Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but just not as brilliant as some of his other books, 27 May 2007
I'm a big Simon R Green fan. His books are wildly entertaining, funny, while still being pretty dark in places.
I have been looking forward to this new series and I enjoyed the book, but it didn't blow me away.
The book tells the story of Eddie Drood aka Shaman Bond. A highly effective, if slightly rebellious, field agent for the humanity's secret protectors, the Drood family. The plot follows Eddie as he discovers that his family aren't what he thought they were and he uncovers some pretty shocking secrets.
Anyone who has read other books by Green will spot the obvious problem with the plot - i.e. been there (sort of) before. Eddie Drood is a likeable character, but he's not Owen Deathstalker. It's partly the setting, Eddie's world maybe magical, but it's just an expanded version of today's world, which doesn't give him the epic (madly overblown) scope of Owen's universe. And the bad guys don't really cut it in comparison.
Now that's all pretty negative, but I've still given the book four stars and that's because on its own terms it's a well written, pacey, inventive adventure. The opening scenes of Eddie doing his job do work well and feel fresh. Eddie is a likeable character and the book is written from his first person perspective. There are some great minor characters like the Armourer, and Molly is a great female lead in the grand tradition of Green's romantic heroines to match his heroes. More will come out about Molly's surprising command of hellfire and about the deaths of both her parents and Eddie's, I've no doubt.
And that's probably another good reason to give the book, and the series a go, Green likes to build up his characters and the worlds they inhabit through the books. There'll be lots more depth and complexity to come.
The action is pretty much non stop - there are several great chase squences, along the motorway and on a motorbike through London.
Eddie's winnowing progress through his family's greatest enemies trying to find the truth at the start of the book, didn't really work for me. It seemed like a slightly chaotic series of good ideas that didn't quite string together, while being individually interesting.
If you're a fan of the author, it's definately worth reading - just don't expect anything earthshatteringly different. If you've not read his stuff before, you will enjoy it as the ideas will all seem fresher. (I'd recommend the Deathstalker series ahead of it, but those books are pretty twisted in places, so if you prefer things a bit lighter, this may be the way to go...)
I'll be reading the next one, and hoping that Eddie is focused back on the task of being a field agent because that's where most of the unique and best moments of the Man with the Golden Torc were. I'll also be hoping for a few more of the highly amusing, sarcastic dialogue that is one of my favourite features of Green's books.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's the "TORC" of the town!! , 11 Aug 2007
Further to the review from "Clairefromwales", I agree with many of her points but to compare Edwin Drood with Owen Deathstalker is a mistake. The whole point of this story is that it is based in a version of reality that we call "home" so it can't possibly be as varied as the deathstalker worlds.
However, I can honestly say that this book is one of the best reads I've had in a long time. I was thinking about the characters whilst at work, and I was dreaming about the plot etc in bed. It really got under my skin which, after all, is the whole point of a book.
What more can I say, if you don't buy this book, you will have missed out on something wonderful, and your life should feel slightly lacking for it!
I can't wait for the sequel. Rock and Roll Mr Green!! Five stars all the way!
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dr maybe, 19 Sep 2007
Simon R Green ,as any fan of his writing will already know, is the author of the phenomenally entertaining "Deathstalker" series. He would always be hard pressed to top that so it should come as little surprise that his latest novel -an attempt to fire up a new saga pales into comparison when set against the exploits of Owen Deathstalker and company.
The Man With The Golden Torc ,as the title hints is an attempt to mesh together the spy genre with the supernatural thus we find Shaman Bond (yes really) aka Eddie Drood acting as a field agent for his family who have been protecting humanity from all kind of nefarious and unpleasant paranormal and mystical beasties . The torc refers to the device around his neck which allows him to armour up protecting him from all the unnatural elements and weapons railed against him. The torc is the personal protector of all the Drood family but Eddie is the black sheep , tolerated and allowed some autonomy because he is so good at his job. Suddenly though he is declared rogue for reasons that remain a mystery and must assiduously hunt for clues that will lead him to the truth .Along the way he hooks up with a mortal enemy -Molly the witch and learns that his family has some long hidden deeply unpleasant secrets. He also discovers his golden armour is not as impenetrable as he first thought.
The book is entertaining enough and full of imaginative touches but it filches too heavily from ideas already utilised in the Deathstalker chronicle. Eddie is declared rogue like Owen and then must fight to prove his innocence. Both have hereditary powers-Eddie the torc , Owen the boost and both hook up with a feisty women and have an unrequited thing going on. The family is again an inviolable but assiduous influence. There are some nice homage touches to the Bond series -the "Armourer" is obviously a "Q" substitute and the "Matriarch" a darker "M"(If you take into account the Judi Dench portrayal)
The story lacks the scope and sheer range of characters of the Deathstalker novels , no surprise I suppose given that they had whole galaxies to cover but the interchanges between characters seem rather contrived now and some of these verge on the embarrassing . It doesn't help either that its given a first person narrative so we only see things from one point of view. On the plus side he doesn't use the phrase "Inhumanly fast" once.
The Man With The Golden Torc is worth a read but I doubt it will have you salivating for the next instalment like The Deathstalker novels did. Sorry to keep mentioning them but they are the standard by which Simon R Green will always be judged. The next book in this series is to be called "Daemons Are Forever" .I feel the one after should be titled "The Sprite Who Loved Me " or "Golemeye" or maybe "Die And Let Live" .....just a thought.
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