Review: Love ittt
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 19, 2012
I finally got around to re-re-reading Zero Sight so that I could write a review for just it, rather than the series as a whole. I also took the time to write a 2700 word summary, identify the characters, and fill out some locations/glossary terms on Shelfari.My OCD tendencies aside, I really like this book.We are introduced to a world that is suffering from an economic depression following the rising cost, and decreasing availability of oil. No place is worse hit than Las Vegas, and no person is worse hit than our main character, Dieter Resnick.The magical system, and the background/integration with history is reminiscent of Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles. Various myths and histories are true, but have been distorted as time has gone on by the Imperiti (people without knowledge of the occult aka Dieter). Now that Dieter is one of The Concious (people with knowledge of the occult) he has to relearn a lot of things.One of my favorite things about this story is how Dieter is special, but not in the randomly Chosen, once in a generation/millenia, 'nobody' who ends up having greatness thrust upon them, sort of way. He's special because of who his parents are, it's really just genetics here. His combination of abilities is rare enough, but it isn't unique. There are others like him, he just doesn't know enough about what he is to be able to recognize them. Dieter still has no idea where he came from, who his Mom is, what his parents are, and neither does the reader really, so we are trying to figure it out as he is.The book is full of humor, wittiness, and a real depth of character that you (oddly enough) don't often find in first person stories. Dieter talks about his frustrations, but he doesn't need to spend endless pages in self-reflection to establish his personality in the minds of the reader.My only gripe is that the story sort of just ends. It provides a closing, and answers some questions, but probably not questions that need to be answered in this book. I think it should probably end a bit earlier, *spoiler* as Dieter is on the rooftop, after the explosions go off and he has saved the day. Then everything else after that should be a preview for the next book. Luckily when I read it the second book was already available, so I was able to just keep on going and didn't have to worry about this. The second book does a much better job of ending on a note of finality. But that's a topic for my later review of Book 2.Great book, Great author.