Trent Jamieson

Alright, I've finished the book, and now I’m sure: To my mind, Death most definite is just OK.

Despite an intriguing opening sentence: "I know something's wrong the moment I see the dead girl standing in the Wintergarden food court.",
the book is not particularly original. The main character is familiar (to quote myself) “We’ve yet another male-less-than-stellar-magic users; thrown in to the thick,” but this time the protag’s got more of an occult power. He’s a psycho pomp (Read: grim reaper) whose family business it is to transition dead souls to the afterlife, while keeping nasty beings called Stirrers from inhabiting the vacant body. The idea of Death as a business (or reaping for your daily bread), has been done before too. (Not the best example; but I love the TV show, “Dead like Me”)

The cinema-ready action of this story is built around what amounts to a decidedly hostile and bloody corporate take-over, which our reluctant hero has got to survive and surmount. The protagonist is no inept, for a change. Steven de Selby is more of the "slacker-suddenly-responsible-to-save-the-world" Sort of guy we’ve seen before. So he’s a bit behind the curve in getting the job done.

The book's world view and what happens in the after-life are a bit drear, and not clearly stated until the end, but the character is redeemable enough that I’m mildly interested to see what may happen to him, and his world, after the conclusion of this book. The next book, Managing Death (Death Works, #2) is available and I might pick it up on the cheap from an Amazon.com seller. But truth be told; I think the real appeal I found in Death most definite, is that it takes place in Brisbane with attendant vernacular. I’ve got friends from the region, so as I read, I heard the dulcet tones of Queensland in my mind’s ears. Sad but true, it seems the accents of my Australian friends may have been more influential in my finishing Death Most Definite, than its story and narrative.

If I do get the next book, I’ll have to thank my friends appropriately; perhaps with a chiko roll...
… (mais)

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A lyrical, tender story about role models and growing into manhood that reimagines the elements of the vampire myth in a wholly original way . . . while never breathing a word about vampires.

They worship the Sun: the only god as cruel as they are.

The Masters, dreadful and severe, rule the Red City and the lands far beyond it. By night, they politic and feast, drinking from townsfolk resigned to their fates. By day, the Masters must rely on their human servants, their Day Boys, to fulfill their every need and carry out their will.

Mark is a Day Boy, practically raised by his Master, Dain. It’s grueling, often dangerous work, but Mark neither knows nor wants any other life. And, if a Day Boy proves himself worthy, the nightmarish, all-seeing Council of Teeth may choose to offer him a rare gift: the opportunity to forsake his humanity for monstrous power and near-immortality, like the Masters transformed before him.

But in the crackling heat of the Red City, widespread discontent among his fellow humans threatens to fracture Mark's allegiances. As manhood draws near, so too does the end of Mark's tenure as a Day Boy, and he cannot stay suspended between the worlds of man and Master for much longer.

With brilliantly evocative, hypnotic prose, Trent Jamieson crafts a fang-sharp and surprisingly tender coming-of-age story about a headstrong boy—and the monster who taught him to be a man.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Erewhon does very, very interesting SF stories, like this wonderfully realized take on vampirism. The story of Mark, the Master/vampire's Day Boy coming of age in a system that is grotesquely unfair, is handled with care and with respect for his genuine struggle to come to terms with his privilege. As this is a struggle many, if not most of us with levels of privilege similar to Mark's have yet to engage with/in, the story isn't a Young Adult one. In my opinion, anyway.

I'd like to call y'all's attention to the descriptive prose. It is very well-handled. It doesn't overwhelm the momentum of the story, and it doesn't veer into for-its-own-sake lyricality. I'd excerpt some or you but the fact is it's best appreciated in its context...anything I call out won't have the impact I'm describing to you. Author Jamieson is one heckuva prose stylist and that alone's a reason for fans of the vampire genre, the post-apocalyptic genre, and social-comment fiction to read it.… (mais)

DON'T.
Please save yourself the trouble and find something better.

I spent a long time just spacing out, mind blank after finishing.
I honestly don't know how to feel about it. It was such an interesting concept, but the execution... *cue groan and a facepalm*

I felt like strangling the main character. He's a bloody moron with vastly non-existent brain, common sense of a rock and head buried in the sand so far as to almost reach Tartarus.

I don't even know where to start on its many flaws, shortcomings and general "meh".

Total let down.
AVOID IT.… (mais)