Review: My favourite Wilson novel so far
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 27, 2013
The Necromancer's Gambit is the second novel I’ve read by Nicolas Wilson. I enjoyed it much more than the first title. The original fusion of genres pushed my happy button. TNG is a mix of detective noir, urban fantasy and horror, delivered in Nic Wilson’s distinctive style. It’s a magical whodunnit game of chess with a very dark edge and some vampires for good measure.I thought hard about commenting on style, and part of me wants to be reasonably critical of this book in that respect. It’s dialogue heavy in places, much like the first of Wilson’s novels I read. The characters (for the most part) have the same voice, the same sense of humour, and you can sometimes lose track of who is speaking where the speaker descriptor hasn’t been used enough.And yet I also have a lot of respect for these very same points. Wilson’s characters always seem to find a way to engage each other in adolescent sexual banter, regardless of the situation. Often, it is very funny, delivering an absurdist counterpoint to the tension of the scene. Regardless of how the characters make you feel as the book unfolds, whether they engender sympathy or not, credit must be given to Wilson’s unique style, which he owns without compromise. At no point does he attempt to crowbar his characters into an accepted norm.I did have some difficulty with the first person narrative in places. Most of the book unfolds from Knight’s point of view, but it changes to other characters and the reader is left to work who has taken over telling the story. I think a lot of those problems could have been solved if the story had been written in the third person.Overall though, easily my favourite of the two I’ve read by Wilson. You can never say his novels lack originality.I received a free copy for an honest non-reciprocal review.