But What About the Whole Story?

Max Gladstone, Mur Lafferty, Margaret Dunlap & Brian Francis Slattery Bookburners: Complete Season One (Serial Box, 2016)

Some time ago I had the opportunity to read the first 3 installments of this serially told story.  Now I am able to read the “rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would say.

For a quick recap, Bookburners is an installment based story written by a variety of authors. I suppose I think of it like a TV show with weekly episodes each written by different people. Our heroes are a secret group working for the Vatican who travel the globe and try to contain (& bring to their secret library) various books that actually are magic. 

The more that I think about Bookburners as a whole, the more things that seem to bother me.  For such a lengthy piece, there’s surprisingly little character development.  While some characters are explored, others are never really taken out of the box.  

Second, the concept itself feels a bit tired and dated. While it’s not bad on its own, it does just seem like a dozen or so other things I’ve read or watched on TV in the last year or so.

Finally, there just wasn’t a compelling plot forcing me on to the next installment.  In order for something like this to really work, it has to have a forceful, compelling plot.  And I just didn’t feel that.  Perhaps structurally there were not enough cliff hangers between installments? Anyway, it made it way too easy to put down.

That's an Interesting Decorating Choice

Brian Francis Slattery, “Bookburners: Anywhere But Here” (Serial Box, 2015)

This is the second installment of the series.  

Sal Brooks has been brought to Rome & is now a member of the team (because that’s how these secret Vatican teams roll apparently).  We get a quick tour of the Vatican HQ, & meet some new characters. 

But this is just another short installment, so that means on to the action!  This week’s case is even weirder and more disgusting.  There is plenty of body horror for those that dig that!

This is a lot weirder than the first episode & I liked it much better.  

So it’s looking up since the first installment.  That’s a good sign.