Review – A Matter of Death and Life (Gideon Sable, Book 2) by Simon R. Green (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 258 pages
Publisher: Severn House
Release Date: March 1, 2022
ASIN: B09GP1BCKX
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Gideon Sable series
Source: eGalley for Review from NetGalley
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Judi Rifkin is one of the world’s most successful collectors of the weird and unnatural. In a London underworld filled with criminals with very special talents, Judi is a force to be reckoned with.
And Gideon Sable – thief, rogue and chancer – owes her a very large favor.
Judi makes him an offer he can’t refuse: steal her the legendary Masque of Ra, kept safe in a Las Vegas casino, and she’ll wipe the slate clean.
This isn’t Gideon’s first heist by a long shot. But with old grudges threatening to cloud his judgment, an unpredictable crew who don’t entirely trust each other and a formidable supernatural security team guarding his target, this job might be a gamble too far .”
Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd book in the Gideon Sable series. I got a copy of this book from NetGalley to review.
Thoughts: I didn’t think this was quite as good as the first book in the series. We again join Gideon Sable and Annie Anything on a heist to steal something important from someone bad. In this case it is an Egyptian mask that can make people immortal.
We are joined by the Wild Card (love him) and the Damned (another great character). We also have the addition of Switch it Sally (eh, she was pretty annoying). So, like the last book the quirky characters abound and are fun to read about. This is definitely a fairly light story with quite a bit of heist action. The story is simple with a few rather predictable twists and turns.
I felt like this wasn’t as well written as the last book. The language is a bit over the top and felt stiff to me. Things were always a bit too convenient as far as the plot went. The world wasn’t built out much more than it was in the first book. Also the characters don’t have a lot of depth to them at all; I kind of expected them to grow at least a little bit.
This series is very similar in tone and pace to the Nightside series. I think the reason I like the Nightside better than this series is that the world of the Nightside just feels more immersive and the characters there are more intriguing.
Sadly, at this point I don’t plan on reading anymore of this series. These have been quick reads and they are somewhat amusing, but I would rather go back and reread the Nightside series.
My Summary (3/5): Overall I didn’t think this was quite as good as the first book in the Gideon Sable series. It is fast-paced with a lot of quirky characters and zany situations. However, the world wasn’t built out at all and the characters and plot both feel a bit thin. I was really hoping this series was going to be Green’s next Nightside-like endeavor. Unfortunately, it’s not quite up to that standard and, because of that, I don’t plan on continuing the series. There were just too many times reading this book when I just put it down mid-chapter and walked away because I just didn’t really care.
