Brian Francis SlatteryRezensionen

Beautiful words, wonderful imagery, no plot.

Exactly like the TV series The Librarians.

I really really liked this. I admit to have been a bit skeptical of the serial format of this novel, particularly since each part was written by a different author. I was concerned that the plot would be too episodic, or that it would feel disjointed. Fortunately, this was not the case. In fact, this flowed extremely well, and it is a testament to the hard work of the writers that I only got thrown out of the story once -- and well-into the book -- because the writing style changed enough for me to notice.

The story is really cool. The Vatican has a super secret series of task forces that protect the world from supernatural things, and those things usually end up being demonic books. I loved everybody on Team Three (aka the Bookburners). Even though Sal is ostensibly the main character, everybody is fully fleshed out with a backstory and agency. Even better, it's a diverse cast. There's the Latin American priest, the Indian grandmother archivist, the Chinese woman fighter, and the Irish hacker. All have had encountered the supernatural in their past, leading them to the team.

The book does start off a bit episodically as a way to get Sal (and the reader) up to speed with how things work in this new magical world, but it soon it becomes apparent that things are starting to link together into a much bigger and more apocalyptic plot.

I loved this and think I'll be subscribing to Season Two. When I first came across Serial Box, I had balked because of the price. Now that I see the high quality of the plotting and writing, I am fully 100% on board.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.

I have a new obsession and no regrets.

Articulate review may or may not follow

AAAAAAH

Update: I found some words! Full review

I have to say that I really enjoyed this HUGE 800-page book, written in serial form, with 16 50-page episodes. 4.5 stars. And I have to say it rates up there with the classic of this genre, Stephen King's The Green Mile.

The basic premise is a team of five people from different backgrounds are part of a Vatican team dedicated to fighting demons and capturing dangerous books to be kept safe in the Vatican library. The main character, Sally (Sal) Brooks is a NYC cop, who meets the team when they come to get a book stolen by her brother, and joins them to save him. Each episode has a full story arc dealing with a new demonic or magical threats, with a premise, building tension, and a resolution. The stories also develop the characters, politics at the Vatican, and the seminal question as to whether magic should be restricted or free. Personally, I liked the format, giving readers the chance to binge or step away to read something in between. My favorite episode was the back story of the team's kick-ass enforcer, Grace.

I am looking forward to reading Season 2.

Quite the wild mix of adventure, action, demons, magic and likable characters -- hoping there is more.

I didn't find the main adventure that interesting, although it is notable that they finally found Team 4 and they weren't all that helpful. The ending with Grace was really good, though.

Silly, fun, fast. Makes for a great audiobook. Serialbox does a really nice job recording these. The app is terrible, but it works (haltingly) enough to finish this book.

An original and entertaining urban-fantasy series combined into one volume. The characters each have a unique and well rounded personality with several unusual quirks. The story telling is engaging, fun and nail-biting as required. This should definitely be a TV series.

This is essentially Buffy in book form.

If you loved Buffy, you might like it. Zany villains and choreographed fight sequences abound.

Unfortunately, while I think the format (a bunch of novellas, each with its own villain and arc, so that the entire book is like a season of a TV show) is interesting, and while I love Max Gladstone, the weaknesses of the Buffy formula were also apparent. So much interpersonal melodrama for no particularly good reason. Some really grating dialogue. And a premise that I just could not get behind. It is 2017, for the love of god; why are we still associating magic and mysticism with the Catholic church and the Vatican? So yes, there's going to be demons, and angels, and possessions, and exorcisms, and have I lost you yet?

It was ok. Parts of it were really engaging. Just not enough parts to convince me to read the sequel.

Reading a book designed to be episodic, like television, was an interesting experience. I had a lot of frustration in the early-middle about the enclosed monster-of-the-week nature of the sections, and the interruptions that put in the way of the smooth development of character stuff. But the broader plot arcs started to show themselves before long, and all in all I'm pretty satisfied.

Overall, this is not quiiiiite my thing - urban fantasy heavy on the horror, and in a biblical/demonic direction that I'm not particularly fond of. But the Gladstone-esque complexity to it covers a multitude of mehs. I appreciate that there was a lot of ground to cover in here, but I would've liked slightly more exploration of the diverse origins of the crew - Grace's backstory ep was one of my favourites, and I'm dying to know more about Asanti's life. That said, I'm not sure I'm going to read on into season 2, because like I said, not quite my thing. An interesting - and successful! -
exercise in format, though.

3.5/5 stars.

[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.]

This is a reasonably fun installment about a magical conference, but doesn't have a lot of substance. Asanti gets some interesting character development, at least.

Read # 1.1-1.4 of 1.16. I just didn't find it that interesting.

This series is great fun. The episodic format (a "monster of the week" plot alongside longer story arcs, reminiscent of TV series plotting) works really well here, since the team always has missions to go on. I liked the main characters, all complex people with their own motivations. There were a lot of surprise twists I didn't expect. Will definitely be continuing with Season 2!½

I heard rumbling about this Serialbox series, and added it to my list. There was a sale recently where you could pick up all of Season 1 for $3 or something, so I took the plunge.

I was halfway through the season before I was hooked. Before that, I'd rate this maybe 2 stars, but now I gotta give it 4. I'm hooked, and am trying to justify spending $20 on Season 2.

This isn't Dresden Files, this isn't October Daye. This is The Librarians meets Warehouse 13 meets Eureka.

Another multi-author world helmed by Gladstone. The Vatican has a secret division dedicated to protecting humanity against magic; Sal, a NYC cop, gets sucked in when her brother reads a book he really shouldn’t have read. Danger, gore, office politics, and other troubles follow. Some interesting ideas, but like many serials it was probably more exciting in serial form—that was a lot of pages all at once.

Bookburners is a new story from Serial Box, a service that aims to bring the serial story into the 21st century. Thus Bookburners is really a collection of sixteen “episodes,” each with its own plot arc, akin to a TV series.

Sal Brooks is an ordinary New York City detective with a younger brother who dabbles in the occult. When her brother gets in over his head, Sal is drawn into the world of the supernatural. She soon joins the Bookburners – a secret Vatican team that acquires and locks down books with the ability to bring demonic forces into our world. They are all that stand between humanity and otherworldly forces.

I picked up Bookburners because of Max Gladstone. I’m a huge fan of his and have loved everything he’s written. However, with the format of Serial Box, there are multiple writers writing, each of whom tackle different episodes. While this has the possibility of creating jarring changes in narrative style, it worked very well for Bookburners. The collaboration felt seamless, and I enjoyed every single one of the episodes. While I’m not familiar with the other authors who worked on the series, I think I see some of Gladstone’s influence when it comes to the demons.

Sal Brooks joins Team Three of the Vatican’s black ops. Team One is a military unit who goes in to subdue out of control situations. Team Two runs PR, misdirection, and exorcisms. Team Three seeks out books with the potential to open a gateway to our world and let demons loose and stores them safely into a secret archive. The team is a motley collection of characters who we gradually get to know over the course of the season. I really liked all of the characters but my favorites were probably the priest who leads the team and Grace, the martial arts powerhouse with a mysterious backstory. I particularly liked Grace and Sal’s growing friendship.

The beginning of the season felt more episodic, but just wait. There is definitely an overarching story line to Bookburners. The episodes built to a thrilling conclusion that I wouldn’t have expected. While this season finishes its own a story arc, there is plenty of room left open for season two. I can’t wait!

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.

I received an ARC of Bookburners from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Season One: Episode 2 - Sal's First Mission...

In this Episode 2, Sal gets a tour of the Black Archives in the Vatican and she goes on her first mission. They are called out to an apartment in Madrid when the Orb lights up which signals that it detected a magical anomaly.  The neighbors started hearing weird noises downstairs so they sent their daughters, who play over there all the time, to investigate. When the daughters don't return and the father witnesses the door breathing, he calls the police. After the daughters and the police both get held hostage by the magical being, for lack of better words, Sal & Team 3 swoop in to save the day and recover the magical artifact.
 
This was another fun episode in the serial! If you are into magic and fantasy it's worth reading. Each episode is fairly short so you can read through them fairly quickly when you don't have a lot of time. Also, the serial is made up of four different authors and each author writes their own episodes so you're in for a little something different each time which is pretty cool.
 
*I received Bookburners: The Complete Season One from NetGalley & Serial Box Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Bookburners Season One: Episode 6

Tanner City, Oklahoma -  known for their many tornadoes and the site of Team 3's current mission. One of the local boy's, Jacob, has magical gifts just like his grandfather. Many years ago his grandfather created "Tornado Eaters" to keep the tornadoes away from the city. When another tornado is seen on the horizon, Jacob, trying to be like his grandfather, unleashes the Tornado Eaters to protect the city but he gives the wrong orders so now the Tornado Eaters see the town and everyone in it as a threat. Can the Bookburners take down the Tornado Eaters before they take down the city and everything in it?
 
I really enjoyed this episode a lot because we were treated to a close-up of the other teams, Team 1 and Team 2, in action.
 
Team 1 is a full combat team and they normally come in to clean up or when Team 3 needs some serious backup. They have some very cool magical abilities, armor and powerful weapons that they don for their missions.
 
Team 2 is responsible for diplomacy and public relations. They basically smooth over the situation in the aftermath and construct plausible 'lies' to tell the public, news stations, officials etc.
 
And just to clarify, Team 3, the Bookburners and main focus of this serial, handles acquisition and storage. They retrieve books and securely and safely store them in their archives.
 
*I received Bookburners: The Complete Season One from NetGalley & Serial Box Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! 
 

Love it ... odd, strange, off-the-wall version of ENDoftheWorld
cover/back-cover reviews mention "jazz" prose, and that really does capture the writing style.

Hard to describe; hard to forget; HIGHLY recommended!

A slow boat ride through the apocalypse...
I heard the author at a reading shortly after finishing the book, and he's much too apologetic about his book being negative and depressing. Embrace it! Everything is going to hell! Yes!
That said, it's actually not as depressing as it might be. Yes, the United States is in a state of socio-economic collapse, wracked by a civil war fueled by desperation and despair. There's a lot of misery, denial, malaise, and yes, a great deal of loss.
But, judged by the standards of the post-apocalyptic genre, there's also a reasonable amount of hope... and music.

Yes, this book shares some elements and themes that 'The Road' (unoriginally) contained, but I like Slattery's writing style a lot better. Even when the plot (such as it was), was moving particularly slowly I enjoyed the lyricism, and the mood. But the book bears a great deal more similarity to 'Heart of Darkness,' (there are many obviously-intentional parallels) and possibly to J.G. Ballard's novels (his own homage to Heart of Darkness, 'The Day of Creation,' and his apocalyptic work as well...

We sometimes go about things the wrong way; we regret the lover we tired of, and then when they were absent realized that the quiet power of their presence was what we thrived on; we 'discover' a writer's latest work and maddeningly slap palm to forehead for not having read the author's previous works.

So, this is the second book by Slattery I've read, though it was his first.

"Spaceman Blues" contains more of the verve, the jazz, groove infused prose evident in his latest book, "Liberation" (more on that in another review).

The publisher described this book as a “literary retro-pulp science-fiction–mystery–superhero novel.” And I guess that's the best way to describe it. A story about a Messiah, of sorts, that goes missing; his lover's quest to find him; the secret dazzling places in New York City (from cock-fighting arenas to vast subterranean enclaves); and an alien invasion thrown in for good measure.

Slattery pays tribute to SF tropes, but more importantly carves a loving portrait of the beautiful ethnic multiplicity of NYC.

Slattery is one of my favorite new writers, his prose is a joy to encounter...

I unabashedly love this book!

Sure, it's about apocalypse (in this case socio-economic), and the story is spun around the reuniting of a group of master criminals, but at its core "Liberation" is about people, about the myth of America, and how normal people deal with calamity and find unexpected reserves of courage and goodness in the midst of it all.

Slattery, using the guise of an entity called the Vibe[edit], explores a splintered American landscape--horrors and private victories in equal measure--with dream-like prose and a gentle narrative arc. Unlike most dystopian stories, "Liberation" is suffused with hope...

Slattery's writing has a definite groove, a rhythm, it's beautiful to read, moreso out loud.

I recommend this book, and this author, to those who are looking for a jolt in their reading beyond clever plots and concepts, for something that strikes at the center of why we pick up books in the first place...

rambling and aimless most of the time. the descriptive punch took forever to get to and would often lead to my own mind wandering off and even forgetting who was “thinking” or speaking. i wasn’t even sure who he was writing about in certain places because of the way pronouns were used.

i certainly do not enjoy the writing style but some things about the story and characters are keeping me going. little bits and pieces, glimpses of something more, something that might not be what we expect, something surreal even. i’m hoping to find out that the out-of-focus passages in this book are on purpose and are supposed to reflect some inner plight of the protagonist(s) rather than just poor writing style.

...Nope.

I cared for none of the characters (when i knew which one was being written about) and saw no point in the story. Wendell the protagonist becomes some sort of superhero who is able to take on alien badasses and calls himself Captain Spaceman. Somehow. We're never sure how, just that he trained with the "Ciphers." haven't a clue. Never will. Not horrible by a long shot but not my cup of tea.