involve.
Nameless is every bit as playful and inventive as Rossi's earlier works, then, and every bit as concerned with the transformation of familiar concepts. It gives us fresh perspective on stories we've grown too used to in the telling. It also provides us with characters to care about.
Book one of at least three, apparently. For once that feels less like a curse than a blessing.
Rossi's previous books packed a load of ideas into a series of compact forms. Full of short, speculative essays, they were works of alchemy, transforming the undeniable or the commonplace (the red and white stripes of a barbers pole, say) into something improbably outlandish (blood rituals designed to protect western civilisation).
Nameless, meanwhile, is a modern fantasy novel full of compelling characters and action beats that don't so much borrow from popular culture as invoke it as a weapon. The perspective flits around with the same sort of ease as it did in Rossi's earlier works, but instead of jumping around history and possibility, it leaps from one character to another in a boundlessly inventive action adventure story. There's romance too, a great deal of tenderness in the interactions between Thomas and Thea, and in the mess of family at the heart of the book. There's an acceptance of the power of ideas to help or bind us. There's an understanding of both the vulnerability of our bodies, and the pleasure they can allow us. There's a refreshing lack of worry about the different configurations this might involve.
Nameless is every bit as playful and inventive as Rossi's earlier works, then, and every bit as concerned with the transformation of familiar concepts. It gives us fresh perspective on stories we've grown too used to in the telling. It also provides us with characters to care about.
Book one of at least three, apparently. For once that feels less like a curse than a blessing.
firesoulbird's review
3.0
While the actual plot didn't pull me in, the interpersonal relationships were very well written. But it's pretty weird, so if the summary interests you at all, go for it.
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