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Mord im Watt - Küsten Krimi, Christiane Franke, 2011

In einer Nordsee-Raffinierie entdeckt ein Techniker eine Unregelmäßigkeit. Kurz darauf wird er tot aus der Nordsee geborgen.

Christine Cordes, Kommissarin aus Willhelmshaven macht Urlaub auf Langeoog. Deshalb muss ihre Kollegin Oda Wagner erst mal alleine ermitteln. Aber in Langeoog lernt Christine die Schwester des Toten kennen und wird so doch noch in die Untersuchung verwickelt.

Ein erfreulicher Beitrag zu den zur Zeit modernen Regionalkrimis. Die ermittelnden Protagonisten (ganz unangestrengt und selbstverständlich zwei Frauen) sind hier zum Glück deutlich weniger klischeehaft als z.B. der allgäuer Kommisar Kluftinger oder (noch schlimmer) der oberbayrische Franz Eberhofer. Von den Kommissarinnen und der Landschaft mag ich ganz gerne wieder mal lesen. Die Bösen sind in diesem Buch leider schon ein wenig Abziehbildchen, aber man kann ja nicht immer alles haben.

Die Kommissarinen haben sich merkbar schon in zwei vorherige Büchern zusammengerauft, man kann dieses dritte aber auch lesen ohne die Vorgänger zu kennen.

Bechdel-Test: erfüllt. Splatter-Faktor: IIRC gering (beurteilt 20 Tage nach lesen). Meine Bewertung: Vier von fünf Sternen.

Webseite der Autorin zur Krimireihe mit Christine Cordes und Oda Wagner: www.christianefranke.de/oda-und-christines-fälle/

(Review von 2015-02-08)

This is a romantic story about true love, fights and insidiousness, magic and wonder, staged in a ruritanian fantasy country somewhere in Europe.

I've read this book quite late in my live (and have not seen the film until now), so maybe some of the magic got lost in my immortal cynicism (this was written after I took the red pill).

Buttercup, a beauty living on a farm, finds her True Love in Winsley, the farm boy, who plans to go to America to succeed before he wants to come back - for her. And then Winsley is said to be killed by the dreaded Pirate Roberts. Buttercup - thinking that her loved is killed - surrenders to the courting of Prince Humperdinck. Before the marriage she gets kidnapped by Spanish fencing master Inigo Montoya, Fezzik the gigantic wrestler from Turkey and the smart Sicilian criminal Vezzini. But they get overwhelmed one by one by a mysterious man in black (this was before the science fiction comedy film of that name).

It is beyond question a damn prototype of a Damsel in Distress Book (this was before emancipation glanced Hollywood or after a bitter divorce). Buttercup is mostly subject, not object to kidnapping, murder and fights. Of course she is beautiful, devout and loving. One gets to like Inigo Montoya and Fezzik. The light told naive story lives from its exaggerations, its interspersed brackets with funny comments and of course of the frame narrative. The author tells us that the story was written by someone else and he only did the abridgment, since his father read "only the good parts" to him as child. He rants about his wife, makes fun of film making and book writing.

To my (later) edition there is also an attachment "Buttercups Baby" which is superfluous, it might have been the try to do start a second book which was not finished or whatever.

Key Sentence: "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya; you killed my father; prepare to die!"

My rating: Four of five stars (this is because of dormant damsel in distress and superfluous chapters (with a strong female lead and more discipline in ending the book I'd say six stars of five (which would be beyond logic ) ) ) ( yes, I do count my brackets, I've learned LISP in early days).

(Review written 2015-04, shortly after reading the book. Haven't read it again)

The Great Way - Harry Connolly

"The Great Way is an epic fantasy trilogy about a supernatural invasion that destroys an empire. This is an adventure fantasy written for adults, full of chases, cliffhangers, fight scenes, weird magic, and the threat of human extinction. At the same time, it's a story I would not hesitate to hand to my own pre-teen son." - Harry Conolly

The Great Way is sold as three books:

The Way Into Chaos The Way Into Magic The Way into Darkness

This is one story sold in three volumes. It is not a trilogy. There are no completed story arcs after volume one or volume two.

Main protagonists are Tyr Tejohn Treygar, an experienced warrior, and Cazia Freewell, a young magician. These two protagonists travel, trick and fight most of the time on different paths - the chapters usually alternate between these two and are told from their viewpoint.

Our magician as well takes other weapons if necessary. In whole chapters she and two other courageous very young female protagonists fight and defeat their enemies on their own.

The male warrior - even if he is (of course) a mighty fighter - knows other solutions than sword and force, often uses subterfuge and mental judo. I do like the strong, great characters, female and male. There are also women soldiers and male magicians. Also most minor characters - of both sexes - are credible and likable (even if they often are bitten by the monsters or die).

Original monsters. Original non-monster intelligent beings. Original magic. A bit to much portals for my taste, but originally used.

The destroyed empire has not been perfect, and in retrospective the protagonists realize that it was worse than they thought. But the following chaos is worse, much worse (even without the abysmal invading monsters).

Why don't I give five stars?

Magicians might do too much magic and "get empty" - and then they will do very evil things. That part what they do and how that effect works feels for me a bit unmotivated.

The story starts very spectacular, unluckily it can't keep the tension that good in the middle, it builds up some tension in volume 3 again but is unfortunately a bit weak in the end. Rhythm of the story:

1) Bang Bang Bang Bang ( * * * ) 2) Well, we carry on ( * * ) 3) we carry on, Bang Bang, Hmm well ... ( * * * )

Sadly, for my liking there are some story threads dangling a bit too open even after part three (e.g. that's with that underground servant organization? What's with the prince? Why are hollowed out wizards that evil? But Cazia isn't? (Depressed, "I don't give a hang" is not evil)).

The last part of the solution to "why did all of this happen" felt a bit too mystic for my taste (the "in the ways" scene). Both, originator of the catastrophe and even more the 'curios not intervening mighty bystanders' felt a bit flat.

Bechdel-Test: Gracefully won

I did like this book(s), my rating: four of five stars.