T. A. Pratt

Its easy to say that I enjoyed this book. I loved it actually. Marla is the sort of person I would hope to be if in her position, perhaps not her backstory so much (good lord does she know how to clear a room), but then you are the sum of your life experiences, so if she didn't have all of that luggage she wouldn't be who she is right? Or maybe that's an argument for the nurture vs. environment folks. All I know is that Marla was one kick-ass lady that I would be scared to meet under any circumstances.

This is really more of an urban fantasy mystery than a straight urban fantasy. Almost, but not quite, noir actually. Something at least one character suggests and two others, just by being who they are, back up. I had been interested in Blood Engines for a while now, the covers catching my interest (oh Daniel Dos Santos, you just...draw me in so well with your art) and a friend mentioning how morally grey Marla could be much of the time. Unfortunately, being the slacker that I am, I put it off until I owned all four books currently in print and the author had begun the fifth novel online as a serial (Broken Mirrors). I wish I had read this series as it came out, though I can't say I'm sorry to be able to read the books back to back and not wait.

Marla is everything an anti-hero should be; violence prone, selfishly motivated, sneaky, cut-throat and above all manipulative. This isn't to say she doesn't look out for her people (namely Hamil and Rondeau), and will save them if she can, but her primary focus is keeping herself alive and in power. A fact that her (for lack of a better word) retainers understand, even if Rondeau does complain about it.

I have yet to read the 'prequel' story Bone Shop, but there was quite a few times throughout Blood Engines where I felt like I wasn't reading the first book at all, but the second or third book. The casual references to past exploits and misdeeds are very misleading, especially in the beginning of the novel when Rondeau and Marla are just wandering around San Fransisco looking for clues to find her friend Lao Tsung.

Mostly what I enjoyed was the banter and the easy exchanges between the characters. Marla's overall tactics when talking to people varies very little (even if its in her best interests for it to do so), and she is very much a 'strike now, questions later' sort of girl, but she's also very cunning. She juggles no less then 3 threats on her life throughout the novel--the one that originally brought her to San Fransisco seeking Lao Tsung, and enemy she more or less stumbles upon while investigating and lastly the 'Big Bad' of the novel itself. This doesn't include years old promises of death, minor annoyances or casual encounters however. I believe at one point Marla asks Rondeau how many mortal enemies she has currently and he responds with "35".

What I found most interesting was that Marla would have let the Big Bad go his way if he hadn't interfered with her own quest. Until he got too close to her own city of Felport on the East Coast, but I don't think she was joking. Not even a little bit.

The novel dragged a little about 2/3rds of the way in, when plot threads came together and bounced off each other to make things very difficult for Marla. I got a bit of whiplash juggling the two or three concurrent storylines honestly, but the end was a great pay off that was true to her character. I can't wait to begin the second book, Poison Sleep immediately!… (more)