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A review by antonism
Cold Copper Tears by Glen Cook
4.0
3.5 / 5
Cold Copper Tears is the 3rd novel of the Garrett P.I. series, written by Glen Cook. It is a fantasy mystery detective novel in a world full of strange creatures and magic but based on a urban world similar to ours.
As with the previous novels in the series, the main protagonist is Garrett who is a reckless and witty hard-boiled detective, and a group of secondary characters who have appeared in all of his books until now. As was expected, the plot in Cold Copper Tears was quite complex and obscure at the beginning, apparently having two independent threads that connect by the last third of the book. I think the plot was interesting and kept my interest and attention all the way through, even if around the mid-point I felt there were some small gaps and little confusion.
The characters are well made and defined. I think the important thing in characterization is to match a character's described personality with his actions and Cook doesn't put a foot wrong. They are quite diverse too and interesting to follow.
I also believe his writing style is adequate for this type of novel. It's quick, easy-flowing and witty, with lots of humor and satire. Cook is an experienced writer and it shows. The pace is very fast in this novel, even depicted on the fact that the protagonist hardly manages to get any sleep throughout his adventure!
The main problem I had with this novel, as I did with his previous ones, is his portrayal of the female characters. I understand that this is like that because it's "supposed" to be like that, you know, this type of character and this type of book but even if I suspend my taking offense, it still tires and annoys me sometimes. What do I mean? In Garrett's adventures, women are there either to manipulate or to seduce/be seduced, and Garrett of course accomodates that all the time. In this book, how Garrett ogles and craves Jill is just childish and how he treats and what he does with Maya is just cringy and disgusting.
Finally, I deducted another half-point for the abrupt ending. It was as if Cook realized he passed over the limit of words or pages and said "forget that, let's just finish the book in 5 pages". Yeah, the ending is kinda like that.
But in all, it's an enjoyable read. If you've read the previous two then it's worth continuing with this series. Personally, I'm getting a bit tired with some repeating patterns and his characterization of females so I can not promise I will continue with the whole series, but I can always give the next one a chance.
3.5 / 5
Cold Copper Tears is the 3rd novel of the Garrett P.I. series, written by Glen Cook. It is a fantasy mystery detective novel in a world full of strange creatures and magic but based on a urban world similar to ours.
As with the previous novels in the series, the main protagonist is Garrett who is a reckless and witty hard-boiled detective, and a group of secondary characters who have appeared in all of his books until now. As was expected, the plot in Cold Copper Tears was quite complex and obscure at the beginning, apparently having two independent threads that connect by the last third of the book. I think the plot was interesting and kept my interest and attention all the way through, even if around the mid-point I felt there were some small gaps and little confusion.
The characters are well made and defined. I think the important thing in characterization is to match a character's described personality with his actions and Cook doesn't put a foot wrong. They are quite diverse too and interesting to follow.
I also believe his writing style is adequate for this type of novel. It's quick, easy-flowing and witty, with lots of humor and satire. Cook is an experienced writer and it shows. The pace is very fast in this novel, even depicted on the fact that the protagonist hardly manages to get any sleep throughout his adventure!
The main problem I had with this novel, as I did with his previous ones, is his portrayal of the female characters. I understand that this is like that because it's "supposed" to be like that, you know, this type of character and this type of book but even if I suspend my taking offense, it still tires and annoys me sometimes. What do I mean? In Garrett's adventures, women are there either to manipulate or to seduce/be seduced, and Garrett of course accomodates that all the time. In this book, how Garrett ogles and craves Jill is just childish and how he treats and what he does with Maya is just cringy and disgusting.
Finally, I deducted another half-point for the abrupt ending. It was as if Cook realized he passed over the limit of words or pages and said "forget that, let's just finish the book in 5 pages". Yeah, the ending is kinda like that.
But in all, it's an enjoyable read. If you've read the previous two then it's worth continuing with this series. Personally, I'm getting a bit tired with some repeating patterns and his characterization of females so I can not promise I will continue with the whole series, but I can always give the next one a chance.
3.5 / 5