Blood Engines - T.A.Pratt

Wow, this is embarrassing. My first review in like two months and it's on a piece of fantasy/fiction. I was beginning to be worried that in my new post-Spawn/Suburban Hell/HD Plasma TV life I wasn't interested in reading anymore. I've been working on A History of God since Christmas. I thought I was turning into a normal person.

Then came the Kindle, and with it some free fantasy books. 5 days later, here I am. I read in the car at stoplights, at work while waiting for downloads, at home instead of watching TV. I stopped sleeping. Hello, I'm a fiction addict. I've tried to give up fiction multiple times in the past, but it always ends up sucking me in, no matter how poorly written.

Well, enough editorializing, onto the review. I am generally not a fan of fantasy, despite having read a lot of it. I love the thought of fantasy/sci-fi, using fiction to step outside the world as we know it and examining things as possibilities, not practicalities. But fantasy novels generally suck, and this one was no exception. While some authors use fantasy as a platform to stimulate the imagination, move a story line, most (Pratt included) write to their audience - people interested in the show and not the substance. Blood Engines provided no insight into the human condition. There were no light bulb moments. There's basically a ruthless sorcerer with a problem who fights a bad sorcerer, pulling out all the stops, and has to compromise in the end. There was no beauty in either the language or the plot, although it was somewhat refreshing that the strong ruthless character was female. As is often the case with fantasy novels, this is one book in a series - drawing readers in to see if the character is better developed in the next novel. I hope I have the will-power to not read it.