Songs of the post Cry of the Banshee and Children of the Grave
Alternate titles of the post: You got Edgar Allen Poe in my Fanfiction and You're better off swimming the rivers Styx and Acheron.
First and foremost. The last post on this book started out positive, it was an interesting idea of a book. The title of this one should hint at one of the problems I had. To get it out of the way now so I don't have to rant about it later is that one of the ghosts guarding our intrepid hero is one of the victims of the Cole. Up until then, he'd relied on mostly Civil and Revolutionary war ghosts with hints of others. That's fine, there's enough there that you can't just hit a search engine up and see one of the very limited number of victims and start feeling uncomfortable. There were other problems with the book and I'll actually make a few comparisons to Ghost Story, the latest book in the Dresden Files series.
The book starts out with an Iraq war veteran sent home after an IED attack. He's deaf in one ear, limps and requires therapy for both his injuries and suggested mental issues. It wasn't handled too poorly either, early on. As the book went though, it started feeling more and more off. Keep his supposed physical flaws in mind.
Mike, at least I think his name was Mike. (If it's not obvious, barring a select number of books I'm horrid with names. I'll do better eventually). Anyway, Mike has returned to school using his GI Bill, having had problems competing for jobs High Schoolers were after since he enlisted right after graduation. Considering posts I've read, this doesn't sound too far from the truth. He makes jokes about being a pirate, limps around and in general feels like he's actually got some flaws to him. On top of his injuries, he's got a quick mouth and a short fuse and tends to talk without thinking. If these had stayed consistent I'd probably be a lot happier with the book.
The events following are sort of messy. Most of the reviewers on Amazon say the book is better after the first half, I think it's worse. All of his flaws disappear, they're not even handwaved unless it's convenient for the plot. His personality is... a little more cemented which is tolerable enough. That said, it's here we find out that he's a descendent of Edgar Allen Poe and that Poe's brother is the beast in the graveyard everyone's afraid of. We also find out that Arlington terrifies ghosts and no one goes there because of bad things. If you're looking at a map, just imagine "Thar be dragons" and call it good. He no longer has to touch ghosts to hear them since another ghost poked him in the ear (Basically). The Civil War general is on his side now and it turns out his Sergeant buddy was actually a bad guy being manipulated by his skin walker girlfriend. Oh and get used to that term, they're ghosts that possess people and either eat their soul or suppress it. He destroys his buddy, calls the girlfriend to tell her she's a twat, then gets ambushed by her and left to die to the beast. He escapes by setting off a spirit bomb or something, they revive him saying he was hit by lightning and the book ends.
Now here's what I liked. I liked the concept at it's core. I like the idea of a character with legitimate flaws, both physical and mental dealing with other people of varying degrees of good and bad. The fact that he not only researches and experiments to find out what works and what doesn't is great too. I liked the fact that for the most part his various problems weren't just an excuse to be a dick and I liked his mercenary attitude in helping the ghosts.
What I didn't like is that the characterization for most of the characters is threadbare at the best. His mother is basically a set piece and plot macguffin depending. His absentee dad wasn't really a dick that emptied the bank accounts and skipped out, he was possessed! Which.. I actually think hurt his characterization. Yes it's cliched, but having the guy be a legitimate prick would've been a break from the norm and offered a good contrast to the nice old woman he met on one case, his mother the prop and a few of the friendlier spooks. I'd have liked more varied ghost powers and fewer physical prowess moments. He's supposed to be fairly beat up both from the IED and injuries sustained throughout the book. They only seem to slow him down when the plot demands and not when it would be truly inconvenient.
I mentioned that I would compare this book to Jim Butcher' Ghost Story. I know a lot of Dresden Files fans didn't like the book, but I thought it a good return to the norm. I'm also in the minority in that I thought Changes was twelve shades of stupid, but that's neither here nor there. In Ghost Story, Dresden wakes up dead. He meets Murphy senior, gets told something's up and goes to investigate how he died and what's happening. He can't directly interact with others other than Mortimer, he's in an environment where he's not able to use his magic and he's not able to just brute force his way through things. He meets varied ghosts, soldiers, psychos, lost souls and so on. They establish that ghosts too badly damaged become hollow, sticking to one core duty and being all but mindless. They're introduced by a number of soldiers that can't quite be made out properly. That their last duty is to protect others still is a lot more tragic than the messes that happen in Pennies, especially when you see it happen right in person. It's made worse when you find out that they were keeping the psychotic evil ghosts in check. There's a bit of mindfuckery in the fae realms and a few other interesting bits too.
Now, there is a problem with the ending I'll admit, but overall I enjoyed it, I thought the characters that depended on Dresden slipping towards something darker fascinating and in alignment with the overall theme of things and in general made it quite interesting, albeit slow.
The difference between the two books is we're shown both worlds. We're shown multiple characters, all who have their flaws and in the six months since Dresden died, developed new ones. We see fallout from his previous actions and we learn a bit more about Dresden's past. Dresden makes mistakes, doesn't always win and doesn't know what's going on. He has to ask for help, test and learn, much like Pennies. Both feature similar themes of an incapacitated person handling both the living and the dead sides of 'life'. Both have to learn, deal with short comings and work things out. The differences are that Dresden's fairly consistent in things. If he's given a limitation, without a given reason it sticks. This doesn't happen in Pennies. Ghost Stories also incorporates imagery better and definitely incorporates other stories better. It has more atmosphere and more tension and doesn't rely on things such as "Even a sailor from the USS Cole" to suddenly grab your attention.
Overall, I didn't outright hate Pennies and I actually enjoyed it at first, with a bit of hesitation about some of the ideas. As it went on though, my mind kept being yanked out of the story, either through laughter or frustration. So, of the books I've reviewed so far, it's the best, but that doesn't mean particularly good either. Your mileage may vary on this one though and I could easily see someone else enjoying the book. It was tolerable enough that if I'm ever bored enough I might even give the second book a passing shot. Maybe.
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